A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities (pdf)
This guide helps women with disabilities from around the world to overcome the barriers of social stigma and inadequate care to improve their general health, self-esteem, and independence as active members of their communities.
Chapter 14 specifically covers abuse, violence and self-defense. The chapter discusses different kinds of abuse, preventing abuse, support for women leaving violent partners, sexual violence, abuse in institutions, and what to do to be safer.
Breaking the Links Between Poverty and Violence against Women: A Resource Guide (pdf)
"This resource guide explores the ways in which poverty and violence are linked. It acknowledges the efforts of women’s groups, community organizations and service agencies that support low-income women to take control of and deal with the poverty and violence in their lives. Another area of focus is to inspire community-based groups to take action on poverty and violence issues by providing practical examples of what others are doing."
Crimes Against People with Disabilities, 2007 (pdf)
"Using 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey data, the study found that persons with disabilities were victims of about 47,000 rapes. Rates of rape and sexual assault were more than twice those for people without disabilities. In addition, youth with a disability ages 12 to 19 experienced violence at nearly twice the rate as those without a disability."
Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing and a Victim of Domestic Violence
If you are Deaf, DeafBlind or Hard-of-Hearing and also a victim of domestic violence (or an advocate working with someone who is) this resource may be helpful to you. Developed in 2004, the information is divided into four sections: information on programs; questions victim/survivors often ask; information for advocates regarding Deaf culture; and Deaf specific general resources.
Emerging issues in domestic/family violence research (pdf)
"This paper presents an overview of the key emerging issues in Australian domestic and family violence research in the context of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities; the elderly; those with disabilities; people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; Indigenous communities; homelessness; the impact on children; and issues around perpetrator programs."
The goal of this manual is to expand the definition of what is "enough" when it comes to domestic violence advocacy, so that all domestic violence services are as accessible as possible to all persons regardless to disability.
Forging New Collaborations: A Guide for Rape Crisis, Domestic Violence, and Disability Organizations (pdf)
This document was created as a roadmap for bringing together agencies at the intersection of violence and disability so that they can create a new and effective approach to safety, healing, and accessibility to services for their clients.
This report focuses on the prevalence and pervasiveness of violence against women and girls with disabilities. Although women with disabilities experience many of the same forms of violence all women experience, when gender and disability intersect, violence takes on unique forms, has unique causes, and results in unique consequences. Further, women with disabilities who are also people of color or members of minority or indigenous peoples, or who are lesbian, trans-gender or intersex or who live in poverty, can be subject to particularized forms of violence and discrimination. These intersections must be explored in greater depth to ensure that the complexities of violence against women with disabilities are properly understood and addressed.
Impact: Feature Issue on Violence Against Women with Developmental or Other Disabilities (pdf)
Examines how disability service providers, sexual and domestic violence programs, law enforcement, researchers, and women with disabilities can work together to respond to a major civil rights, quality of life, and health issue for women with disabilities - the presence of violence in their lives.
Impact: Feature Issue on Violence and Women with Developmental or Other Disabilities (pdf)
This publication presents a collection of articles that explore violence as it impacts women with developmental and other disabilities. This collection offers strategies and ideas for bringing together disability service providers, sexual and domestic violence programs, law enforcement and the justice system, policymakers, researchers, and women with disabilities to prevent future victimization.
Increasing Agency Accessibility for People with Disabilities: DV Agency Self-Assessment Guide (pdf)
The Coalition developed this tool specifically for domestic violence organizations to increase their program’s ability to work with people with disabilities. This self-assessment guide is intended to assist domestic violence programs in evaluating their accessibility to victims with disabilities in their community.
Individual-Systemic Violence: Disabled Women's Standpoint (pdf)
"This article explores reasons for the systemic omission of women with disabilities from mainstream research and from services addressing non-disabled women's experiences."
Interpersonal Violence and Women With Disabilities: A Research Update
"This article provides an update on what researchers have learned during the past ten years about abuse and women with disabilities and offers some perspectives on the state of current research and its implications for future studies and advocacy efforts."
