'Changing Discourses of Disability and
Human Rights in Australia'- By Helen Meekosha (2000)
'Disability' has become a term embedded in a number of competing
discourses, each of which have an institutional determination -
either formal or informal. The critical interface lies between
medical, individualised and social discourses. The conflict at
this interface is revealed in the struggle over human rights for
and by people with disabilities. In 2000 a new national Action
Plan on human rights is being devised by the Australian federal
government, in an environment of governmental hostility to human
rights and UN conventions. This paper explores the power
relations of disability discourses through competing
interpretations of interests and issues in the human rights
field. Copyright.
'Locked In....And Locked Out - Women With
Intellectual Disabilities: Coming Out of the Institution'- By
Kelley Johnson (2000)
Dr Kelley Johnson is a Research Fellow at the Australian Research
Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University. This
article is based on a four year ethnographic study which is now
published as 'Deinstitutionalising Women: An Ethnographic Study
of Institutional Closure' (1998). Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia: 'WWDA Leadership & Mentoring Workshop Project' - Final Report (2000)
[PDF Version] [Word Version]
In late 1999, WWDA applied to the Commonwealth Office of the Status of Women (OSW) for project funding to undertake a
National Leadership and Mentoring Workshop for Women With Disabilities. The application for funding was successful. This
report is the Final Report to the Commonwealth Office of the Status of Women (OSW) on the Project. The Report is written
in five sections: Background to the Project; Project Planning; Project Implementation, Project Evaluation, and Project
Expenditure. A number of appendices and attachments are provided with this Report. Copyright WWDA 2000.
'Violence Against Women With Disabilities:
An Overview of the Literature'- by Keran Howe (2000)
This paper explores the literature in relation to women with
disabilities and violence within the period 1990 to 1999.
Specifically the paper explores: the meaning of disability from
an individualised medical perspective and as a social construct;
the extent and nature of violence against women with disabilities
and barriers to service response; and feminist explanations of
violence against women with disabilities. Copyright.
'A Disabled Genius in the Family:
personal musings on the tale of two sisters'- by Helen Meekosha
(2000)
Jacqueline du Pre; died in October 1987 aged 42 years. She
was the world's leading cellist in the 1960s and early '70s. In
October 1972 at the age of 28 years she had been diagnosed with
Multiple Sclerosis. This paper provides a discussion and analysis
of the movie "Hiliary & Jackie", a movie about the
relationship between Jacqueline du Pre; and her sister
Hiliary. Copyright.
'Women and Disability - An Issue'- A Collection of
writings by women with disabilities. Produced by
the Melbourne based Women with Disabilities Feminist Collective (undated)
A collection of writings addressing a wide range of issues affecting women with disabilites, including sexuality;
health; housing, and many more. A number of poems are also included in this book. Copyright.
'Underlying Expectations: Personal
experience of being a NESB woman with a disability'- by Lina
Pane-Hawkins (2000)
A personal account by Lina Pane-Hawkins, of being a NESB woman
with a disability and how her parents coped with her falling in
love and getting married. Copyright.
'Sterilisation of Women and Young Girls
with an Intellectual Disability - Report to the Senate', Tabled
by the Minister for Family and Community Services (December
2000)
This Report covers the background to the issue of sterilisation
of women with disabilities, provides recent statistics on
sterilisation procedures, and details a cross-Departmental
response to the Senate's calls for a review of legal, ethical and
human rights mechanisms and the commissioning of research. It has
been compiled as a result of a collaboration between staff of the
Departments of Family and Community Services and Health and Aged
Care, the Attorney-Generals Department and the Office of the
Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet. Copyright.
'Women, Gender and 'Disability' -
Historical and Contemporary Intersections of "Otherness" - by
Della Perry and Ruth Keszia Whiteside (1995 & 2000)
Working in an area which is considered to be about something
called "disability", poses considerable challenges for any person
who wishes to reflect upon the kinds of cultural and historical
determinants which underwrite such a concept. Who or what has
decided, and still decides, upon the allocation of one person to
the 'able' category, and another to the 'dis' -abled category?
