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and sharing through lived experiences

Disability and sexuality film day: Sat 26 Nov, Islington, London

After the 4 workshops on disability and sexuality, Sisters of Frida is presenting films which explore themes of disability and sexuality.

Films to make you:  Think, feel, laugh, shake, desire and more…..

With food and discussion

Please note the films contain controversial themes, they also contain scenes of nudity and frank explicit discussion of sexual acts and sexual desire as well as scenes depicting violence.

We welcome all self-identified women. We also welcome FtM, genderqueer and intersexed persons who, in terms of lived experience or identity, have experienced oppression as women in the past or present.

Date and Time

Sat 26 November 2016, 12:00 – 17:00 GMT

Location

Disability Action In Islington, unit 3 Marquess Estate

St Paul’s Road, London N1 2SY

View Map

 

Please register at the event brite  or write to sof.disabilitysexuality@gmail.com

Poster of a smiling woman holding a glass with a straw in her mouth. There is text announcing awards for the film

Margarita, with a straw 

(A rebellious young woman with cerebral palsy leaves her home in India to study in New York, unexpectedlyfalls in love, and embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery.

With Kalki Koechlin, Revathy, Sayani Gupta)

 

and Sins Invalid

Image of webpage with naked person in bath tub

Sins Invalid: The film

(“Sins Invalid is a performance project on disability and sexuality that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized from social discourse”)

 

Please register at the event brite 

or write to sof.disabilitysexuality@gmail.com 

Eleanor Lisney: Disability and Sexuality workshops

Last night one of my new colleagues expressed surprise on  mention of my children – she said she had no idea I had children. She did not mean it to be malicious but the fact I have children prove surprising to most folks. I think, to be brutally honest, most people do not expect disabled people to be sexual beings let alone have offspring.

And for disabled women it is doubly problematic. Consider the stereotype of being a woman –as a caregiver, as a sex object, mother, housekeeper – you get the picture? Many of those roles are not seen to be within the capacity of disabled women. All the media, films of disability and sexuality are from the perspective of disabled men where they have their needs fulfilled by non-disabled women. Examples, Me Before You (even if he did not think it was enough to keep him living), The Sessions, there not many based on the needs of disabled women (excluding Children of a Lesser God).

There is not much space afforded to disabled women on sexuality and how to factor in disability in the search for companionship, romance, relationships and sex. The narratives are missing. I was made aware how much so when I joined the group of women who went to the first workshop (there are a series of four workshops) lead by Sisters of Frida steering group members, Lani Parker and Dyi Huijg, on Dis/ability and Sexuality. This workshop was titled Crip Sex, Because We Want It Our Way

As disabled women we have a wide range of experiences, positive and negative, around disability, sex and sexuality. Disabled women are sexy, sexual, passionate, loving, caring, desirable, hot, beautiful, strong and much more! Our experiences of sexuality are also affected by different kinds of oppressions such as ableism, racism, sexism, heteronormativity, classism and age.

 

In this workshop we will explore what sex means for us as disabled women, non-normative sex, positive self-image, exploring sex alone and sex with others

 

I felt we really shared our experiences as disabled women intersected by faith, culture, and sexual orientation. We examined the differences with impairments, acquired and from a young age, we spoke about chronic illnesses, the barriers and effects of medication and age. Does sex alleviate pain, do we/should we have sex when we are in pain? We compared the attitudes of social workers, medical practitioners and partners – in and out of relationships, domestic abuse from families, society and community pressures.

 

I cannot wait for the next session. I hope more people will come to visit this wonderful space where we afford each other sisterhood and non-judgemental sharing.

workshops

Themes and dates of the workshops

Workshop 1: Crip Sex, Because We Want It Our Way (finished)

In this workshop we will explore what sex means for us as disabled women, non-normative sex, positive self-image, exploring sex alone and sex with others.

