The workshop was designed to equip four representatives from Amudo, an organization for disabled women in Oaxaca, with practical leadership skills. Poverty, lack of education, and unemployment are just some of the problems the women of Oaxaca, Mexico, face every day.
Mobility is another difficulty.
Dr. Nosek notes the lack of basic resources, such as wheelchairs, in the area, one of the poorest states in Mexico. It's heartbreaking to think that these women need things that we take for granted. While in Houston, the women from Oaxaca had an opportunity to meet with wheelchair vendors about obtaining spare parts and low-cost wheelchairs. Dr. Nosek and her colleagues taught the women practical business and leadership skills in addition to self-esteem building exercises that they could then take back to Oaxaca, implement and pass on to other women with disabilities. The group learned skills like how to give a presentation, how to negotiate, how to develop jobs and how to get the equipment they need.