Model Protocol on Safety Planning for Domestic Violence Victims with Disabilities
The goal of this protocol and recommended policies is to support domestic violence agencies: to increase their safety planning services to people with disabilities and advance self-determination for people with disabilities by offering safety planning that is cognizant of environmental and social barriers. This protocol builds on the existing safety planning knowledge of domestic violence programs. Basic safety planning strategies will not be reviewed in this document.
Model Protocol on Screening Practices for Domestic Violence Victims with Disabilities (pdf)
The goal of this protocol is to support domestic violence agencies in the State of Washington in examining and revising their intake and screening process to include questions about disability issues. Inquiring if a victim has a disability that requires accommodation gives the program information that enables them to provide appropriate accessible services.
Model Protocol on Service Animals in Domestic Violence Shelters (pdf)
"This document provides basic information about the use of service animals, the laws that apply to domestic violence shelters and service animals, and suggested policies and procedures for domestic violence shelters regarding service animals."
On the Road to Equality: Statewide Findings & Policy Recommendations (pdf)
"A supplement to the Status of Girls in Minnesota report by the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota in partnership with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Focus groups were conducted in 18 Minnesota communities that included African American, Latino, Native American, Asian American, LBT (Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender), and disabilities communities — to share key research findings and gain community input. This report captures the voices and policy recommendations of these communities, nonprofit and public leaders."
Psychological Abuse: A Discussion Paper (pdf)
"This paper is a review of research on psychological abuse in interpersonal and family relationships including in settings such as long-term care residences.The paper presents research findings on the personal, economic and health related costs of psychological abuse to the individual and to society, and briefly outlines legal recourses for victims. It concludes by exploring ways to recognize and address psychological abuse, while emphasizing the importance of developing holistic approaches "
Recognizing and Interrupting Abuse of Adults with Disabilities
Part of the World Institute on Disability, this website provides information on abuse towards those with a disability. Headings include "What is Abuse", "Types of Abuse", "What contributes to Abuse", and more.
Resource Guide for Advocates & Attorneys on Interpretation Services for Domestic Violence Victims (pdf)
This document provides guidelines from the Interpretation Technical Assistance and Resource Center that focus on court interpretation for domestic and sexual violence victims with limited English proficiency. These guidelines inform how advocacy, interpretation, and language access can be integrated.
Responding to Abuse Against Women with Disabilities: Broadening the Definition of Domestic Violence (pdf)
An article that discusses the importance of screening for domestic violence by health care providers when serving women with disabilities.
Special Collection: Domestic and family violence and disability
While comprehensive information about domestic and family violence against people with disabilities is limited, available research suggests that women with disabilities experience significantly higher levels of violence than other women, while facing greater challenges to accessing support and assistance. This Clearinghouse database contains a wide array of research and resources on issues related to people with disabilities, including information about prevalence and service practice, as well as resources for clients and workers.
Thematic study on the issue of violence against women and girls and disability (pdf)
This report analyzes national legislation, policies and programmes for the protection and prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities. It highlights the remaining challenges in addressing the root causes of violence against women and girls with disabilities and how to incorporate women and girls with disabilities into gender-based violence programmes. The study concludes with recommendations on legislative, administrative, policy and programmatic measures to address violence against women and girls with disabilities.
Violence Against Women With Disabilities: An Overview of the Literature
This report explores the literature in relation to women with disabilities and violence from 1990-1999.
1998 article. Discusses the general issues (portrait of a woman with disability, what is violence, causes, why women?), specifications on maltreatment against disabled women, types of violence, general polices to combat violence against women, different world approaches, and more.
Violence in the Lives of Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
"This Special Collection offers information regarding the experiences and needs of individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing and victims/survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence. The collection seeks to increase knowledge and understanding of deaf culture, provide resources to assist professionals working directly with deaf individuals, and highlight best practices."
Working with Victims of Crime with Disabilities
This is a product of the Symposium on Working with Crime Victims with Disabilities, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and coordinated by the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). They developed recommendations for OVC and the victim assistance field on improving the response in serving crime victims with disabilities.