Date: Sat 30 July

Time: 12-4pm

 

Workshop 2: When It Doesn’t Feel Good and It Isn’t Right

In this workshop we will discuss negative experiences and difficulties we have around sex and sexuality, our boundaries, consent, privacy and ableism in relationships.

Date: Sat 27 Aug

Time: 12-4pm

 

Workshop 3: Disabled Desire: Sexy and Sensual Possibilities

In this workshop we will discuss positive experiences we have and want to have around sex and sexuality, pleasure, and what it means to desire and be desired.

Date: Sat 17 Sept

Time: 11.30-3pm

 

Workshop 4: Sex: Getting What You Want and Need

Here we will build on the other workshops, and discuss how to develop confidence and feel empowered to do and want sex differently, challenge internalised oppression and other obstacles, and talk about how to put our desires and needs into practice.

Date: Sat 22 Oct

Time: 12-4pm

this project was funded by

logos of RSA and New Unity

 

 

 

— ——

Eleanor Lisney

Eleanor Lisney is a founder member and coordinator of Sisters of Frida. She is an access advisor, an NUJ member on the New Media Industrial Council and the Equality Council. She is also on the British Council Disability Advisory Panel and the web team of the International Network of Women with Disabilities.

 

Transcripts from Disabled Women’s voices from the Frontline

Sisters of Frida: Disabled Women’s Voices from the Frontline

Transcript List:

Jagoda and Jasmina Risteka

Kirsten Hearn

Simone Aspis

Becky Olaniyi

Sophie Partridge and Penny Pepper

Pauline Latcham

Presentation from Svetlana Kotova: Women with Disabilities CRPD Article 6

svetlana with other women

Svetlana Kotova with others from the event

Svetlana went to speak about the CRPD Article 6 invited by the Polish Disability Forum and their partners on Sisters of Frida’s behalf on 13th July. This was part of the project “Implementation of the UN Convention on Rights of Disabled Persons – a common cause” . This is co-funded from the EU’s European Social Fund.

Below is her presentation.

Disabled women and CRPD

Disabled women are one of the most marginalised groups in the world.
According to UN they are

  • 3 times less likely to be literate compared to disabled men
  • Twice less likely to be in employment. When in jobs, they are much more likely to do low paid work
  • Disabled women are much more likely to be victims of violence and often have to endure it for longer, because appropriate support is not there.
  • 50% of disabled women have experienced domestic abuse compared with 25% of non-disabled women.
  • Disabled women are twice as likely to be assaulted or raped as non-disabled women.

Both men and women with a limiting illness or disabilities are more likely to experience intimate partner violence.

  • A study of women who access mental health services identified between 50% and 60% had experienced domestic violence, and up to 20% were currently being abused
  • Disabled women are less likely to have access to health services, including family planning and contraception advice. Some are subjected to invasive procedures such as sterilisation or abortions without their consent.
  • Disabled women are overrepresented among those parents whose children are being removed.

There are many reasons for this appalling situation disabled women face. Those reasons are complex. Disabled women were largely overlooked by feminist movement and although disability rights movement was largely gender neutral, it until recently failed to address the specific needs of disabled women. That’s why the CRPD is so important for disabled women.

Before moving to talk about the convention, I want to tell you a couple of stories of disabled women.

Aisha
Aisha is deaf. She lives with her husband and their 2 children. Her husband works and she depends on him financially. He also is the only adult person who helps her to be in touch with the hearing world. She also relies on the help from her children, but sometimes it is just not appropriate to ask them to interpret. Whenever she has medical appointments or just needs to go to her children’s school or shops her husband or children have to interpret for her. From very beginning of their marriage he was abusive to her. He often hit her and sometimes raped her. She tried to talk to her parents about this, but they told her to be kind to him, as in their view it is worse to be alone, than to be with him. Friends told her to call the police next time he beats her, but she is afraid. She knows there isn’t anywhere she can go to, she depends on him totally. Police are not likely to believe her and what will happen to her if he leaves?
Mary
Mary has learning difficulties. She lives in a home with other people with learning difficulties. Mary fell in love, had sex and became pregnant. She was told about sexuality or given advice about contraception she did not realise what was happening to her. Her parents wanted her to have an abortion, but could not achieve this, as Mary did not agree. While she was pregnant nobody told her what would happen at birth or spoken to her about looking after her child. Mary had a very traumatic experience at birth and after that her daughter was removed.

