Targeted action plan needed to address violence against women living with disability

11 May 2022 

JFA Purple Orange is calling on the next Federal Government to prioritise a targeted action plan to address violence against women and girls living with disability.

Women and girls living with disability experience higher rates of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse than those without disability. People living with intellectual disability or high care needs are even more likely to experience harm, particularly from a care giver, in an instituional setting, or in the form of a restrictive practice.

‘Despite the higher statistics, current support services are ill-equipped to provide the assistance women with disability desperately need,’ JFA Purple Orange Policy Leader, Ellen Fraser-Barbour said.

‘Historically, policy decisions on this issue have been made by people without disability, which has contributed to barriers for women with disability accessing and seeking help from domestic and family violence services and increased isolation and stigma.

‘It is time we gave them a voice and include them in the planning and design of services and policy.’

'Women and girls living with disability experiencing domestic violence are often ‘passed around’ between services, including the NDIS, homelessness, domestic violence and sexual assault services, and the justice system, until they eventually fall through the cracks. '

‘JFA Purple Orange welcomes the Federal Government’s recent commitment of $1.3 billion over six years to improve women and girls’ safety in Australia, but we are disappointed by the lack of specific focus within that package on violence against women and girls living with disability,’ JFA Purple Orange CEO Robbi Williams said.

‘The only specifics relating to women and girls living with disability comes from a 2020-21 Federal budget allocation of $9.3 million over three years to develop resources to reduce violence. 

There needs to be greater clarity on the level and nature of this investment and it needs to include a holistic approach to safeguarding and prevention, including eliminating discrimniation, promoting autonomy and supported decision-making, and addressing the unique risk factors that expose women and girls living with disability to violence. In additiona, it needs to strengthen inclusive responses services when women and girls living with disability are victims of violence.

‘We are calling on whoever forms the next federal government after the election to prioritise the codesign of a targeted action plan to address violence against women and girls living with disability, similar to that promised for First Nations communities, where we also know the need is high.

‘Without significant investment from the $1.3 billion package and the active involvement of the disability community in developing solutions, we will not achieve the needed outcomes.

JFA Purple Orange is calling on the next Federal Government to:

• Develop and implement a targeted action plan to address violence against women and girls living with disability
• Ensure that women and girls living with disability play an active role in codesigning solutions
• Improve the accessibility of mainstream support services and eliminate barriers that prevent women and girls from safely accessing these services and the justice system

• Invest in data collection, analysis, and reporting of the experiences of women and girls living with disability so the size and nature of the issues can be better understood and addressed
• Provide significant and sustained investment in independent individual and systemic advocacy services across Australia.

 

‘There is a clear and urgent need for these investments to create real ongoing change for women and girls living with disability who are experiencing violence in higher numbers than the general population - and the solutions must be guided by those who are living and breathing these experiences,’ Mr Williams said.

 For more information, visit our election statement on women’s safety.

JFA Purple Orange is advocating on a range of issues in the lead up to the federal election. To view these in detail, visit our website.

 

Media Enquiries

Lana Thrupp

Phone: 0408 831 914

Email: lanat@purpleorange.org.au    

 

Robbi Williams, CEO, JFA Purple Orange

Phone: 0401 123 426 

Email: robbiw@purpleorange.org.au