Disabled Women's Conference on Violence and Abuse
The
Disabled Women’s Conference on Violence and Abuse took place on 7 July
2001 at the National Centre for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in central London.
This is a very accessible venue and proved ideal for all impairment groups.
The catering facilities were excellent and lunch proved a big success.
The morning began with presentations by Simone Aspis on the
Rights of the Unborn Disabled Baby; the Domestic Violence Research Project undertaken
by Pauline Magowan from Nottingham University; and Sheila Blair speaking on
Female Genital Mutilation.
47 women attended and three workshops were facilitated: one
by Simone Aspis on The Rights of the Unborn Disabled baby; one by Anne Pridmore
and Pauline Magowan on Domestic Violence and its wider aspects i.e. Personal
Assistance Abuse; and one on Female Genital Mutilation facilitated by Sheila
Blair.
We also ran a bookstall concentrating on issues around violence
and abuse in respect to women, while Gwen Hampton provided entertainment at
lunchtime.
An action plan was developed out of the day as follows:
ACTION PLAN
Workshop 1 - Human Rights of the Unborn Disabled Child - Simone
Aspis
- More education in schools for a better understanding of disabled
babies i.e. not to abort on the basis of impairment
- Campaign for a network to support disabled women which will
be run/managed by disabled women
- Positive counselling for all women when a scan shows the
predisposition to have a baby with an impairment
- Educate people on the dangers of testing i.e. that testing
can and does cause impairment and it can be dangerous
- Ask at ante natal clinics the risks of having a 4D scan
- Campaign for a peer support group for women who have been
told they are carrying a baby with an impairment
- Educate the medical profession to accept/see impairment as
positive
Workshop 2 - Violence and Abuse - Pauline Magowan and Anne
Pridmore
- Raising awareness of the much wider aspects of abuse in relation
to disabled women - service providers, government and voluntary agencies
etc. Raise awareness of carer/PA/intimate partner abuse - abusers who
perform the caring role are likely to have available to them a wider range
of abusive behaviours and to conceal abuse (afforded more credibility/able
to conceal abuse etc.
- Include on web site a section on violence and abuse, raise
awareness generally among disabled women about violence - where to get
help, what is abuse - many disabled women have normalised abusive behaviours.
Use creative means by which to disseminate knowledge for disabled women (e.g.
public toilets, hospitals, bus stops, GP’s, day centres etc.)
- Campaign to change employment law for those who employ Personal
Assistants in their own home
- Campaign to change community care packages to include support
for disabled women who need assistance with child care - not only for
women with children but all disabled women who are at risk of abuse by carer
or partner/carer - (if their partner is a carer - because they are
often not entitled to community care packages) -reassessment programmes
take too long at the moment and it is often difficult if not impossible to
transfer community care packages to different boroughs etc
- Campaign for a national organisation run and managed by disabled
women to cover all abuse in respect to disabled women
- Raise awareness in government i.e. the Women’s Unit
of the need to include disabled women in mainstream agendas, resources both
financial and human
- Refuges to be made as accessible as possible for requirements
of disabled women - not just physical access but accessible in terms
of refuge workers knowledge regarding disabled women’s particular experiences
of domestic violence and other abuses enacted against them, also access in
terms of PA support.
Workshop 3 - Female Genital Mutilation - Sheila
Blair
- Work with ethnic, cultural groups and unions to raise awareness
- Produce a leaflet to explain the dangers of FGM which could
be distributed in schools, hospitals, maternity units, family planning clinics
etc
- All information must be in accessible formats and alternative
languages
- Use of religious leaders to raise awareness
- Network within own groups, society, education
- Ministry for Women
For more information about the work of the Women's Committee
in taking this action plan forward, join us online or
contact us to be put on our mailing list.
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