CRPD
UN CRPD is an international instrument that protects both of those women and all other disabled women in the world.

The Convention recognises equality between women and men as one of its key principles. When it was developed, it has been decided to take a twin track approach, meaning that there is a specific article about disabled women along with specific mentions of gender in other articles. The convention seeks to address some of the specific areas where disabled women are most discriminated against.
Article 6, a specific article about disabled women recognises that they face multiple discrimination and requires states to take all appropriate measures to ensure disabled women can enjoy their human rights on the equal basis with others. Art. 6 is a cross cutting article. It therefore should be applied to all the rights in the convention.

Art 6 has 2 parts.

First it is about multiple discrimination disabled women face. Many of us have multiple identities and we are impacted by discrimination cumulatively as disabled women. Multiple discrimination is discrimination based on more than one status. Its effects can combine or grounds can interlink. Disabled women’s situation is often influenced by the fact of both disability and gender. Other factors such as race and ethnicity or economic situation can also have a huge impact.
Multiple discrimination can happen in private and public sphere and the states have a duty to protect in both.
Discrimination disabled women face can take a form of direct discrimination, when disabled women are specifically excluded because of their gender and disability. Indirect discrimination – when policies seem neutral, but have disproportionate effect on disabled women. In the UK for example we argued that disabled women suffered the most from the recent austerity measures.
A denial of reasonable accommodation is also discriminatory. When disabled women for example cannot access breast cancer screening programmes because there is no equipment to accommodate their access needs it can be seen as a denial of reasonable adjustments.
It is important therefore to recognise that violence against disabled women, lack of access to health or maternity services, socio-economic situation of disabled women or lack of their participation and non-existence of their voices in political debate are all caused by multiple discrimination they face. It is also important to remember that disabled women are a very diverse group and there is a great inequality even within this group.
Do we hear the voices of women from ethnic minority backgrounds?
Do we hear the voices of women with learning difficulties?
Do we know the experiences of LGBT disabled women?

Development, advancement and empowerment

The second part of article 6 talks about the need to take all appropriate measures to secure development, advancement and empowerment of disabled women.
Development means giving women better chance in life by developing their skills and knowledge, improving education, economic situation, health, political participation etc. Advancement requires ensuring situation constantly improves.
Empowerment moves women from subjects of pity to right holders and decision makers. In order to be empowered women need to know about their rights and often need a chance to support each other and help each other have a voice. Empowerment is not only about taking part in political life, for many it is about standing up for themselves, being heard within their families, feeling confident and able to make choices. Empowerment is about feeling you are of an equal worth with others and you are making equal contribution in your own way.

Obligations

In short state’s obligations towards disabled women include the following:
Respect – not to take measures that undermine the development, advancement and empowerment of disabled women and girls. For example not to Introduce policies that may have a detrimental impact on disabled women or weaken protections disabled women already had.
Protect –ensure private bodies do not infringe the rights
For example passing the laws that protect disabled women against violence.
Obligation to protect requires states to prevent, investigate, provide redress and protect the victims. In a context of violence, the states need to look at the positive measures they are taking to prevent it from happening. Are there effective ways for reporting it? Many of us need support to do this. Will those reports be investigated and will perpetrators be punished. Most importantly, will a disabled women who experienced violence get support to deal with it and move on. For many this support should include help to live independently in the community. Many of us are afraid to flee violent relationships, because we depend on the perpetrators not only financially, but also for support with our care needs.
Fulfil – To adopt measures needed to secure the development, advancement and empowerment. This requires specific resources and actions to advance the equality for disabled women.

