Black text on yellow screen reads: In the Solomon Islands, girls with disabilities are half as likely to attend school as girls without disabilities – 18 compared to 37 percent, according to a 2009 UNDP report.
Women with disabilities in the Solomon islands experience higher unemployment rates than men with disabilities and women without disabilities, according to a 2020 report by CARE International
Diana Ma'ahoro, a woman from Solomon Islands wearing a long patterned shirt and carrying a small black shoulder bag, steps down the front stairs of a wooden house.
Diana walks past the camera.
A photo of Diana smiling at the camera, holding up a sign adovocating for Persons with Disabilities in Solomon Islands.
Diana walks underneath a wood building raised on stilts towards a road.
Diana slows as she nears the road.
Diana sits on a chair in a small lobby.
Black text on yellow screen reads: In 2010 Diana became the first woman with a disability to attend the Girls Rise Up Young Women's Leadership Workshop of YWCA Solomon Islands.
Georgina Ariki, a woman from Solomon Islands wearing a bright patterned shirt, speaks to camera. Ariki is the president of the YWCA Solomon Islands.
A screenshot of a website announcing the expansion of the Girls Rise Up program.
A sign for the YWCA Solomon Islands office.
Diana walks down the plant-lined hallway of a brightly lit office building.
A photo of 9 participants of the Girls Rise Up program wearing matching t-shirts and posing with a certificate.
A photo of Diana smiling as she sits at a conference room table.
Diana sits at a desk, working on a laptop computer.
Black text on yellow screen reads "Today, Diana is the president and founder of Disability Women's Empowerment Association (DWEA) and a renowned disability activist in the Pacific.
DWEA's mission is to advocate for and build the capacity of women with disabilities and promote sustainable inclusion in the Solomon Islands.
A photo of Diana with other participants at an international conference.
A screenshot of a news article about the Girls Rise Up program.
A photo of Girls Rise Up program participants holding up their program manuals.
A screenshot of the cover of the Girls Rise Up program manual.
Diana uses a copy machine at a table in a busy office.
Diana finishes making copies and stands up, closing the machine.
Black text on yellow screen reads: In 2015, Diana represented the Solomon Islands at the World YWCA Council in Thailand. She was part of a panel that presented a Girls Rise Up manual that the council eventually adopted.
Today, the manual helps train women and girls with and without disabilities from countries around the world.
Copyright 2023 P W D S I. All rights reserved.
Made with support from the Disability Justice Project and the Disability Rights Fund.