### Key Facts About Disability and Gender Who Are Women with Disabilities?

Nearly one in every five Victorian women has a disability. Weare every woman. Weare doctors, lawyers, health and community service workers, playwrights and teachers. Weare mothers and carers, actively sexual and celibate, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual. Welive on farms, in regional communities, in urban high rise and in the suburbs. Wefollow football and dance, go to TAFE and university. Wevalue public transport and accessible buildings. Weare religious, from many faiths and non-religious, from many perspectives. Weare diverse in our ideologies, but passionate about our right to be recognised as ordinary women… with a disability.

### What Barriers Do We Face?

Weencounter discrimination on many levels, each of which restricts our opportunities for equal participation in economic, social, educational and political life. Some women with disabilities experience multiple layers of discrimination based on their race, age, gender and sexual orientation, as well as their disability. Weare often ignored in government legislation, policies and programs and our needs are not adequately recognised within community organisations and services. Wehave traditionally been excluded from the mainstream women's social movement, whilst issues of concern to women with disabilities have not been addressed by the broader disability advocacy movement. On all measures of social and economic participation (housing security, income, employment and education), women with disabilities are disadvantaged compared to women and men without disabilities. Wealso experience higher levels of disadvantage than men with disabilities when it comes to employment and income levels. As women with disabilities, we lack access to adequate health care and other services for ourselves and our children, particularly when health centres fail to provide a welcoming, inclusive environment with accessible parking, accessible toilets and accessible examination tables. Women with disabilities are targeted by people who use violence, including by intimate partners. Weare also less likely to know about or have access to services responding to violence against women.

### Key Facts About Disability and Violence Against Women

- • and disability-based discrimination doubles the risk of violence for women and girls with • and disability-based discrimination doubles the risk of violence for women and girls with disabilities as compared to women without disabilities.
- • with disabilities experience all types of violence at higher rates, with increased severity and for • with disabilities experience all types of violence at higher rates, with increased severity and for longer than other women.
- • who use violence often target women who they see as less powerful, such as women with barriers • who use violence often target women who they see as less powerful, such as women with barriers to communicate to others what has happened to them and those restricted in their physical movement.
- • one-third of women with disabilities experience some form of intimate partner violence. • one-third of women with disabilities experience some form of intimate partner violence.
- • women experience social isolation as both a risk factor for, and a consequence of, violence. Some • women experience social isolation as both a risk factor for, and a consequence of, violence. Some perpetrators use social isolation as a form of controlling behaviour in itself.
- • can be compounded for women living rurally or remotely, women who are culturally isolated • can be compounded for women living rurally or remotely, women who are culturally isolated and for older women.
- • with Disabilities Victoria's research and contribution to the recent Royal Commission into Family • with Disabilities Victoria's research and contribution to the recent Royal Commission into Family Violence ensured the voices and experiences of women with disabilities were heard. Women with Disabilities Victoria continues to work with community organisations and all levels of government to ensure the recommendations of the Royal Commission are implemented.

Women's Health Services Disability Audit Tool

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