Although we will claim that these simple terms have most often
appeared as obscuring, and in denial of the complex nature and
experience of any person, we will also consider them as powerful
ideologies, influencing and informing who people think and feel
they are or ever can be. Some people would suggest that we have
neutral measurements and criteria which can objectively indicate
'intelligence', as quantifiable and as something 'real'. Whether
one believes or not, that intelligence testing measures anything
at all, we must also ask if any kind of 'evidence' expresses
something fundamental enough about a person, to confer upon them
a totalising and representative label - like that of 'normal', or
'genius', or 'disabled'. To unravel some of these ideas and
questions, we will in this paper, focus upon the historical
construction of the idea or concept of 'intellectual disability'.
We would like to stress however, that most versions and varieties
of disability are not mutually exclusive and that the general
idea of 'disability' as an homogenising label, (informing as
powerfully as it reflects individual and social experience), is
always implicated in our discussion. Likewise, the category of
'woman', as determined by particular and essential qualities,
(regardless of whether these are understood as biological or
cultural in nature), will be considered as often intertwined and
enmeshed with concepts about 'disability'. That these
determinations and their combinations, are not accidental,
arbitrary, natural or self-evident, but reflect particular social
and political interests, is the central theme of this paper. Copyright.
'Hate Crimes Against People With
Disabilities'- by Mark Sherry (2000)
This paper examines hate crimes perpetrated against people with
disabilities. One of the authors major themes is that disabled
people are often more vulnerable to abuse than non-disabled
people. The author outlines some of the differences between hate
crimes committed against people with disabilities and those
committed against other members of the community. He explains why
it is absolutely essential that disabled people share in the
protection of hate crimes legislation and examine some ways of
responding to hate crimes against people with disabilities. Copyright.
'Political Activism and Identity Making: The Involvement of Women in the Disability Rights Movement in Australia' - by Helen
Meekosha (1999) [Word Version] [PDF Version]
This paper examines the rise in Australia of a feminist engagement with the disability rights movement. It starts from an overall assessment of
the emergence of the movement, and then explores the political, cultural and social dimensions of the institutional and ideological
struggles that have evolved. An examination will be made of the impact of feminism on the disability movement and the role of women
within the movement. The emergence of Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA), a cross-disability national body, and the work of
WWDA on crimes of violence against disabled women, raises questions about the ways women with disabilities come to identify with
an autonomous women's group. It also examines the resistance of feminist theory and practice to the acknowledgment of specific
issues of disabled women. Copyright.
'A Commonality of Shared Oppression
among Women and their Men'- by Phyllis Rappaport(2000)
In this paper the author discusses various layers of oppression
that women have experienced around the globe. Her starting point
is the oppression that white Anglo women experience and suffer
from their Anglo men. She describes the secondary layers of
oppression and their effects on women and men from ethnic or
racial backgrounds where difference in language, culture and
custom will play a part in the prejudice and oppression they will
experience from the white dominant society. Copyright.
'Disability and Human Rights'- by Helen
Meekosha (1999)
For many people with disabilities, Australia, at the end of the
millennium, is experienced as a war zone. At a time when
citizenship is a catch-cry in public debate, disabled Australians
are effectively denied many of the simple rights their fellows
take as given. This brief paper focuses on the processes which
constrain and restrict the access to basic rights of disabled
people. Human Rights are provided not solely in legislation, but
most directly through services and activities in the community.
When these ignore, deny or exclude disabled people no legislation
is sufficient. Copyright.
'Sterilisation of Women and Girls with
Disabilities'- A Literature Review by Cathie Spicer
(1999)
This paper examines the and analyses the literature available on
the issue of sterilisation of girls and women with disabilities.
In doing research on the topic of non-therapeutic sterilisation
of women and girls with an intellectual disability, the author
discovered numerous medical, legal and academic sources but very
little from the people who are subjected to this form of invasive
and often irreversible surgical intervention. The paper poses
some challenging questions in relation to the ongoing practice of
unlawful sterilisation of minors in Australia. Copyright.
