Imagine yourself being a woman. Now imagine yourself being a woman with a disability. Both of these groups face discrimination and violence in society but it’s harder for those who are disabled because they are often taken advantage of. Today one in five Canadian women are living with some kind of physical disability and it’s seen that forty percent of disabled women have been raped, abused, or assaulted (DAWN Ontario). Violence against women in general is fairly high but those living with a disability are at much higher risk.
Most able-bodied women share the same experiences and feelings that disabled women face. The fact that disabled women struggle more than able-bodied women do, they are often seen as an easier target. People with disabilities fear reporting to the police that they have been assaulted or abused. Most disabled people are violated against caretakers, and even family members. Taking a look at the video of the women who said, “If that person gets put in jail that I would have no one to look after me.” This seems very true it’s a struggle that people who are abused face a lot of the time, that is they keep emotions inside saying everything is “okay” when a lot of the time its not okay. In the article Worldwide Violence against women…. It stated, due to women’s fear of and their dependence of their abuser less than half of women who experience some sort of violence fail to report it. (Barreda, Cases, Gonzalez. 2011) It’s sad to hear this but yet it’s probably so true. When you go into public most people are willing to lend a hand to those who are disabled but as soon as you see a disabled person with only one individual it’s like the environment changes. I’ve noticed this and it seems as if the caretaker is angry that the individual can’t do simple tasks. This often leads to abusive situations and for a women with a disability its tough for them to defend themselves or even hard for them to report being abused.
Violence against disabled women needs to be recognized; many women’s shelters and support groups have very little accessibility for such women. Dis-Abled Women Network (DAWN) is an organization that brought concerns to women with disabilities, and recognized that this has been a global problem, that there is little knowledge about dealing with violence against disabled women (Barilel, p.4, 2002). I believe we live in a very conservative society where nothing is being done to help victimized women those especially who are living with a disability. If there would be a way to get better communication and transportation for individuals with disabilities and also support groups that are understanding to people who are disabled, to go share their experiences and feelings. Than I believe the violence against all women would potentially start to decrease.
Everyone should be treated equal and have the right to equal opportunities. People without a disability should treat disabled people with much more respect and give them the help that they deserve. As a society we need to stop all the discrimination and violence that’s happening and treat each other as we would treat ourselves.
-Samantha
References:
Barilel, Maria. (2002) Individual-Systematic Violence: Disabled Women’s Standpoint
Ortiz-Barredaad. G, Vives-Casesa. C, Gil-Gonzaleza. D.(2011)Worldwide violence against women legislation: An equity approach, Healthy Policy
Dawn Ontario Disabled Women’s Network: Family Violence against women with disabilities. http://dawn.thot.net/violence_wwd.html
This was an incredibly eye opening post. I honestly never viewed disabled women as easier targets but after reading this I completely agree with you. This issue needs to become more aware of as disabled women don't have much a voice when it comes to violence. If their abuser is a family member, what are they supposed to do? Who will care for them? There needs to be more shelters for these women and they need to be given resources that they can contact 24/7. Even though they are disabled, they are still women, they still have a heart and voice that needs to be heard. It's sad that this group gets overlooked just because they seem "hopeless".
ReplyDeleteDora
Great Post Samantha!
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this blog I didn't know much about the violence associated with Physical Disabled woman but after I was shocked. This video was very touching I was very surprised that it said " up to 87% of woman with a intellectual disability will experience sexual assault in their lifetime" it being such a high percentage is very upsetting. I also agree that this needs to be recognized and that every one should be treated equal. Thank you for enlightening me more on this topic.
Sara
When reading about the shocking percentages of violence against disabled women I was astounded. No person should be treated as anything less than an equal to anyone else. This is a issue that needs to come to a stop for society to really open itself up to changing the stigmas that it has against women in any situation. This was a really interesting read and made me open my mind to this issue, great post Samantha.
ReplyDelete-Chandra B
Wow, i have the same feeling as everyone else. Just plain shock. The statistics are high and that is something that just scares me. They are just as important to our society as anyone else and deserve to be treated as so. Thank you for sharing that information and getting it more known. It was a really big piece of knowledge i felt i should have known about.
ReplyDeleteBelinda
Being from the physical disabilities group, I really appreciate this post. It would seem to me that having a physical disability just gives a person another layer of vulnerability no matter what kind of demographic they fall into. I worry for my friend who recently became quadriplegic and what kinds of things she may experience as a result of this new vulnerability she now has...
ReplyDeleteBambi
Great post Sam.
ReplyDeleteVery eye opening.. I'm glad I am more aware of the situation now. Like the women in the video said, there needs to be complaint processes that are accessable to people with diabilities and also, they need to be taken seriously. They can't be taken lightly or just pushed aside due to the fact that they are a person with a disability. That is discrimination and needs to be stopped.
Jenn S
Interesting post! It is sad to say that many disabled women suffer abuse and violence and the majority of the time their abuser isn't stopped or charged. Many of these women do not want to speak out either for fear of no one believing them or assume they are seeking attention. There definitely needs to be a formal complaint process where these women feel comfortable and accepted and not discriminated against.
ReplyDeleteShauna Richardson
I think that when one has a disability and is a victim of violence and that the person is a care giver it is very frightning. Based upon what i have learned at Klinic the authorities are less likely to take a person with a disability seriously for one reason and that is that police do not think that "these people " as credible witnesses.
ReplyDeleteLisa