Approximately 54 million Americans live with a disability (as defined by the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990) and research to date suggests that women with disabilities (cognitive, physical, psychiatric, or sensory) experience domestic violence, abuse, sexual assault and stalking at higher or similar rates than non-disabled women. 

 

While anyone can be the victim of domestic violence and intimate partner stalking, women with disabilities may be more frequently targeted or vulnerable to victimization than others in our community.  Although batterers may utilize similar tactics of power and control and abuse (isolation, physical violence, emotional and psychological abuse, financial exploitation and abuse, and sexual violence), women with disabilities may face unique experiences and challenges.  For example, an abuser may destroy assistive communication devices such as a TTY machine, withhold access to a motorized wheelchair, prevent her from receiving outside attendant care services, leave her unattended, or delay or deny her medications. 

 

While it is challenging for many victims of domestic violence to find safety and support, women with disabilities may also face unique, additional impediments that not only discourage them from reaching out for help, but make accessing existing services difficult or even impossible.  A domestic violence program that does not own or know how to operate a TTY machine may result in virtual inaccessibility for deaf and hard of hearing victims.  Victim rights and information about services and community resources not readily available in alternative formats, such as large print, Braille or audio, may keep victims further uninformed and isolated.  Organizations housed in buildings or locations that are inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs may compromise the safety, confidentiality, and privacy of these individuals because they cannot provide a safe space for crisis intervention, shelter, and ongoing support. 

 

Although service providers with domestic violence expertise are in a better position to evaluate and address a survivor’s needs as they relate to the abuse, relative inexperience with or misinformation about the multitude of disability issues may limit their ability to effectively address the individual’s unique concerns posed by the disability.  Because they are generally not knowledgeable about screening for or assisting consumers with domestic violence issues, disability organizations may not have appropriate protocols and procedures to address disclosures and may be poorly equipped to provide for a victim’s needs and address the range of her concerns during a crisis. 

 

These barriers may be particularly harmful because batterers often rely on them as tools to continue the violence or use them to their fullest advantage to limit the victim’s options, increase her isolation, and reinforce power and control.  

 

In 2004, GULP and PILOR partnered with the Center For Disability Rights and New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence on a grant funded by the United States Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Act. 

 

This exciting and unique statewide initiative allows our three organizations to draw upon our relative expertise to help create an informed, educated, and inter-connected community of domestic violence and disability rights advocates in New York State who provide services to abused women with disabilities.  Under this project, we are seeking to reduce or eliminate the physical, programmatic and attitudinal barriers that hinder women with disabilities’ access to and utilization of essential domestic violence-related crisis and support services. 

 

With this goal in mind, this collaborative project will:

 

·        Provide technical assistance and support to domestic violence service providers and disability organizations on ADA compliance, safety planning, civil rights and other legal issues affecting abused women with disabilities and women who are deaf or hard of hearing

·        Offer education and training to organizations on the issue of domestic violence and intimate partner stalking as it relates to women with disabilities and women who are deaf or hard of hearing

·        Develop a series of cross-trainings for domestic violence programs and disability services providers throughout the state (outside of New York City)

·        Provide an ongoing support network for these domestic violence and disability service providers via moderated listserv

·        House substantive information, resources, and fact sheets about domestic violence and women with disabilities on the GULP/PILOR website

·        Create a model training for Monroe County addressing service provision to and cultural/communication barriers for victims of domestic violence who are deaf or hard of hearing

·        Develop a comprehensive self-assessment tool for domestic violence programs that will allow the programs to critically evaluate their own architectural, programmatic, and attitudinal accessibility to women with disabilities

 

For more information about this Project, please contact