Women With Disabilities
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Women with disabilities face multiple discriminations—often experiencing greater disadvantage than men with disabilities in similar circumstances—which negatively impact their physical and mental health and wellbeing (WWDA, www.wwda.org.au/snapshot.htm).
Research conducted by Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) found that women with disabilities are less likely to know about preventative health programs. One example of this is that in many parts of Australia health services send out written reminders to women who are due for a pap screen, however, because data on disability is not routinely collected, many agencies cannot know when women need a reminder written in plain English or delivered via an alternative format (Frohmader and Swift, 2009). This means that women with disabilities can experience limited access to screening programs, such as breast and cervical screening, which can be compounded by a lack of accessible information detailing why screening programs are so important to long term health and wellbeing.Although women with disabilities have greater needs in accessing health care and information, they face greater disadvantage and significant barriers in attempting to do so. Women with disabilities report negative stereotyping from health care providers and short consultation times as areas of concern; reporting that they often feel depersonalised and burdensome to health care providers, especially when providers are unable to provide facilities or advice to meet their needs. Furthermore, health care providers may focus on a woman’s disability and ignore or overlook other health and social matters, such as sexual and reproductive health or the possibility of violence in the woman’s life.
Women with disabilities have a significantly high level of unmet need for services and support to enable them to live independently and with dignity in the community (WWDA, www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm). Women with disabilities bear a disproportionate burden of poverty, experience significant un/underemployment and are in the lowest income earning bracket, yet have more than three times the average yearly health care expenditures of other women (Blanchard and Hosek, 2003). They are less likely than their male counterparts to receive adequate vocational rehabilitation or gain entry to labour market programs, and are more likely to be in low paid, part time, short term casual jobs (WWDA, www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm).
Negative stereotypes relating to both gender and disability compound the exclusion of women with disabilities from support services, social and economic opportunities and participation in community life (Meekosha, 2000; Frohmader 2002).
The 2009 Disability, Ageing and Carers survey (ABS) reported that 17.8 percent of women in the ACT had a disability, and 5.3 percent of these were disabilities that resulted in a profound or severe core activity limitation. While the ACT has one of the lowest proportions of women with disabilities compared to other Australian States and Territories, these women still make up a significant proportion of our community, and in the ACT—as in other jurisdictions—a significantly higher percentage of the funding for people with disabilities is spent on boys and men than is spent on women and girls. In the ACT the gender inequity in service dollars spent on men and boys as compared with women and girls is exacerbated by structural factors such as the focus in ACT on intellectual disability services and the provision of those services by a Government service provider.
Women with a disability can be at risk of social exclusion and marginalisation for a variety of reasons. They usually have significantly lower incomes than men and their non-disabled counterparts, they often have poorer social connections with families and friends, and they face numerous barriers in accessing social and other services such as transport, education, employment and recreational opportunities.
It is for these reasons that WCHM has remains mindful of the importance of the social determinants of health and of illness, and recognises in its work the significant adverse impact on health and wellbeing of social isolation and marginalisation.
WCHM’s work in this area is focussed on developing strategies to enable women living with a disability to connect/reconnect into community and build networks through fitness and sporting activities, and to address their equity of access to health services, and includes a focus on the impacts of poverty, violence and lack of affordable, appropriate housing. By focussing on improving women’s access to women-sensitive health practitioners and services WCHM hopes to help develop increased knowledge about the factors that act as barriers to social inclusion and which impact adversely on women with disabilities, and to put specific policy proposals and advocacy initiatives in place to increase their social inclusion.
Current WCHM Projects
Survey of Women with Disabilities in the ACT
Throughout the first half of 2012, and in consultation with Women With Disabilities ACT (WWDACT), WCHM will be surveying women living with disabilities in the ACT in order to collect data about their experiences. The survey will focus on the social determinants of health, in order to form a picture of the social, economic and cultural circumstances of women living with a disability in the ACT and the effect these circumstances have on their health and wellbeing. This dataset—while comparable to existing national data—will be the first set of its kind focusing specifically on women with disabilities in the ACT and will both inform and provide evidence for WWDACT’s and WCHM’s advocacy work.