It is really important to ensure there is enough information to assess the situation of disabled women. That’s why the collection of data is vital. The data that is collected about disabled people should be desegregated by gender. On the other hand, the data about women should include the data about disabled women specifically.
When CRPD was developed disabled people, including disabled women played a key part in the process. Nothing about us without us was truly acted upon. And CRPD recognises that disabled people, including disabled women should be involved in the process of implementation of the Convention and it’s monitoring.

It is important to remember that obligations in art 6 are immediately applicable, states cannot rely on progressive realisation.

Now I would like to focus on some specific areas of particular concern. Those are:

  • Violence against disabled women and girls,
  • Sexuality, reproductive rights and motherhood
  • And socio-economic situation

As I said at the beginning we are more likely to be victims of violence. Disabled women are likely to endure it for longer and have very little opportunities to escape. Violence happens because of dependency generally, but dependency of disabled women can be much greater. Perpetrator is often our carer, and sometimes the only carer. We feel it is much harder for us to make it alone. Who would look after us if we lose our main carer? Many of us are afraid to lose children. The feeling of being trapped is very strong and can be caused by many factors which link together.
We are often targeted because of stereotypes, limited mobility, social isolation, economic dependency, difficulties with communication ect.
Our abusers can be family members, support workers, staff at institutions. We often are made to feel grateful for all the help they give us, so we feel powerless to stand up to them and complain. General public largely is sorry for them for the hard life they have looking after a disabled person, do they care about us? probably not. We are often not believed. How those who look after us could abuse us? And they can always find justifications. Many parents for example who want their daughters sterilised justify this as a way to protect them.
Many of us don’t even know that what we endure is not normal. We don’t always know where to go for help and what to say to get help. Some of us need communication support to ask for help, and often rely on perpetrators or other family members to provide it.

Those who do report violence and try to flee often find themselves in a situation where there is nowhere to go. Many of us have to choose either getting some support in an abusive relationship or not getting support for our disability at all.

Sexuality, reproductive rights and motherhood
When I was young, I was often told that people like me should not have children. It is often assumed that disabled women either cannot or should not be mothers. They should not have sex and should not know about it.
Many of us never get sex education. We do not always get family planning advice. Sometimes our families or professionals looking after us get advice on our behalf and make us undergo invasive treatments, such as abortions or sterilisations. We often can’t access reproductive health services or screening programmes for females.
Those of us who have children are constantly afraid to do something wrong. We cannot ask for help because our children could be taken away.
On one hand we are discriminated and marginalised like all other women are, but on the other, we also have to battle the assumptions that we cannot fulfil a female gender role.
Socio-economic situation
When I apply for jobs I know the employers would firstly be reluctant to offer a job to me because I am disabled, but also because I AM A WOMAN.
Disability causes poverty and on the other hand poverty leads too much greater chance of disability.
Disabled women are less likely to be in work and if they are they earn less. We are disproportionately more likely to be a part of informal economy.
This is why we have to rely on services and the support from social security system. Disabled women are more likely to rely on services and would be disproportionately affected by austerity measures.

Gender and disability mainstreaming

One way to ensure the specific needs of disabled women are met in the policymaking is to implement gender and disability mainstreaming. It is important to analyse the policies and assess their possible impact on disabled women. Disabled women should benefits from programmes targeted at women or at disabled people in general.
Disabled women are women and like all other women they are also protected by other international human rights instruments, CEDAW for example. Disabled women should enjoy all the rights guaranteed by CEDAW like all other women and as part of disability mainstreaming, disabled women should be considered when states monitor the implementation of CEDAW.

And finally, I would like to reiterate this point again. It is important to recognise that we all are different our different voices need to be heard and different experiences should be valued and taken into account.

