Introduction

Michelle MillarOutreach Officer

Disability Action

Centre on Human Rights for People with Disabilities

Double Jeopardy

• “Women with disabilities face double jeopardy based both on their disability and their gender”.

• The stereotypes ascribed to women with disabilities condones passivity, dependence and failure”. (Menz. et al., 1989:32)

• More women than men are classed as being disabled

Stereotyping

• Incapable, unambitious, unreliable Ignorance, fear and prejudice are among the reasons for persons with disabilities being five times more likely to be unemployed and claiming benefits

than able-bodied people.

(‘Ready, willing and disabled’.” ‘Still afraid of the

wheelchair’, Financial Times, 2 April 2003)

Who are women with disabilities?

• Mothers, carers, partners, daughters

wives, lovers, sisters, friends, grandmothers, workers, artists, musicians, sports women, individuals

The five areas of Disability

• Physical

• Sensory

• Hidden

• Intellectual

• Mental Health

Medical v Social

Medical Model

• Society often considers disability to be a tragedy for the individual and a burden for the family and society. This is based on a medical approach to disability.

Social Model

• The social model of disability says that disability is created by barriers in society.

• These barriers generally fall into three categories:

1 The environment

2 People’s attitudes

3 Organisations

Personal account from colleague

• Seen as an extra cost to the organisation

• If my needs are not met I can lose networking opportunities and become isolated

• Rarely invited to social events outside work

• Sometimes feel I am being a nuisance

Being a disabled woman

• Sexual health – smear tests

• Difficult for women to access breast screening / mammograms.

• Some disabled women are unable to perform breast self examinations, thus increasing their risk of detecting an abnormality

Being a disabled woman – cont.

• Women with disabilities are seen as asexual.

• They are not seen as in need of birth control or information on sexual health

• Women with disabilities are at greater risk of being sexually abused than non-disabled women. (Craine et al., 1988: Musick, 1984; Senn, 1988).

• Likely to live on their own

Being a disabled woman - Cont.

• Sexual assault and battering may be two or three times higher for women with disabilities than for other women.

• Higher proportion of women with disabilities need fertility treatment as a result of their disability

Impact of budget cuts

• Training may become less important to employers

• Reasonable adjustments may become less important

• Flexible working patterns may become less important

Barriers

• Accessing good quality affordable childcare is crucial to enable women to remain in paid work, to access training or to retrain to increase their employment opportunities.

• Dealing with patronising attitudes from health professionals (e.g anti natal)

• Getting access to health care to suit ones’ needs

• Lack of awareness of what support & information is available

Employment?

• Over a third of businesses find it difficult to fill vacancies, yet 3.4 million persons with disabilities are out of work.

• One million say they want to work but cannot find a job.

www.realising-potential.org/your-business

case

Employment?

• Improving the employment rate of persons with disabilities would boost the economy by £13 billion the equivalent of six months’ economic growth.

(Disability Rights Commission, ‘Disability, Skills

and Work: Raising Our Ambitions’, June 2007)

Access to work

• 37,290 individuals were helped via access to work in 2009/10 financial year

• 29,040 individuals were helped in a 6 month period from April – Sept 2010

• Companies do not have to make expensive changes to their workplace to accommodate persons with disabilities.

Benefits cuts

• From April 2011 those working and receiving working tax credits will have their tax credits overall reduced by a bigger percentage (increasing from 39% to 41 %)

Withdrawal of certain elements (e.g. family element & baby element)

• Child benefit will be frozen for 3 years from 2011

Benefits cuts

• Independent Living Fund

• This fund provides money to allow 20,000 disabled people to live independently.

• The Independent living fund has closed to new applicants

• It will close permanently by 2015

Disability & Poverty

• Disabled people have extra costs associated with the effects of disability and these can include heating, transport, fuel, housing, shopping, clothing, aids, equipment and paying for care.

• There are many reports available to back up and illustrate the extra costs disabled people incur

Pregnancy

• Fears about how the pregnancy will impact upon their body

• How will their body adjust to the weight gain, mobility & independence

• Anxiety can increase due to previous experiences of hospital visits

• Feel more vulnerable

• May need specific equipment, mobility aids or larger wheelchair

Pregnancy - cont

• Concerns about choice Concerns about dignity

• Concerns about their disability being exacerbated following the birth

• Concerns that medication currently being taken has the potential to harm the foetus

• There is a 1:2 risk for women with mental health difficulties that their mental health will deteriorate

• Concerns about effects of post natal depression

Menopause

• Some women with disabilities may experience added difficulties with hot flushes.

• Women with conditions that affect the bowel

and bladder (e.g. spina bifida), may find that fluctuating and then declining oestrogen levels increase urinary tract infections, kidney and bladder stones, or result in poorer kidney function.

Menopause - cont

• Women with disabilities are one of the most marginalised groups in our society.

• Much work is still to be done to understand their lives in order to remove the barriers which still exist.

Principles of Human Rights

• Fairness

• Respect

• Equality

• Dignity

UNCRPD

Article 6 – Women with Disabilities

• State Parties recognise that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination, and in this regard shall take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by them of all Human Rights and fundamental freedoms

UNCRPD

Article 6

• State parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure full development, advancement and empowerment of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms as set out in the present Convention