Addressing the Accessibility Needs of Women With Disabilities Experiencing Violence
Research shows us that women with disabilities are more likely to experience domestic violence than women in the broader community, yet the number of women with disabilities accessing crisis services remains low. A previous WCHM project which examined the barriers that women with disabilities face in accessing domestic violence/crisis services in the ACT highlighted the need to address the limited awareness about disability of domestic violence/crisis service staff and the lack of relevant local training available to address this barrier.
WCHM has been successful in securing funding under the ACT Health Promotion Grants Program 2011/12 Community Funding Round to develop and deliver a sector-specific disability awareness training package, which will include training sessions delivered by women with disabilities and an online manual to assist services to become more disability accessible.
The project will be delivered in partnership with Women With Disabilities ACT and Advocacy for Inclusion and aims to increase the capacity of domestic violence/crisis service employees to understand and meet the needs of women with disabilities escaping domestic violence.
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Past WCHM Projects
What Women Want: An NDIS for women with disability
From November 27 – December 3 2011 the Women’s Centre for Health Matters supported the Every Australian Counts campaign ‘Spread the Word Week’. We released this article exploring why changing the disability support system through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is so important for women with disabilities in the ACT.
An NDIS for women with disabilities (461 KB)
An NDIS for women with disabilities (1261 KB)
The views of ACT Women with Disabilities about Health and Wellbeing Information
In February 2011 WCHM launched the companion report It goes with the Territory! ACT Women With Disabilities’ Views on Health and Wellbeing Information. This report presented the findings and views of the women who reported having a disability or long-term or chronic health issue who participated in WCHM’s health and wellbeing information research in 2009, and identifies the major themes and the barriers facing women with disabilities in accessing the health and wellbeing information they need.
The report identified that the greatest barrier for women with disabilities in accessing the health and wellbeing information they need is not being able to access a range of information in an appropriate format. Not being able to access a diverse spectrum of information in a variety of formats can limit the extent to which a woman with a disability can make informed decisions about her health. More than this, however, it entrenches disadvantage by enabling some women access to health and wellbeing information and not others. Ensuring that all women can access the health and wellbeing information they require in the format that is most suitable empowers women and enables them to fully engage with health decision-making. It extends the right to women with disabilities to be their own best guide on matters of health and wellbeing. The report can be found using the following link.
Women with Disabilities Accessing Crisis Services in the ACT
The lack of inclusive services and programs for women with disabilities experiencing or at risk of experiencing violence is well documented and is widely recognised as a barrier to women with disabilities escaping the violence perpetrated against them (Women with Disabilities Australia 2008). Anecdotally, this national evidence is also shared by women with disabilities in the ACT—we know that very few women with disabilities access family violence services and if they do, the services do not always meet their needs. It is therefore extremely important for domestic violence/crisis services to ensure that they remove, as far as possible, all barriers to access for women with disabilities (and their children) escaping domestic violence.
This project aimed to assist domestic violence/crisis services in the ACT to better support women with disabilities who are escaping domestic and family violence, and was collaboration between Women’s Centre for Health Matters (WCHM), the Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS) and Women with Disabilities ACT (WWDACT). It focussed on increasing the capacity for service providers to support women with a disability by exploring current practices, auditing the services for their accessibility for women with disabilities, identifying the barriers and gaps, and the development of a set of good practice principles for improving access for women with disabilities.
This final report documenting the overall findings and recommendations from the project can be found here.
Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Consortium
Poor transport opportunities for women with disabilities have been acknowledged as a contributor to social isolation; many women with disabilities rely heavily on Wheelchair Accessible Taxi (WAT) services because they are without private vehicles and cannot access public transport easily. Taxis are very important to women with disabilities’ social inclusion and to their active participation in the social and economic life of the community, yet reliance on WAT services is imperfect and can involve long waiting times and inconvenience.
WCHM worked with a collaborative group to assist them to highlight the views of people with disabilities in the Canberra community and to address the issue of an inadequate system of wheelchair accessible taxis in the ACT. The WAT Consortium included representatives from People with Disabilities ACT (PWD), Women With Disabilities ACT (WWDACT), the ACT Disability Council, the MS Society, Sharing Places and ACTCOSS.
