Disability and violence

"Abuse of women with disabilities is a significant societal problem of which practitioners, service providers, and other professionals must be aware, respond to, and work to alleviate. Practitioners in most settings will encounter client systems impacted by disability, and many of their clients may be victims of abuse. Primary objectives of this paper are (1) to summarize issues and problems relevant to abuse of women with disabilities (2) to describe some of the empowering, proactive attitudes and behaviours of victim-survivors and their support networks, and (3) to further emphasize the need for practitioners to give primacy to helping such clients empower themselves to (re)take and maintain charge of their lives"
Sexuality and Disability, Vol 28, No 3

This report presents the findings of a situational assessment that explored the risk factors and vulnerabilities of women and men with disabilities to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and highlights the complexity of addressing SGBV, sexuality, and the stigma and discrimination that is part of the daily reality for persons with disabilities. Recommendations are provided for various stakeholder groups
SD/ RS 05

"This report is based upon Vera’s work with and observations of those collaborations from 2006 through 2010, as well as in-depth interviews with representatives from 10 of the groups and an extensive literature review on effective collaboration. It is designed for policy makers, practitioners, and first-responders interested in using collaboration to address violence against people with disabilities. It offers concrete recommendations for how to build effective collaboration between victim services and disability organizations, practical strategies for overcoming common obstacles, and steps to begin the collaboration process"
Note: Available in both pdf and word format

This report documents the Making it Work Methodology and applies it to work on gender and disability inclusion. The authors identify and describe eleven good practices in ten countries which were developed by women to eliminate violence against women and girls with disabilities

This paper presents the findings of a "participatory research project, developed collaboratively between Australian and Cambodian partners, (that) investigated prevalence and experiences of gender-based violence of women with disabilities in comparison to women without disabilities; assessed the extent to which existing policies and programs include or address women with disabilities; and explored how women with disabilities are supported or denied access to existing programs"
AusAID Research Working Paper 1

"Research findings reveal that women with disabilities experience rates of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that are comparable to, if not greater than, women without disabilities. Disability specialists propose that women with disabilities experience specific vulnerabilities to abuse. The question in the present study was, ‘What types of abuse experienced by women with physical disabilities are directly related to their disability?’ Of the 504 women with disabilities who responded to a questionnaire assessing sexuality and relationships, 181 of the women completed open-ended questions about abuse. Using qualitative techniques, we analysed their responses and identified disability-specific types of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse"
Sexuality and Disability, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2001

"This report aims to provide more detail on the individual findings of the study. It provides rational for utilising the term sexual violence, an overview of the study between the four countries, individual country analysis of the four countries and additionally recommendations for improving the situation for children with disabilities"
SD/RS 4

"Focusing on the southern parts of the country, this report examines the experiences of persons with mental disabilities in Ghana in the three main environments in which they receive care: the broader community, the country’s three public psychiatric hospitals, and residential prayer camps...Human Rights Watch found that persons with mental disabilities in Ghana often experience a range of human rights abuses in the prayer camps and hospitals that Human Rights Watch researchers visited. These patients are ostensibly sent to these institutions by their family members, police, or their communities for help. Abuses are taking place despite the fact that Ghana has ratified a number of international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was ratified in July 2012. These abuses include denial of food and medicine, inadequate shelter, involuntary medical treatment, and physical abuse amounting to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment"
The report is available in pdf, easy to read and html formats