 

svetlanaSvetlana Kotova is one of the founding members of Sisters of Frida. She has conducted training on the CRPD with Disability Lib and is the Policy and Campaigns Advisor at Sense. She is also the proud mother of a toddler daughter.

 

 

 

#disabledwomenvoice and a statement on post Brexit

While we had our event Disabled Women Voices from the Frontline event today at Blackfriars Settlement, we found out that there was another meeting in Conway Hall – BREXIT, Racism and Xenophobia  to discuss the impact of the referendum vote on BAME communities across the UK organised by The Monitoring Group – some of us would have liked to be there.

We prepared our own response with a message and we had a panel discussion on the Brexit impact on disabled women which was passionate and we came to a conclusion of continuing the discussion.

Here is the message

We would like to send a message of solidarity to this meeting as we are holding our own event at Blackfriars Settlement Disabled Women Voices from the Frontline.

Sisters of Frida (SOF) is a disabled women’s collective. We are a collective for all self-identified disabled women, and we are committed to an intersectional perspective on our day to day realities.

Sisters of Frida condemns the increase in racist attacks after the Referendum and is concerned how these attacks and Brexit affect disabled women,  particularly disabled women of colour.

We are concerned about how dis/ableism, sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia and Islamophobia affect disabled women. As part of the disabled community, we have seen a rise in disability hate crime in recent years too.

Sisters of Frida is worried how disabled women of colour and European migrants have become pawns in the current political situation and are facing multiple discrimination and exclusion.

We are concerned about how Brexit and the conversations after Brexit are scapegoating those reliant on the NHS and other health related and welfare support and benefits.

We are also concerned how disabled people are portrayed and treated. As Sisters of Frida, we are particularly concerned about how Brexit affects disabled women in the UK who are EU nationals. We are disquiet how this affects British and non-EU migrant disabled people in the UK, particularly those of people of colour, Muslim, LGBT and European communities. We are also worried by the impact on disabled people who rely on migrant workers to support their independent livingand how Brexit would exacerbate austerity cuts.

We hope your meeting will be fruitful. Let us unite in working together in moving forward towards a fair and just society, with an inclusive, supportive and safe environment in the future.

Unity is strength!

 

Participants listening to Simone

Participants listening to Simone

 

Some of the photos from today’s event  – more photos and video to come later.

A Dialogue: Survivors in a disabling environment: what does empowerment of disabled women mean globally?

Venue CCUN Chapel 12.30-2pm (ground floor) Enter by the far door not the side with elevators. The shape of the room (chapel) might prove a challenge for a formal set up.

