2013 Advocate Musola Cathrine Kaseketi of Zambia has been named the winner of the Her Abilities Award in Arts, Culture and Sports. Light for the World, a global disability & development organization committed to breaking down barriers to enrich society and unlock the potential in all of us, started the award to honor the achievements of women with disabilities. The winners were decided by an influential jury of women with and without disabilities from Mariam Doumbia of Amadou & Mariam to Judy Heumann, U.S. President Obama’s first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. After receiving hundreds of nominations from 52 countries around the globe, the panel chose three winners from Zambia, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Ashrafun Nahar won in the Rights category. She is the founder of the Women with Disabilities Development Foundation in Bangladesh. The winner in the Health and Education category is Dr. Toyin Janet Aderemi. Dr. Ademeri is the first African woman with a disability to head the country office of an international NGO, and the first person in a wheelchair in Nigeria to study and practice pharmacy.