'The Search for the Invisible Workers:
Enhancing Employment Opportunities for Older People With
Disabilities' - by Patricia Woodcroft-Lee (1999)
Although it is frequently noted that more people are living
longer and are more active in their later years, very little
information appears to be available on the needs and lifestyles
of older people who are working or who are seeking paid work.
Older workers in general appear to be paid very little attention
in the literature and older workers with disabilities are almost
invisible. This paper has two aims; one is to attempt to draw
together the available data on older workers with disabilities
and to make some suggestions as to how we may be able to compile
statistical data on this group, the second aim is to identify the
types of support that older workers with disabilities may require
to continue working and contributing to society for as long as
they choose, while still enjoying a reasonable quality of
life. Copyright.
'Residential Living in the 21st Century'-
by Michelle La Fontaine (1999)
This paper examines the issue of residential accommodation for
people with disabilities. The paper argues that the challenge for
the new millennium, whenever society constructs that to be, is to
accept all forms of human life as viable forms of life and to see
each person as a part of the whole of humanity. In so doing, we
need to question the place, relevance and adequacy of residential
facilities in the so-called modern, progressive age in which we
live. Copyright.
'To Trachey or Not to Trachey? That is
the Question'- by Michelle La Fontaine (1999)
This paper discusses the authors personal experience of
undergoing a tracheostomy, including the complexities she faced
when having to make a decision about the procedure. Copyright.
'Wine, Bed and Roses'- by Phyllis Rappaport
(1999)
This paper describes the authors experience of trying to acquire
an electric double bed through a government funded scheme. "They
could fund single or three-quarter size beds but not the double.
The double size in such a bed was not considered to be basic
equipment that would aid or enhance my mobility. Even though I am
a married woman. I have been married for some thirty years." The
author examines this experience in relation to sexuality and
people with disabilities. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia: WWDA Presentation to the First Australian
Tribunal on Women's Human Rights - by Vicky Toovey (1999)
On May 21 1999, the Women’s Rights Action Network held the
First Australian Tribunal on Women’s Human Rights. At the
Tribunal, 12 women living in Australia testified about their
experiences, with testimonies being presented on a number of
issues. Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) was represented
at the First Australian Tribunal on Women’s Human Rights by
the President of WWDA, Ms Vicki Toovey, who presented case
studies on the sterilisation of women and girls with
disabilities. This paper provides a transcript of the
presentation. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia: WWDA Acceptance Speech
for the National Violence Prevention Awards (1999)
In October 1999, it was announced by the Australian Government
that Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) was one of four
recipients of the National Violence Prevention Award. The winners
were announced at the Awards Presentation at Parliament House in
Canberra. The Australian Violence Prevention Awards are sponsored
by the Heads of Australian Governments as a joint Commonwealth,
State and Territory initiative and are designed to reward the
most outstanding projects for the prevention or reduction of
violence in Australia. This is a transcript of WWDA's Acceptance
Speech on receipt of the National Violence Prevention Award. Copyright.
A Report on the International Women's
Health Conference - Scotland, July 1999 by Diane Temby (1999)
The Second International Interdisciplinary Conference on Women
and Health was held in Edinburgh Scotland, 12-14 July 1999. WWDA
was represented at the Conference by Dianne Temby, who presented
a paper on women with disabilities and health. This is a report
from Dianne Temby on the Second International Interdisciplinary
Conference on Women and Health. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia: 'Final Report of the WWDA Telecommunications Survey Project' (1999)
[PDF Version] [Word Version]
In early 1999, Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) undertook a small survey of its members to identify
their experiences of, and concerns relating to telecommunications. There has been a groundswell of opinion
and research highlighting the potential for telecommunications to improve living standards for women. However,
none of this research has included the experiences and needs of women with disabilities in relation to telecommunications.
Anecdotal evidence collected by WWDA indicates that access to telecommunications is a major area of inequity for women with
disabilities. This report details the findings of the Telecommunications Survey undertaken by WWDA in early 1999. Copyright WWDA 1999.