This panel will be discussing what would empowerment of disabled women mean locally, nationally and globally. We will try to include voices of disabled women (short video clips) from different parts of the world stating what it means to them if its possible with the venue. We will post the clips online for later viewing if not. We will use the Social Model of Disability; that is to say it is systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently), that disable us. We will also look at the different nuances of violence against disabled women, the different forms of abuse and how disabled women in particular are affected. How they survive inspite of having to face numerous challenges/barriers wherever they are in the world.
Speakers
Alexia Manombe-Ncube (Naimbia)
Alexia is the Deputy Minister of Disability Affairs in the office of Vice President, Namibia. Recently appointed by President Hage Geingob to handle the affairs of physically challenged people, Manombe-Ncube has appealed to stakeholders to highlight the plight of the country’s disabled people in order for her to realise her ministerial declaration of intent. She also urged stakeholders to apply all their energy towards the empowerment and development of the disabled and specifically to close the gender equality gap.
She champions those in the rural areas saying disabled are have less resources and left to crawl because they do not have wheelchairs like people in the cities. Alexia will be speaking on the status of disabled in Naimbia and her own empowerment as a minister.
Lucia Bellini (UK)
Lucia currently works as an advocate for disabled people who are victims of domestic violence. She is also a Disability Rights Advocate where she assists people to access care packages, to be re-housed, to apply for benefits and to appeal against decisions they are not happy with. She has a masters in Global Citizenship, Identity and Human Rights from the University of Nottingham. In 2008 to 2010, she worked with disabled people’s organisations in Guyana where she provided disability equality and project management training to many disabled people throughout the country. She is particularly passionate about ensuring disabled women feel empowered and equipped to make their own choices. Lucia will be speaking about disabled women caught up in domestic violence in the UK.
Michelle Baharier (UK)
Michelle (UK) is a visual artist and disabled activist with lived experience of mental-distress for over three decades. She set up and ran a disabled lead arts organisation changing the way disabled people were perceived in the main stream.
She has worked with women’s organisations and on a telephone help line for women affected by violence, and with women from a variety of cultures including the Poppy Project which supports women who have been trafficked to the UK, the Diane project for Iranian women who need a safe place to be due to violence. Michelle will speak about her work with mental health survivors and their struggle for empowerment.
Suzannah Phillips (USA)
Suzannah is the Legal Advisor for Women Enabled International. Her work focuses on legal advocacy with the United Nations and other international and regional forums to strengthen human rights standards on the rights of women and girls with disabilities. Prior to joining WEI, Suzannah was the International Women’s Human Rights Clinical Fellow at CUNY School of Law, Legal Adviser for International Advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), and a Human Rights Fellow with VIVO POSITIVO in Santiago, Chile. She is currently a member of the International Human Rights Committee at the New York City Bar Association. Suzannah received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her B.A. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. Suzannah will be speaking on how different legal instruments can be used to support empowerment of disabled women especially with Women Enabled International’s work.
Eleanor Lisney (UK)
Eleanor is born Malaysian Chinese of immigrant parents who moved to UK herself for graduate study. She is a founding member of Sisters of Frida will facilitate the meeting.
We will have time to discuss some action points that could lead us to unite across the world in solidarity and in sisterhood.
https://www.sisofrida.org/ email hello@sisofrida.org @sisofrida

Sisters of Frida and CSW60

For information of what the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is, check out our resource on the CSW.

Sisters of Frida will be at the CSW60 – the sixtieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

We are going as part of the CSW Alliance and NAWO.

See the NAWO’s Report PDF on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) European Indicators (28th Jan 2016)

You can view the schedule of UN and Gov parallel events on the UN Women website.

For sessions on disabled women:

UN Women, United Nations Inter-Agency Support Group for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (IASG)
Operationalising the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for Women and Girls with Disabilities
18 March, 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
Conference Room B – Conference Building (max. capacity: 53)
Contact: fajerman@un.org
A multi-stakeholder informal discussion to discuss and elaborate key priorities for women and girls with disabilities in the context of the operationalization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
– You can view more information on the event page of the UN Women’s website.
UNICEF Disability and Protection Sections, the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, UNFPA, Office of the SRSG on Violence Against Children, Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities (GPcwd) and the International Disability Alliance (IDA).
#ENDviolence Against Children and Adolescents with Disabilities
21 March, 01:00 PM – 03:00 PM
UNICEF House, 3 UN Plaza
As part of the campaign to #ENDviolence against children and adolescents with disabilities (launched on 3 December 2015) and to commemorate World Down Syndrome Day, UNICEF and partners are hosting a CSW side event on ending violence against children and adolescents with disabilities (with a focus on girls with disabilities).The event consists of: 20 minute performance of the play “Apple of My Eye”, an original play written by Tathiana Piancastelli, a 31 year old Brazilian artist with Down Syndrome. High-level panel discussion on violence, neglect stigma and discrimination against girls and boys with disabilities. ​More detail will be posted on the GPCWD website closer to the event.

