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November 26th - Day 2: Disability and Violence
According to Status of Women Canada re Women with Disabilities and Violence
Women with disabilities are at a higher risk for violence in both spousal and non-spousal contexts. Some estimates suggest that women with disabilities experience physical and sexual violence at 3 to 4 times the rate of women who do not report disabilities
According to the American Psychological Society
Women with disabilities have a 40 percent greater chance of intimate partner violence than women without disabilities.
Women with disabilities may experience unique forms of abuse that are difficult to recognize — making it even harder to get the kind of help they need. Such abuse may include:
- Removing or destroying a person’s mobility devices (e.g., wheelchairs, scooters, walkers).
- Denying access to and/or taking prescribed medication from someone.
- Forcing someone to lie in soiled undergarments.
- Inappropriately touching a person while assisting with bathing and/or dressing.
More information in the link below.
· Download PDF version (PDF, 380KB)
· https://www.apa.org/topics/violence/women-disabilities
According to DAWN-RAFH Canada
Violence against women with disabilities shares common characteristics with violence against women in general. Women with disabilities also experience forms of abuse that women without disabilities do not. Violence against women and girls with disabilities is not just a subset of gender-based violence – it is an intersectional category dealing with gender-based and disability-based violence. The confluence of these two factors results in an extremely high risk of violence against women with disabilities.
Women with disabilities experience a wider range of emotional, physical and sexual abuse: by personal attendants and by health care providers, as well as higher rates of emotional abuse both by strangers and other family members . They also can be prevented from using a wheelchair, cane, respirator, or other assistive devices.
There remains almost no literature regarding the risk of abuse, women’s experiences of abuse, and barriers to seeking help among women with disabilities. The absence of attention to this issue from both disability and violence researchers has contributed to the ‘invisibility’ of the victimization of women with disabilities.
More information in the link below.
Women with Disabilities and Violence (Summary and PDFDocument)
Information compiled by Ellen Blahitka, Zonta Club of Brampton-Caledon
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