A Decolonial Approach to Leadership and Activism With Girls With Disabilities Across Southern Spaces

This chapter examines constructions of “girls with disabilities” in academic and activist spaces. It challenges conceptualizations of disability and vulnerability usually framed in Western scholarships and advocacy programs, arguing that these discourses fail to engage with the complexity of girls with disabilities in Southern spaces. Drawing on a transnational project which examines leadership potential for disabled girls across three post-colonial spaces, I posit that a decolonial approach to leadership and activism with girls and young women with disabilities in these spaces can create alternative spaces for these girls and young women to reclaim their leadership. This type of research is critical for Girlhood Studies as it invites new ways of thinking about disabled girlhoods in the global South and their potential to create meaningful changes in their communities.