CSW Alliance events

Every  day   
UK    NGO    briefing    meeting    9-10    BIC
UK    Gov    briefing    6-7    UK    Mission – first    week
Tuesday   15   March  10.00 –     11.30    BIC
Displaced  women and  girls  –  the price of gender  (NAWO)
6-­‐7.30  UK  Mission  Ambassador’s reception  Invitation only
 Wednesday 16 March
3-­‐4.30  Round table with parliamentarians for young people
(IPU, UK NGO CSW Alliance)
Thursday 17th March
10-­‐11.30  BIC Women and Water (NAWO)

Time: 2:30 PM Venue: CCUN Boss
Sustainable Development Goals or Sidelining Disabled Girls?: Making SDGs Stand for All Women and Girls (SoF, Women Enabled Int)
3.00-­‐4.30    UK  Mission Redefining feminism: the voice of young women  – SDGs and VAWG what is the legacy? (NAWO)

 Frida 18th March
10-11.30 BIC The real meaning of empowerment – how best to ensure implementation of the SDGs (Advance) (NAWO YWA)
12:30pm,   CCUN Drew room Training in implementation: the role of civil society in making the SDGs Work (Pacific Rim Institure for Development Education) (NAWO YWA)
16:30-­‐18:00    CCUN Second Floor  ‘Closing the Gender Gap – From the World Humanitarian Summit to implementation’ (CARE, Government of Jordan, CSW Alliance)
 Thursday   24   12.30   Chapel   CCUN  
A   Dialogue:   Survivors   in   a   disabling   environment:   what   does   empowerment   of  disabled   women  mean   globally?   (Sisters  of  Frida,   Women   Enabled   International,   NAWO)

Austerity puts disabled women at greater risk of domestic violence

This is first posted on the  Sisters Uncut  blog.

Disabled women are 2-3 times more likely to experience domestic violence, but have greater barriers to accessing services. Often they are not believed or their experiences as disabled women are not understood. Perpetrators exploit disabled women by financially abusing them, isolating them from friends and family, withholding vital care or medication, and using​ their​ impairments ​to apply the form of ​​abuse

Austerity has robbed disabled women of independ​ent living​ in a number of ways. The closure of the independent living fund, the introduction of ESA and the inappropriate work capability assessment, the change to PIP and​ Motability (for adapted vehicles) as there is an arbitrary change to mobility eligibility.

This is a systematic erosion of disabled people’s rights. An erosion so grave the UN is investigating.

Women are told they ​have to use nappies inspite of not being incontinent. Never mind the indignity. Never mind the health risk from sores, a risk that is not needed. Children are removed from disabled mothers as social services deem them not to be capable of parenthood. Disabled ​w​omen wait in fear of the arbitrary sanctions from job centre and DWP letters informing them they no longer meet criteria for benefits.

This all feeds into vulnerability, isolation and dependency on​ possibly​ abusive partners.

The decimation of disabled people’s rights and independence, through the systematic removal of social security has had one particularly significant effect: disabled women are left at greater risk of domestic violence.

When it comes to state support for disabled women, social security is no ‘benefit’. In a world which denies disabled people access to education, employment, family life and public spaces this money is a small recognition of the barriers faced.

Disabled women experience a compound oppression. As at the same time their risk of violence increases, funding to domestic violence​ aid​ services is falling. This is despite an evidence need for MORE funding to ensure they are accessible and responsive to all disabled women . We need more specialist services and accessible helplines and information.

Without this ​support​ and funding, disabled women lose their​ ​independentt living​, their social circles, ​civil rights, choice and control. Isolation, dependence and vulnerability are ​exacerbated​ by austerity.

Austerity sets up the conditions where disabled women are ​more than ​2-3 time​s likely to experience domestic violence.

 

 

Disabled women at Feminism in London 2015

We were asked to organise a disabled women’s panel at this year’s Feminism in London Conference in October.

A big thank you to Lisa-Marie Taylor, FIL’s organiser, for inviting us!

We did some publicity by having a stall and we ‘re grateful to Annabel, Zara, Jacqueline and Sophie for helping us with the stall!

