Women With Disabilities Australia (wwda) wwda-news issue 2, 2012

New Project: ‘Voices against Violence: Assessing the Evidence on Violence against Women with Disabilities’
Women with Disabilities Victoria and the Office of the Public Advocate (OPA) are undertaking a major research project relating to violence against women with disabilities. The project will investigate the circumstances of women with disabilities who have experienced violence. This will include women who experience physical disabilities, mental illness and cognitive impairments. The project, titled ‘Voices against Violence’, is funded by a research grant from the Legal Services Board. This funding will enable us to undertake a two-year fact finding mission relating to the nature and incidence of violence against women with disabilities in Victoria.
Some of the tasks we will undertake include:

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  An audit of OPA’s records on violence against women with disabilities
  
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  Interviews with OPA staff and volunteers from the Community Visitors and Independent Third Person programs
  
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  In-depth interviews with women with disabilities who have experienced violence
  
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  Public consultations with women with disabilities
  
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  Engaging with the disability, domestic violence, legal and service sectors
  
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  A review of the relevant legal, policy and service sector initiatives in Victoria and beyond.
  

‘Voices against Violence’ will build on previous work undertaken by the researching organisations. The project aims to address the significant gaps in knowledge that were highlighted by Women with Disabilities Victoria in the ‘Building the Evidence’ report. It will also significantly build on the work undertaken by OPA in its report ‘Violence against People with Cognitive Impairments’.

This exciting project is the first of its kind in Victoria. It will make a much-needed contribution to the evidence relating to violence against women with disabilities. This data will be used by the project to devise evidence-based strategies for legal, policy and service sector reform.
If you would like to get involved in this project or if you simply want to find out more, please contact Magdalena McGuire at OPA by phone on 03 9603 9512 or email on [e-mail] You can also contact Keran Howe at Women with Disabilities Victoria by phone on 03 9664 9340 or email on [e-mail]
Article on Sterilisation in marie claire Magazine
WWDA Executive Director Carolyn Frohmader, recently worked with freelance journalist Stephanie Osfield, on an article about forced and coerced sterilisation of disabled girls in Australia. The article was published in the June 2012 issue of Marie Claire magazine.
The article looks at the issue of forced and coerced sterilisation of girls and women with disabilities in Australia. It examines the issues from a range of perspectives – that of Bella, a now 34 year old disabled woman who was forcibly sterilised as a child; Claire, a mother seeking sterilisation for her 26 year old disabled daughter; and Amanda, a 29 year old woman with a mild intellectual disability who is successfully raising her twin daughters. The article also includes interviews with a number of people with an interest in the issue, including WWDA CEO Carolyn Frohmader, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes; Senator Sue Boyce; disability activist Stella Young; Professor Gwynnyth Llewellyn; Australian Medical Association (AMA) President Dr Steve Hambleton; Guardianship Board President, Anita Smith; and Dr Margaret Spencer, from the Intellectual Disability Rights Service.
WWDA Executive Director Carolyn Frohmader, reiterated WWDA’s long standing position that Australia must enact national legislation to prohibit the non-therapeutic sterilisation of girls and of adult women with disabilities in the absence of their fully informed and free consent. Carolyn further stated:
“We need to create Australian law around sterilisation under the crimes act, just as we did in 1995 to prohibit female genital mutilation,” says Frohmader. “We have legislation to prevent children from using solariums, or having cosmetic surgery to get breast implants, because they are too young to decide. Yet a recent draft bill of the Mental Health Act in Western Australia included a clause to allow the sterilisation of minors as long as the child has given their consent! That’s ludicrous given that a child has no idea of the consequences, and if they have disability they may be experiencing coercion by their carers or have difficulty understanding what a sterilisation will mean.”
WWDA has requested permission from marie claire magazine to reproduce the article in its entirety on WWDA’s website. We are yet to receive a response, but are hopeful that we will be able to soon make the article available to our members, including those who require it in an accessible format. For further enquiries, please contact Carolyn at [e-mail] or by phone on 03 62448288.

Channel Ten Program discusses Sterilisation of Women and Girls with Disabilities
On Tuesday 29^thth May, Stella Young (disability activist) and Dr Margaret Spencer (Intellectual Disability Rights Service) appeared on The Circle, an Australian morning talk show on Network Ten, to discuss the issue of sterilisation of disabled women and girls. The interview came about as a direct result of the article on forced sterilisation published in the June issue of the marie claire magazine.
To view a video of the segment on The Circle, you can go to:
http://ten.com.au/the-circle-video.htm?movideo_p=40521&movideo_m=192330