The WAT Consortium provided feedback in the form of a submission to the ACT Government’s review of the taxi industry, which proposed three potential models to improve taxi services for people with disabilities. The group also responded to the Review’s draft report compiled by Price Water House Coopers, prior to the Final Report recommendations being sent to the ACT Government.
A significant number of the recommendations in the WATs Consortium submission were agreed to, either in part or in full, in the Government’s Final Report.
Well, Able and Mobile
In partnership with Women With Disabilities ACT (WWDACT), YMCA, YWCA and the ACT Mental Health Consumer Network, WCHM supported the Well, Able and Mobile (WAM) project, where women with disabilities (including women with mental health issues) were supported to take part in fitness activities in the community, with the hope of encouraging improved physical, mental and social health outcomes.
WAM began as a pilot project called Well and Able in 2006. In its various iterations it constantly evolved, using the learning outcomes of ongoing and biannual evaluations to adjust in response to the needs of the participants and to the project vision, and continued till June 2010. During its life the WAM project resulted in the development of a successful model which combines fitness, social opportunities and physiotherapy support in classes, which can be used to inform the creation of similar programs and initiatives in the future.
Evaluations show that the project achieved real changes for the group of women who participated consistently in the program, and demonstrated that any behaviour change requires time to become sustainable. The women who attended WAM for at least a year reported the greatest progress in areas such as weight loss, mobility and muscle strength. They also showed the most development in psychosocial aspects and developed the confidence to mentor other women who had not been in WAM as long. However, the project showed that barriers to the women’s willingness and capacity to access other facilities and gyms (identified at the commencement of their involvement with the project) remained the same—the perception of unfriendly and judgemental attitudes by staff in mainstream gyms and the lack of suitable groups or programs at appropriate levels in mainstream gyms. Transport—including wheelchair accessible taxis—remained a barrier, not only because of cost but because of limited availability and access for women with disabilities.
- Adaptable and alternative forms of fitness activities are needed—mainstream gyms and facilities may not offer a ready fitness solution for women with disabilities
- Psychological benefits can overcome other barriers to participation—WAM II, as well as studies of some international projects which follow similar models, indicate that women often exhibit enough resilience and commitment to overcome transport and architectural barriers when they find other outcomes such as social connectedness and wellbeing
- The main barrier to women accessing mainstream gym facilities was the perception of negative attitudes of staff and other users at those gyms—if exercise facilities are to be truly accessible, attitudinal barriers must be eliminated by providing staff members with training on how to accommodate all abilities during both group and individual exercise programs
- Transport is an ongoing issue for women with disabilities, particularly in Canberra, where distances are great and minimising the transport logistics and costs is essential
Other Research and Reports
Unravelling Psychosocial Disability
The term ‘psychosocial disability’ is referenced in the
National Disability Strategy 2010-2020,22 but it has not been widely
used in the Australian community. It is a term preferred by mental
health consumers and carers to describe living with a disability that is
associated with a severe mental health condition. This Position
Statement has been prepared by the National Mental Health Consumer &
Carer Forum (NMHCCF) Steering Committee on Psychosocial Disability with
funding from the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing,
Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA). In 2010, the
NMHCCF identified the need for the Position Statement as part of its
consideration of the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Disability
Care and Support.
http://www.nmhccf.org.au/documents/NMHCCF_Psychosocial%20disability_Booklet_Web%20version_27Oct11.pdf
Sterilization of Women and Girls with Disabilities: A Briefing Paper (November 2011)
In many parts of the world, women rely on access to a range of methods to control their fertility, including voluntary sterilisation. However, too often, sterilisation is not a choice. Women with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to forced sterilisations performed under the auspices of legitimate medical care. The practice of forced sterilisation is part of a broader pattern of denial of the human rights of women and girls with disabilities. This denial also includes systematic exclusion from comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care, limited voluntary contraceptive choices, a focus on menstrual suppression, poorly managed pregnancy and birth, involuntary abortion, and the denial of rights to parenting. These practices are framed within traditional social attitudes that characterize disability as a personal tragedy or a matter for medical management and rehabilitation. The difficulty some women with disabilities may have in understanding or communicating what was done to them increases their vulnerability to forced sterilisation. A further aggravating factor is the widespread practice of legal guardians or others making life-altering decisions for persons with disabilities, including consenting to sterilisation on their behalf.