(Click on photos to get a bigger photo)

Real Media came to do do a short video feature on it – many thanks!

transcript FIL SOF panel (Word doc)

Frances Ryan also wrote a piece for the Guardian on the event A Disabled Woman’s struggle is any woman’s struggle

Obi was kind enough to video the whole event – if you wish to follow it in its entirety

http://bambuser.com/v/5877942

great additions from Nidhi Goyal and Asha Hans Part 1

http://bambuser.com/v/5878073

with Q&A from audience

Individual videos

Asha Hans video

TRANSCRIPT Asha Hans (Word doc)

Nidhi Goyal’s video

TRANSCRIPT Nidhi Goyal (Word doc)

Frances Ryan’s video

TRANSCRIPT Frances Ryan (Word doc)

Becky Olaniyi s video

TRANSCRIPT Becky Olaniyi  (Word doc)

Rebecca Bunce’s video

TRANSCRIPT Rebecca Bunce (Word doc)

Kirsten Hearn’s video

TRANSCRIPT Kirsten Hearn (Word doc)

Thank you all for having taken part in the event!

Violence Against Disabled Women – an European report

While we were at the Screening AccSex event at Leeds University, Sarah Woodin presented the findings of their report Access to Specialised Victim Support Services for Women with Disabilities who have experienced Violence which included guidance from Ruth Bashall and Susie Balderston.

brochure-cover

brochure-cover

This research is investigating violence against disabled women and their access to specialised women’s support services. Funded through the European Commission’s Daphne III programme and with international leadership from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, the project is running from 2013 to 2015 in four countries:

About the research

There are several elements, which include:

  1. Assessment of  the legal and policy framework
  2. Generation of extensive new data from disabled or Deaf women (through focus group discussions, in-depth-interviews) and service providers (online-survey, interviews with staff members), and
  3. Development of good practice examples and recommendations.  

187 disabled women from the four countries took part (106 women in focus groups and 81 women in individual interviews). They included women with mobility or sensory impairments, women with intellectual impairments, women with mental health conditions and women with multiple impairments. Specialised service providers assisting women who have experienced violence also took part in this study (there were in total 602 responses to an online survey and 54 individual interviews with representatives from services). However, the numbers are only provided here as an indication of the scale of the research. The focus was on exploring barriers and issues in depth rather than on recruiting statistically representative samples.

The Problem of Violence against Disabled Women

Disabled women experience a very wide range of types of violence. They report the same types of violence as non-disabled women, but also abuse that is specific to disabled people, and that takes place in a wider range of places and is enacted by more kinds of perpetrators. Domestic violence is substantial and highly damaging for disabled women, but violence also encompasses institutional violence from carers, where women live in residential homes or from assistants where they receive help to live in their own homes. ‘Hate’ violence and crime was also described, where women are abused on the basis of who they are seen to be. Violence is often directed towards perceived areas of weakness, such as attacks that focus on women’s impairments, often arising or increasing at the onset of impairment and at times when women need more help, such as during pregnancy and childbirth or if their residency status is uncertain. Although violence is most prevalent for young adult women, participants report experiencing violence at all stages of the life course and sometimes in many different settings.

Support to Counter Violence

A formidable array of barriers are identified by disabled women in relation to securing assistance and achieving a violence – free life. At a micro, individual level,   the active isolation of women by perpetrators, combined with the inaccessibility of services and a lack of knowledge and capacity to help, all result in keeping disabled women away from support services. Macro level systemic barriers include the ways that funding and administrative regimes combine to make movement away from repeat violence situations very difficult. The project is highlighting the dynamics of this pressing social problem and setting out the steps that need to be taken to prevent and address this abuse. Examples of good practice and innovation in each of the countries are also being documented.

Project Publications

UK Reports and Working Papers

Working Papers:

Brochures

International Project Findings and Publications The main project website is maintained by  the international project co-ordinator, the Ludwig Bolzmann Institute, Austria

The site has reports and other publications from all four counties, in a range of accessible formats.