WWDA Presents Workshop at International Domestic Violence Conference
WWDA Representative Report: by Sue Salthouse
The second World Conference of Women’s Shelters held from 28 February to 1 March 2012 in Washington DC was bigger in almost every way than the inaugural conference held in Edmonton, Canada in 2008, with more participants, more keynote speakers, and more workshops. Inclusion of disability was unchanged and still peripheral.
There was important high level Government support for the conference. Government leadership is crucial to driving attitudinal change, so that the support, through participation, given by a number of Whitehouse advisors must have been cause for optimism for US participants working in the DV sector. In addition reference was made to the US Government’s recent commitment internationally to gender equality, and this is similarly encouraging for participants working in the DV sector in conflict zones or areas where US AID is given. Although a session was held about the use of international law, conventions and declarations, the USA has a poor record on ratification of UN treaties dealing with the human rights of women⁴. In addition, it was not clear from the 3 days, how this focus on Violence Against Women (VAW) is translated into additional US funding for the sector both domestically and internationally.

Drumming troupe, Opening Ceremony, 2nd World Conference of Women’s Shelters

Support through participation from Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Sue Carbon (US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues), and (ex-) President Bill Clinton along with the video messages from Michelle Bachelet (Executive Director of UNWomen) and Hilary Clinton (US Secretary of State), should also be noted.
With sponsorship support from the private sector, the conference showcased the work of a number of philanthropic foundations, notably those associated with the ‘Beauty’ industry. Somewhat naturally, philosophical questions about the ambivalence of objectifying women at the same time as working to address gender-related power imbalances were not discussed. Nevertheless, the women representing these foundations do hold company positions at the highest level, and are significant role models for women’s leadership. In the USA, as in Australia the percentage of women on corporate boards and in executive positions remains low⁵.
Although there was a notable absence of keynote addresses from women leaders from the European Community, momentum to end all forms of violence against women is also building there, with important reference made to the most recently ratified European Commission (EC) Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (CAHVIO) . Unsurprisingly, the largest numbers of participants came from the North American region, with Latin America and Africa also having many representatives present. Asia and the Pacific regions were poorly represented.
However the enormity and severity of the problem all forms of VAW continues to be a cause for pessimism. Particularly for women with disabilities, it was disappointing that much work still needs to be done by women in both the disability and DV sectors to lobby for inclusion of women with disabilities in Shelter policies and programs, for inclusion in future conference organisational structures, and in planning for inclusive practice in future conferences. Terminology used at this conference emphasised the nature of the changes needed. The focus was almost exclusively on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), which excludes a high proportion of the DV experienced by women with disabilities. It is encouraging to note that the definition of Domestic Violence in Article 3.b of the CAHVIO, includes violence which occurs within the ‘domestic unit’. Importantly also, a number of the workshops dealt with intersectionality, and the incidence, prevalence and severity of violence experienced where multiple discriminating factors are operating, including sexual preference, race, and immigrant or refugee status. The recognition of multiple discrimination in these contexts can be used to illustrate the need to extend the WCWS3 program to include disabilities.
WWDA, in collaboration with the Disabled Women’s Network (DAWN) in Canada, conducted a Workshop at the Conference. Sue Salthouse (WWDA) and Bonnie Brayton (DAWN) co-presented the Workshop, entitled “Forgotten Sisters no more! Mainstreaming Support for Women with Disabilities”. The Workshop was participatory in nature and aimed to:

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  discuss human rights & inclusion principles;
  
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  improve understanding of the distinctive nature, incidence & prevalence of domestic violence experienced by disabled women;
  
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  provide tips on improving awareness, making inclusive policies/programs for disabled women in shelter and crisis services; and,
  
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  map out actions to be taken locally and globally.
  

The workshop was attended by approximately 60 people. As for WCWS 1, most participants had some personal connection to someone with disabilities. One of the members of the interim board of USA National Network for Ending Domestic Violence (NNEDV) was present at the workshop, and a second Board member, Cynthia Fraser, met with Sue and Bonnie following the workshop. The WWDA/DAWN campaign for improved inclusion of women with disabilities was reiterated.

A copy of the Powerpoint Presentation used at the Workshop is available from the National WWDA Office. If you would like a copy, please email Carolyn at [e-mail]

‘Way with Words’ – By Margie Charlesworth

As an intelligent, capable woman with a speech impairment, life can be frustrating. Because I live my life as an ordinary person, I tend to not allow the thought of having a disability infringe on the way I live my life. In fact, the only time that I am reminded that I have a disability is when I interact with this world outside my own.

Many of the people I interact with on a daily basis will never know that I manage my own life (and have done so for 25 years); or that I am a university graduate and spent a full academic year overseas in obtaining my degree. Instead, some of these people will pass me by and never talk to me, and when they do they automatically talk very slowly and in a raised voice because they assume that I am deaf and that I have an intellectual disability (as well as the one they can see). Some will even talk over me because they assume that they know what I am saying or what I’m about to say. I’m still unsure as to what is worse – being interrupted – or being devalued because I am a woman, have a disability and am not readily understood.