This briefing paper has been jointly prepared by Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Open Society Foundations, and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) as part of the Global Campaign to Stop Torture in Health Care. The paper gives a background to the issue of forced sterilisation, outlines various international human rights standards that prohibit forced sterilisation, and offers several recommendations for improving laws, policies, and professional guidelines governing sterilisation practices.
The paper can also be downloaded in both PDF and Word formats from WWDA’s website.
Women With Disabilities and The Human Right to Health: A Policy Paper
In May 2012 Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) released their policy paper Women With Disabilities and The Human Right to Health. The paper examines what is meant by women with disabilities right to health and highlights the ways in which women and girls with disabilities in Australia are denied the freedoms and entitlements necessary for the realisation of their right to health. It then provides an overview of a range of key policy initiatives required to address the structural, socioeconomic and cultural barriers that currently deny women with disabilities their right to health. www.wwda.org.au/health2006.htm
WWDA Policy Paper: Assessing the situation of women with disabilities in Australia
WWDA’s policy paper Assessing the situation of women with disabilities in Australia: A human rights approach uses a human rights framework to document the range of data, research and information needed in order to give a comprehensive assessment of the situation of women with disabilities in Australia. WWDA’s paper provides the context for this work by giving an overview of the intersection of gender and disability, as well as a brief background to the human rights imperative. The Paper provides in detail, in an Appendix, the international human rights obligations in relation to each of the issue areas covered in the paper. www.wwda.org.au/subs2011.htm
Useful Links
Advocacy for Inclusion (www.advocacyforinclusion.org)
Advocacy for Inclusion is committed to a society in which people with disabilities live inclusive and meaningful lives as part of the community, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They provide advocacy services to people with disabilities living in the ACT and region, to enable each individual to overcome discrimination and empower them to control their lives and participate in the community.
Independent Living Centre ACT (http://health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=sp&did=10046787)
The Independent Living Centre is an information resource centre displaying hundreds of items of equipment that you can try and compare, to help you make informed choices when purchasing products or accessing services. An equipment database of 6000 items plus information on a wide range of organisations and services complements the display. Independent Living Centres are committed to providing the community with the resources needed to "make every day living easier". The ACT Independent Living Centre is located at 24 Parkinson Street in the Canberra suburb of Weston.
People with Disabilities ACT (PWD ACT) (www.pwdact.org.au)
PWD ACT represents, promotes and supports the collective interests of people with disabilities. They work to bring about an inclusive society by: Advocating for the removal of all attitudinal, physical and social barriers which prevent people with disabilities from participating fully in community life, working to improve policies, programs and practices in society which support people with disabilities to have the best life possible and collaborating with other ACT disability advocacy organisations to improve outcomes for people with disabilities.
Women With Disability ACT (WWDACT) (http://wwdact09.blogspot.com/)
WWDACT is a systemic advocacy and peer support organisation run by women with disabilities for women with disabilities. Established in 1995, WWDACT adheres to a human rights philosophy—based on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities—and works with government and non-government organisations to improve the status and lives of women with disabilities in the ACT and region. WWDACT believes that self-advocacy is a major contributing component to the social, financial, mental and physical welfare of women with disabilities in the ACT.
Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) (www.wwda.org.au)
WWDA is the peak organisation for women with all types of disabilities in Australia. WWDA is run by women with disabilities, for women with disabilities. WWDA's work is grounded in a human rights based framework which links gender and disability issues to a full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. This rights based approach recognises that equal treatment, equal opportunity, and non-discrimination provide for inclusive opportunities for women and girls with disabilities in society. It also seeks to create greater awareness among governments and other relevant institutions of their obligations to fulfil, respect, protect and promote human rights and to support and empower women with disabilities, both individually and collectively, to claim their rights.
Disability ACT (http://www.dhcs.act.gov.au/disability_act)
The role and responsibility of Disability ACT is to plan, develop strategic policy, allocate funding and provide and monitor services for people with disability in the ACT and the families that care for them.