'Burning Issues for People with
Disabilities' - by Elizabeth Hastings (1998)
This is a transcript of a speech given by Elizabeth Hastings at
the Annual General Meeting of Women With Disabilities Australia
(WWDA), in Melbourne, September 12 1998. Elizabeth Hastings was
the former (and the first) Disability Discrimination Commissioner
in Australia. Elizabeth Hastings passed away in late 1998. The
paper examines a number of issues including: A Discrimination
free world to live in; Conditions in Congregate Care; Abuse in
Institutions; Care for the whole person; Sterilisation of minors;
Genetic Manipulation; Spiritual life and development; The bottom
line; Attrition of Human Rights protection; and, Assisted
Communication. Copyright.
'What is the impact of disability on
gender?' - by Karin Swift (1998)
All people with disabilities are at risk of being denied their
gender. This is because many people with disabilities are not
given the opportunity to fill important roles, such as mother,
father, wife, lover, activist, feminist. This can have an
especially detrimental effect on women with disabilities as they
often have to put their disability first and their woman hood
second. This paper uses case studies to illustrate the
intersection of disability and gender. Copyright.
'Women With Disabilities and Domestic
Violence: WWDA's Response' by
Karin Swift (1998)
Issues for women with disabilities who experience domestic
violence are a high priority for Women With Disabilities
Australia (WWDA). This paper aims to disseminate some information
about WWDA the organisation. It also aims to discuss some
pertinent issues concerning violence against women with
disabilities. This paper will then examine projects that WWDA
conducted in 1997 to assist women's refuges to develop Model
Disability Discrimination Act Action Plans. In keeping with the
theme of the conference, this paper will conclude by suggesting
some practical strategies that workers in the field can use to
reorient their services to more accessible ones for women with
disabilities. Copyright.
'Workplace Diversity Programs and Equal
Employment Opportunity' by Aileen McFadzen (1998)
Although the concept of a Workplace Diversity Program is new, the
application of equal employment opportunity principles to the
Australian public service is not. Despite the fact that
Commonwealth Departments have developed equal opportunity
programs as required under the Public Service Act and presumably
implemented the 1993 Strategic Plan for Equal Opportunity in the
Public Service, discrimination, be it on the basis of sex and/or
disability, happens. This paper analyses the double disadvantage
experienced by women with disabilities in relation to their
employment. It outlines the key features of the Disability
Discrimination Act 1992. All new initiatives in the area of equal
employment opportunity need to be understood in the context of
the legal framework for non discriminatory action. The author
draws on her experience as a practitioner in the area of
disability discrimination to outline some of the key factors
which are relevant in findings of disability discrimination under
the Disability Discrimination Act in the Australian Public
Service. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia: A Report of the 'Introduction to the
Internet Workshop' for Women With Disabilities (1998)
This small report describes a pilot project undertaken by Women
With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) in 1998. The project focused
on providing an introductory training workshop for women with
disabilities in the use of the Internet. The report describes the
project and it's outcomes. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia: 'More Than Just A Ramp' - A Guide for
Women's Refuges to Develop Disability Discrimination Act Action
Plans (1998)
This report begins by setting the context for the study. It
includes a discussion and analysis of: gender and disability; and
women with disabilities and violence. It discusses the barriers
women with disabilities face when accessing domestic violence
services. Some of these include: communication; information;
attitudes; the physical environment; accessing a service; and,
the skills of workers. The report provides information on the
Disability Discrimination Act (1992) including a discussion on
‘discrimination’. The reader is introduced to the
concept of ‘Action Plans’ including the reasons why a
service should develop an Action Plan. The report details step by
step how to develop an Action Plan. The areas covered include:
Developing a good working group; Familiarising yourself with the
barriers in your service; Consulting and involving women with
disabilities; Educating your organisation about the Disability
Discrimination Act; Ensuring you are well supported; Developing
strategies; Resourcing the Action Plan; Negotiating with relevant
Departments; Determining responsibility; and, Evaluating.