One of the traps of not being constantly reminded that I am a woman with a disability is forgetting that just because I know what I am saying, does not mean that others can hear what I hear when I speak. In fact, I forget how much time it takes for others to “tune in” to a Cerebral Palsy accent. The other fallacy for me is that because I know that many people who I have regular contact with can often people pick up on my accent, by stringing words together, I have wrongly assumed that my own voice was adequate. This was a fairy naïve - almost arrogant view - of how things really are. Despite my Cerebral Palsy accent always being there, I have always used, and prefer to use my own voice. However, from wanting to have a career in educating people about the needs and issues for women with disabilities, I now know that I need to be realistic and find a way to communicate in a way that can be understood by all.

Last year I attended my first AGOSCI⁶ Conference and for the first time in my life I began to consider using a communication device. The membership of AGOSCI includes people with augmentative and complex communication needs and advocates – many of whom are speech therapists. I’ve been to many conferences but this was different. Somehow it was like I found my people, my community, a world where you knew people would just understand you and get you. It was like finding “one’s own people”.

I freely confess that before going to AGOSCI, I thought that by using a device to speak, would further confirm to the world that because I needed the device as an aide for my speech, it would confirm that I did in fact have an intellectual disability. I guess the reason I mention this is because having a disability does not necessarily mean that we are free from prejudices and it can take time to concede that technology can assist us to live the life that we desire.

In November 2011, I was invited to be a Co-Researcher on a research program through the University of South Australia (UniSA) and sponsored by Telstra. The objective of this project has been to provide people with Complex Communication Needs or speech impediments (accents) with mainstream technologies, to enable them to have a voice that will assist them to express their life choices and desires. An important feature of this research project is that because every disability is different; and no two people will have the same communication needs, the programs that people are going to use throughout this project are going to be different.

So, before I had access to the iPad and the Apps that enable me to deliver presentations, I used a rather ancient method of recording my presentation onto a digital recorder. This was a very tedious method and took hours to do, because when I listened back I would find mistakes, and so I would need to repeat the process. I confess to stopping this process after the third time and crossing my fingers and hoping no one but me would notice.

Using Speak it has cut my preparation time markedly. Because it is a simple process of transferring my written work across to the iPad I can either make alterations on the original copy and re-transfer, or I can simply make changes directly on the iPad.

The other programs that I can use - not just for my work but also my day-to-day communications with people - are programs called Verbally and Predictable. Verbally software is one where I can carry on a conversation in real time. I find this useful especially in crowded noisy areas where I need to be understood. I do find that I often only need to type a word or two now and then which allows the conversation to keep flowing.

Finally the most important thing that I was looking for with a communication aide was something that negated that special look, which reinforces some of the negative stereotypes associated with having a Cerebral Palsy accent. I also wanted to not only continue my advocacy role for women with disabilities, but also reinforce my abilities to become a leader in this field. In the short time that I’ve been a part of this project, I believe not only has the iPad met this goal, but I think it will open up doors that I never thought possible.

See Margie on You Tube talk about being involved in the iPad trials

Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co-x0QIU0E0

Disability in Indigenous communities: addressing the disadvantage
By Damian Griffis, Executive Officer, First Peoples Disability Network (Australia)
Disability has traditionally been looked at as a health issue in many Indigenous communities. The First Peoples Disability Network (Australia) is helping to create a strong voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability, writes Damian Griffis.

By any measure, Aboriginal people with disabilities are amongst the most disadvantaged Australians. They often face multiple barriers to their meaningful participation within their own communities and the wider community.

This continues to occur for a range of reasons including the fact that the vast majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities do not identify as a people with disability. This is because in traditional language there was no comparable word for 'disability'. Also the vast majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities are reluctant to take on a further negative label - particularly if they already experience discrimination based on their Aboriginality.

As a consequence, 'Disability' is a new conversation in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. A further major factor is that historically, the focus upon Aboriginal people with disability has been from a medical model of disability perspective. Whilst primary health care is essential, it has come at the cost of recognising the social aspects of disability. This has meant that discrimination against Aboriginal people with disability remains firmly entrenched.

