Ann Marie Smith died in abject circumstances, at the hands of her carer in the middle-class Adelaide suburb of Kingston Park. Her killing raises questions about the way our society treats the Disabled, in life and in death. .
The woman, known as Chloe, gave evidence to the disability royal commission that she was repeatedly raped by the man, and later fell pregnant. She told the DRC she “nearly died” and lost her baby in one of the attacks in 2016.
“As well as experiencing violence from family and our partners in our private home, we’re in disability group homes or in mental health inpatient wards. We’ve got disability support workers coming into our homes to do things like help us go to bed and help us shower,” Jen Hargrave from Women with Disability Victoria said.
“Violence against women and girls with disabilities is not perpetrated by a ‘few bad apples,’ it looks like street harassment, controlling behaviours by paid and unpaid carers, doctors and policy-makers taking away reproductive choices, and institutional violence.”
This resource names ableism and gender inequality as the two consistent, intersecting drivers of violence against women and girls with disabilities. It sets out the actions that must be taken to address these drivers and stop this violence before it starts. It points to the many stakeholders that need to take action – from individuals to communities, schools and workplaces, to disability and health services, and governments. It makes clear that we all have a role to play in preventing this violence.
A new groundbreaking report has revealed alarmingly high rates of violence experienced by women and girls with disabilities, with 65 per cent having experienced violence. Our Watch and Women with Disabilities Victoria has found women and girls with disabilities are twice as likely to experience physical and sexual violence compared to able bodied women and girls.
Guest: Jen Hargrave, Senior Policy Officer at Women with Disabilities Victoria
The Victorian government has seized control of two supported care homes in Melbourne’s outer north-west after an investigation revealed coercion and abuse of residents, uninhabitable living conditions, forgery of signatures and access to NDIS services being hindered. Sydenham Grace and Gracemanor (formerly Meadowbrook) supported residential services in Sydenham and Melton South, which house people with mental illness and disabilities, have been placed into administration.
One of Australia’s largest national disability insurance scheme providers has apologised to the residents of two troubled group homes after allegations of violence, abuse and neglect were aired at an inquiry. Life Without Barriers charged residents at a Victoria home a substantial proportion of their disability pension for “rent” despite the property being leased on a peppercorn deal of $1 a month.
A woman with cerebral palsy was sexually assaulted in a public park after her disability accommodation provider refused to let her meet her date in her own home, the disability royal commission has heard.
Of the 1,044,851 reportable incidents lodged by NDIS providers in 2020–2021, a whopping 98.7%, (or 1,032,064) concerned the use of URPs. (Unauthorised Restrictive Practice) That is a staggeringly high number no matter how you look at it. It’s surely not possible for even the most well-resourced organisation to review and consider each one of these incidents.
This session was part of the Lunchtime Learnings webinar series, supporting service providers about how to support, and respond better to older people experiencing elder abuse. The sessions aim to improve capacity across the sector by delivering topic based information sessions with topic expert guests.
There hasn’t been nearly enough work done to fix the criminal justice system for people with disability, according to an advocate who knows first-hand how traumatic prison can be for those in the disability community.
Alarming statistics about the violence and abuse experienced by women and girls with disability have been laid bare for a Commonwealth inquiry, including increased reports of strangulation during the pandemic.
Indigneous woman Lisa Sansbury tells her story of trauma and abuse after being removed from her family at a young age. She tells her story in a painting to be submitted to the Disability Royal Commission with the support of her Indigenous advocate at Grampians disAbility Advocacy.
The report examines existing research to gain a better understanding of both risk and protective factors relating to why some members of society cause harm to people with disability. A rapid review process was used to identify 168 papers in the peer-reviewed literature. The researchers found that the majority of studies focused on the risks for people with disability while only few looked at the risk factors which enable perpetrators, or systemic issues that enable violence.