Information on a wide range of services is provided in the
Report, including contact information for organisations that
provide education, training and resources about the Disability
Discrimination Act. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia: 'Doing it Better'......Investigating how
individual services can provide access and equity with regard to
disability via the development of a Disability Discrimination Act
Action Plan (1998)
This is a copy of the final report from Women With Disabilities
Australia to the Commonwealth Office of the Status of Women on
WWDA's project to develop a Disability Action Plan for a SAAP
funded women's refuge.
'The Sterilisation of Girls and Young
Women in Australia - A Legal, Medical and Social Context' - by
Susan M Brady and Dr Sonia Grover (1997)
This report was commissioned by the Federal Disability
Discrimination Commissioner for the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission in December 1997. This report concentrates
on the sterilisation of girls and young women. Sterilisation
procedures are performed on girls with intellectual disabilities
and all cases that have come to the attention of relevant
authorities (including the Family Court of Australia, state
Supreme Courts, and state Guardianship Tribunals) have involved
the sterilisation of girls with intellectual disabilities. This
is not to say that boys with intellectual disabilities are not
subject to sterilisation procedures. The report poses a range of
unanswered and grave questions about the fundamental breach of
human rights and well-being of children subject to unauthorised
sterilisation procedures. It suggests that a genuine concern for
protection of the child's best interests should be about a
broader advocacy of the child's interests not simply the narrow
legal questions of who should make the decisions and how they
should be made. The report suggests that fundamental to the
success of protecting and ensuring best interests is the support
and cooperation of a broader community of medical practitioners,
human service providers, specialist consultants in disability,
advocates and others. Any weak link will compromise positive
outcomes for the child. Copyright.
'Female and Disabled: A Human Rights
Perspective on Law and Medicine' - by M. Jones and L. Marks
(1997)
This is an extract from Jones M & Marks LAB "Female and
Disabled: A Human Rights Perspective on Law and Medicine" in
Petersen K (eds) Intersections: Women on Law, Medicine and
Technology Dartmouth 1997, p49-71. The chapter analyses the issue
of sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities. Reproduced
here with permission of the authors. Copyright.
'Housing Issues for Women With
Disabilities' - by Diana Currie (1997)
Housing is, of course, not an isolated issue but is inextricably
linked to other aspects of daily living, including a general
sense of security and well being, a feeling of independence and
control over one's life. There is almost universal agreement that
housing is a basic human right, but the reality is that an
overwhelming number of people - many of whom are women with
disabilities - are still in search of the elusive 'appropriate,
affordable, secure housing', and their numbers are increasing.
This paper examines the issue of housing for women with
disabilities in Australia. Copyright.
'Mindsets: The Sticks and Stones that
break more than bones' - by Margaret Cooper and Dianne Temby
(1997)
For increasing numbers of people throughout the world the
self-management of chronic health or disability is an issue of
significance to them and health service providers. The illness
care system is experiencing the impact of the issues of
'chronicity' as they effect the lives and abilities of more and
more citizens. The capacity of service providers to facilitate
effective rehabilitation, which places the person at the centre
of all interventions and remedies, is sorely challenged in a
health service system permeated by a philosophy of restraint and
control. The focus of this paper rests with the person engaged in
disability. The use of personal vignettes and comparative
analysis are used to explore how health beliefs and mindsets have
a significant influence on the role of rehabilitation providers
and self management outcomes for people with enduring changes to
their health and abilities. Copyright.
'In the Hands of the Receivers' - by
Margaret Cooper and Dianne Temby (1997)
As women with disabilities, the authors contend that an
unintentional effect of imposing health policy for women from the
top down, translated mainly through traditional service models,
has meant that health and illness care strategies have developed
with the same formalised or rigid boundaries which act as
obstacles and barriers to keep many women out of women's health
services. Women with disabilities find themselves at the bottom
of the pyramid of policy influence and many who seek health
advice and management actually feel more oppressed. The authors
use the population of women with disabilities to illustrate the
effects of marginalisation on health care. Copyright.