Regrettably the general wellbeing of Aboriginal people with disability has not improved in any meaningful way. A couple of case studies that best illustrate the problem of the dominant medical model of disability include:

(i) An elder in a regional Aboriginal community became an amputee due to complications related to his diabetes. Upon release from hospital he was provided with a standard hospital issue wheelchair. Upon his return to his community he could no longer get into his home due to steps at his front door and had to leave his wheelchair outside and be physically assisted into his home. His access was further hampered by the fact that his community had very poor footpaths, which meant that he could not access the wider community in any meaningful way. There were also no accessible community transport options. The elder received medical intervention but nothing else of substance related to other critical parts of his life. He said 'they gave this here wheelchair but it mean nothing to me now, I can't use it'.
(ii) There are often high rates of otitis media (glue ear) amongst Aboriginal children. Increasingly these children are being successfully treated for their glue ear with appropriate medical intervention. However, some of these children have not been hearing properly for several years but there are no programs focused upon the learning disability they have acquired from not hearing properly for several years.
Furthermore, despite the high prevalence of disability in Aboriginal communities, the Closing the Gap campaign continues to overlook disability. I would argue this is because of a dominant medical model of disability approach; disability continues to be looked at as strictly health issues when clearly, it is more accurately a civil rights issue that involves the whole of life conditions of a person with disability, not simply a medical intervention.

A 2005 report⁷ by the Commonwealth Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision made the following conclusions:

The proportion of the indigenous population 15 years and over, reporting a disability or long-term health condition was 37 per cent (102 900 people). The proportions were similar in remote and non-remote areas. This measure of disability does not specifically include people with a psychological disability.
There are a range of social factors that contribute to the higher prevalence of disability in Aboriginal communities. For instance, there is a well-established link that shows poverty can be a direct cause of disability. In addition, disability can also result where there may have been a breakdown in community life or where people feel disenfranchised. Other contributing factors of disability in Aboriginal communities include poor access to quality healthcare, poor sanitation and the often poorly understood mental health consequences of colonisation.

A way to address some of the very serious human rights abuses experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disability is to support the ongoing development of their networks. To date, there is one formally constituted network of Aboriginal people with disability, their families and carers, based in NSW. However, there are also networks at various stages of development in Queensland, Victoria and a long-running informal network based in South Australia.

As an encouraging sign, on March 30 this year, the national peak organisation representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities, their families and carers was formally launched. Known as the First Peoples Disability Network (Australia), its role is to be a strong voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities and to educate both government and non-government sectors about the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities.

The organisation has identified three key priority areas: advocating and ensuring that the National Disability Insurance Scheme can meet the often unique needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities, the successful implementation of the National Disability Strategy from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective, and supporting the development of networks of Aboriginal people with disability in jurisdictions where they do not currently exist.

With the journey just beginning in many ways, there is clearly more to be done to promote and protect the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities. It is now over to the government and non-government sectors to better resource the state and national network so all can come together and learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disabilities and their families about the best way to meet their needs.

NB: Article reproduced with permission.
The 2nd World Assembly of Women with Disabilities

17-20 October 2011 - Seoul, Korea
In late August 2011, WWDA President, Sue Salthouse, along with a number of other women from Australian Disabled People’s Organisations, received an invitation to attend the Second World Assembly of Women with Disabilities (WAWD) to be held in Korea from 17-20 October 2011. In 2007, the Korean civil society “Women Striving for Brighter Tomorrow” (WSBT) organized a Global Summit of Women With Disabilities, which was held in Korea in conjunction with the 7th World Assembly of Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI). The invitation to the 2011 assembly, from President Hye-suk Heo and Chair of the Organising Committee Jin-ok Kim, announced twin objectives of enhancing solidarity among disabled women from around the world and of establishment of a global fund to provide aid and assistance to women with disabilities in less-resourced nations.
The conference was attended by women with disabilities from both the Global North and Global South. Informal partnerships were established with a view to addressing the inclusion of women with disabilities in all activities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, with emphasis on combatting extreme poverty and hunger experienced by women with disabilities⁸, improving health conditions⁹ and access to education¹⁰ as well as building capacity for more women with disabilities to participate in civil society¹¹.
Delegates to WAWD were requested to make a short presentation about the situation for women with disabilities in the country which they were representing. Fortunately WWDA’s CEO, Carolyn Frohmader, had prepared a Powerpoint earlier in 2011 for the purpose of enabling representatives to present information about WWDA at conferences. Because Young-Joo was to make the presentation in Auslan, the Powerpoint was adapted and a short English commentary to each slide written so that Young-Joo could make the translation to Auslan or KSL. A particular challenge for Young-Joo was the organisers’ request that all WAWD delegates wear their national costume for the conference welcome dinner, so she had to forgo wearing traditional Korean dress for that occasion, and donned an upturned Akubra and boots.
Young-Joo was accompanied at the conference by her daughter, Emily, so that the presentation on Australian women with disabilities was made in both Auslan and English. Delegates had simultaneous translation into Korean, and a range of other languages.
The Assembly was attended by approximately 2000 people, the majority of whom were women with disabilities, coming from 45 different countries.
WWDA thanks both Young-Joo and Emily for representing WWDA at this conference which consolidates women’s networking, particularly in the Asian Region. Young-Joo’s report follows: