DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN)/Réseau d'action de femmes handicapées (RAFH) Canada

No the title of my talk is NOT Understanding the Response Needs of Women with Disabilities who are Victims of Violence …

30 Years of Leadership, Partnership and Networking – what now?!

Presented by Bonnie Brayton, National Executive Director, DAWN-RAFH Canada November 7th, 2014

aus·pi·ciousôˈspiSHəs/adjective•conducive to success; favorable.

Produced in collaboration with The Learning Centre at University of Western Ontario’s Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children, this Resource and Educational Tool highlights the context of violence experienced by women with disabilities and provides statistics and important resources.

Creating transformation by…

Leadership

Partnership

Networking

The gaps that continue• http://www.understandingsexwork.com/October 2014• About one third of managers (33%) and sex workers(35%) in our

study, as well as one quarter (25%) of intimate partners said they had a long term disability

• These figures are well above the Canadian average. • In 2012.

• Statistics Canada reported14% of adult Canadians were limited in their daily activities due to a disability, with the prevalence of disability increasing with age,

• reaching 16% for those aged 45 – 64 (Statistics Canada, 2013a)

How DAWN-RAFH works…

1. An issue is identifiedhttp://www.dawncanada.net/?attachment_id=1296

1. Identify WWD and stakeholders who will lead work, identify and build partnerships and establish key networks

2. Develop and implement the plan

LeadershipRidington, Jillian, Beating the “Odds”: Violence and Women with

Disabilities, 1989. Masuda, Shirley and Jillian Ridington, Meeting Our Needs: An Access

Manual for Transition Houses, 2nd printing, April 1992.

Masuda, Shirley, Don’t Tell Me To Take A Hot Bath: Resource Manual for Crisis Workers, 1995.

NATIONAL Accessibility and Accommodation Survey (NAAS)

Demanding Access to Justice for Women with Intellectual Disabilities, Brain Injury and Mental Health - R vs. DAI - 2012

Leadership …• Violence against Women with disabilities – Violence

prevention review:• http://www.dawncanada.net/?bookmarks=violence-against-

women-with-disabilities-violence-prevention-review• • Recommendations: Meeting the Needs of Victims of Crime in

Canada:• http://www.dawncanada.net/?attachment_id=1017

Partnership …

Exposing Abuse of Federally-Sentenced Women with Mental Health Issues - Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading? Canada’s Treatment of Federally-Sentenced Women with Mental Health Issues - U of T, Native Women’s Association, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies – 2012Learning Network Newsletter: Issue #7 | December 2013 (PDF)

Ableism is a form of violence Ableism and ableist views are ways in which ideas/beliefs

are organized and supported that is based on the belief that the‘ablebody’ is favoured/preferred over the disAbled body.

Similar to the experience of racism homophobia/transphobia and sexism, it is the socially constructed characteristics of disAbility that positions people with disAbilitiesas an ‘inferior’ group to non disAbled people.

Definition of Disability

“Disability” results from the interaction between persons with impairments,

conditions or illnesses and the environmental and attitudinal barriers

that hinders full and effective participation in society on an equal

basis with others.

12

Definition of Disability (continued)

+ =

DISABILITY !

Impairment and/or

Illness

Exclusionary

environments and/or attitudes

13

The UN Convention on the Rights of People (CRPD) does not explicitly define

disability – why?

Preamble of Convention states:

Disability is an evolvingConcept

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Partnership – InFocusBringing People with Disabilities into the

picture With our lead partner the Canadian Association for Community Living, 13 + provincial/ territorial and dozens of local groups…

We are assisting communities to organize around ..Health & wellness promotion – with a focus on breast cancer

prevention

Combating violence against women, men and older adults

3 funded projects rolled into 1 initiative!

Cancer Screening and Early Detection for Women with Disabilities & People with Intellectual Disabilities (Public Health Agency of Canada)

Preventing and Responding to Elder Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities and Deaf People (ESDC- New Horizons for Seniors Program -NHSP)

Preventing and Responding to Violence in the Lives of Women & Deaf Women (Status of Women Canada)

To respond to the abuse of seniors with disabilities, DAWN-RAFH Canada and the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) are implementing a project entitled “Preventing And Responding to Elder Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities and Deaf People.”

Approach

Draws on Ellen Pence’s work on Institutional Ethnography in the form of Safety Audits

Work in one demonstration community in each of the provinces/territories

One implementation process that integrates the 3 projects in these local communities

More on lead organizations!

Why? - We want to put disability on the social equity agenda and build the capacity of the other local community sectors to include peoplewith disabilities.

Local communities and Lead organizations!

Montreal – YWCA Montreal Steinbach - Steinbach Chamber of Commerce Vancouver - Social Planning & Research Council of BC Edmonton - The Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative St John- St. John Human Development Council Whitehorse – Yukon Status of Women Council Summerside – Cooper Institute Kitchener-Waterloo – Cross-sectoral Steering Committee- led by CHC Halifax – YWCA Halifax Yellowknife – YWCA Yellowknife Iqaluit - Iqaluit City Council St. John- The Independent Living Resource Centre Regina – Regina Immigrant Women’s Centre

What are we trying to accomplish? –more specifically.. Objectives

To raise awareness about these issues at the local level for the mainstream, other population-specific groups and non-profit organizations.

To identify, examine, understand and reach the breadth of diversity that exists in the disability population.

To learn how to establish a local infrastructure to support this work.

Networking Canadian Association for Community LivingCanadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Making Women Count Canadian Federation of Nurses UnionsCanadian Labour CongressCRIAW (Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women)Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry SocietiesMaison Parent RobackCentre de documentation en Education des Adultes et de la femme (CDEACF)

Networking Acquired Brain Injury – Women and Girls Working Group (American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine)Council of Canadians with DisabilitiesCanadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition HousesFAFIA (The Feminist Alliance for International Action)Canadian Women’s Health NetworkCanadian Association for the Deaf/ Deaf Women’s Leadership ProjectNational Action Committee on Access to Family JusticeNational Victims of Crime NetworkBold Vision

WITHOUT A VOICE: WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AND VICTIMIZATION

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7kejw_llr6E

WE CAN TELL AND WE WILL!Information for women with disabilities about identifying and reporting abuse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dPKu2YoCLI8

Leading by example ….

First Nations, Inuit and Metis people

Immigrant and racialized women

Work in both official languages – part ofthe Quebec community

Deaf, Deafened and Hard of Hearing communities

Leading on Intersectional Work

- CRIAW & DAWN-RAFH – Inclusive Meeting Tool;- Vancouver/SFU – Intersectional Conference- A Bold Vision

In collaboration with FemNorthNet  and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) , the Disabled Women’s Network of Canada is launching our brand new resource “Diversity through Inclusive Practice: An Evolving Toolkit for Creating Inclusive Processes, Spaces & Events.”

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Our commitment for the next 30 years!

- Continue to develop tools, resources, curriculum;

- Continue to lead research and to raise the issues that affect women with disAbilities and Deaf women;

- Continue to engage and support others in leading;

A new conversation begins today … Partnership• Today, as Leaders and Partners, I ask that

we work together and begin the deeper work … connecting all the factors that contribute to the over representation of women with differing abilities in a range of 'post traumatic ' states, all of them manifestations of the physical, sexual, emotional and systemic abuse which women experience.

Resources for Conference Participants• http://www.dawncanada.net/en-news/eva-bc-annual-

training-forum/