Bronwyn Moye's Speech Reclaim The Night Rally 2007
I am speaking tonight on behalf of all women with disability across NSW. Whatever the disability I am talking about the collective me.
We all know that that people with disabilities have the same rights as able bodied people including the right to freedom from sexual and physical abusive.
Women with disability represent 20% of all women i.e. 2 million of us! Women with disability are at least twice as likely to be victims of violence than our sisters and less likely to be believed. We are talking about a significant number of victims! Yet our voices are rarely heard our access to support services limited!
Domestic violence and sexual violence is about power and control. Many women with disabilities live in situations where their power is undermined and someone else has control or can easily remove any control they have
The majority of women with significant disabilities are dependant on some sort of support service, equipment, medication to enable us to participate in Life. Our lives are more complex.
As a group we are less educated. This can limit our access to information and our ability to interpret it, limiting life choices and limiting our ability to achieve financial and living independence.
When able bodied people encounter a women with disability reporting Domestic violence all they see is the disability! People respond to our disability not to the violence.
We also need to redefine domestic violence and what is violence to include the many different living situations of women with disabilities e.g. group homes
For women with sensory disabilities access to information and communication technology in general are essential to these women seeking support after violence and developing ways to keeping safe to prevent it that don’t result in hiding.
Think of the woman who is blind whose husband never hit her but when he was angry would move everything around so she was lost in her own home.
Some women with physical disabilities have developed complex local support systems that inevitably involve their partners. If that partner turns perpetrator it is very difficult to escape especially if the violence involves destruction of her essential equipment
With refuges unable to meet even the needs of able bodied women what chance is there for women with disabilities? There is no where she can go if part of her care is provided by the perpetrator she lives with escaping is not easy. A lot of planning is required.
For women with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities credibility is a major issue- particularly when reporting assault and in the process of seeking legal redress or seeking protection orders.
Women with disabilities in relationships with able bodied men also risk custody of their children if they choose to leave an abusive relationship.
We are strong we are resilient we are women our experiences are real.
Must we wait until all able bodied women have access to the refuge system before our needs can be met.
I recommend that all workers in the domestic and sexual assault services obtain the latest publication by Women with Disability Australia a Resource Kit resource
