Victorian research highlights experiences of violence against women with disabilities

New research from Victoria has explored the experiences and nature of violence against women with disabilities, highlighted barriers to accessing services and justice, and strategised prevention approaches.

The pioneering research project, Voices Against Violence was launched in Victoria, Australia by Natasha Stott Despoja AM, Ambassador for Women and Girls and Chair of the new Foundation to Prevent Violence against Women and their Children.

The authors state that preventing violence against women with disabilities lies in "addressing the norms and behaviours that support rigid gender roles and gender stereotyping and in gender equality," including recognising how these norms and stereotypes reinforce men's entitlement to use violence against women with disabilities.

The Public Advocate, Colleen Pearce, responsible for investigating cases of guardianship, has called for an expansion of the Advocate role to include investigation of allegations of violence, abuse, exploitation or neglect. She said "We get calls every week about abuse, violence, neglect and exploitation relating to people in their own homes or in nursing homes but we can't investigate them."

The project provided data which was then used to develop and support evidence-based recommendations for legal, policy and service sector reform. Findings are presented in seven individual reports detailing the experiences of violence of women with disabilities, current issues, a review of legislative protections, a review of records of the Office for the Public Advocate and interviews with staff and volunteers.

The project was a collaborative effort between Women with Disabilities Victoria, the Office for the Public Advocate and the Domestic Violence Resources Centre Victoria, funded by Gandel Philanthropy and a research grant from the Legal Services Board Grants Program.

Research on violence and disability in New Zealand includes The Hidden Abuse of Disabled People Residing in the Community: An Exploratory Study (2013). This participatory research project sought to:

• Increase understanding of the multidimensional nature in which abuse manifests in relation to disabled people; and
• Identify the individual and structural barriers that prevent disabled people from voicing and extracting themselves from abusive environments.

Structural issues which were identified as maintaining the status quo include:

• A low level of societal awareness of disability abuse
• A variety of silencing processes
• A lack of appropriate monitoring
• Poor management practice of a variety of disability-related residences and services.

The Auckland Domestic Violence and Disability (DVD) group has also published Easy Read and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) versions of their Domestic Violence and Disabled People booklet.

Media:

New research shows violence against women with disabilities is worse and lasts longer, Domestic Violence Resource Centre, Victoria, 15.05.2014

Image: Disability parking on cobble stones by Vilseskogen. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)