'Disability, Feminism and Eugenics: Who
has the right to decide who should or should not inhabit the
world?' - by Joan Hume (1997)
In this paper the author explores the implications of the
resurgence of the "new eugenics" as a philosophy underpinning
modern reproductive practices from the perspective of the abuse
and denigration of the rights in people with disabilities in
general and women with disabilities in particular. These
practices also infringe women's rights and should be a matter of
grave concern for all feminists. The discussion is not about the
rights and wrongs of the abortion debate but adopts a disability
rights interpretation of new reproductive and genetic
technologies. Copyright.
'Women With Disabilities and Domestic
Violence' - by Madge Sceriha (1997)
This paper examines the issue of violence against women with
disabilities. It covers a range of issues, including the lack of
accessible information for women with disabilities about
violence; and the lack of appropriate and accessible services and
programs for women with disabilities escaping violence, or at
risk of violence. Copyright.
'Women With Disabilities and Violence' -
Report Launch Speech - by Kali Wilde (December 1997)
This is a transcript of a speech given by Kali Wilde at the
launch of WWDA's report entitled: 'More Than Just A Ramp' - A
Guide for Women's Refuges to Develop Disability Discrimination
Act Action Plans. The report was launched at the Women's
Emergency Services Network (WESNET) National Conference in
December 1997. The speech discusses violence against women with
disabilities, and calls for women's services and programs to
examine their policies to ensure that service provision is
inclusive of women with disabilities. Copyright.
'Gender and Disability' - by Kali Wilde
(December 1997)
A paper presented to the Court Support Network in 1997. Many
women and children with disabilities will come into contact with
the Family Court. It is essential to understand that attitudes
and beliefs held about people with disabilities are often more
significant in terms of our life experiences, than the disability
itself. Furthermore, it is imperative that disability is
recognised as being an issue of poverty. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia:
Address to the Centre for Women's Health Matters, Australian
Capital Territory (1997)
This is a transcript of a speech given by Helen Skeat (past WWDA
Executive Officer) at the 1997 Annual General Meeting of the
Centre for Women's Health Matters, Australian Capital Territory.
The speech highlights a number of health issues for women with
disabilities. It also challenges women's health services to
develop inclusive policies and practices to better meet the
health needs of women with disabilities. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities International
Leadership Forum - by Glenda Lee (1997)
In 1997, Glenda Lee represented WWDA at the Women With
Disabilities International Leadership Forum held at the Hyatt
Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, 15-20 June
1997. This is Glenda's report from the Forum. The Report
discusses a range of issues covered at the Conference, including:
Aspects of Leadership; Education and Development Assistance;
Health and Family Issues; Employment Strategies; Communication
and Technology. Copyright.
Women With Disabilities Australia:
WWDA Leadership Workshop Report (1997)
This Report is the outcome of a National Leadership Workshop
conducted by Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) in October
1997. The Report provides detailed information which includes:
How the Leadership Workshop Came About; A Report and Group
Discussion on the International Leadership Forums; Women With
Disabilities Australia- An Historical Perspective; What is
Leadership? - A Group Discussion; Personal Stories; Feedback from
Participants; and Recommendations for future work. Copyright.
Report on the 'International Leadership
Forum for Women with Disabilities' - by Vicki Toovey (1997)
In 1997, The Global Fund for Women (United States) provided
funding to Women With Disabilities Australia to attend the
International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities, which
was held in Washington DC, 15 - 20 June 1997. This is the report
to the Global Fund for Women from one of WWDA's representatives
at the International Leadership Forum, Ms Vicki Toovey. Copyright.
'Housing Issues for Women With
Disabilities in Australia - A Discussion Paper' (April
1996)
This Discussion Paper was prepared by WWDA for the Habitat II
Conference: Sustainable Human Settlement and Shelter For All; The
Second United Nations Habitat Conference, Istanbul, June 1996.
The Paper examines housing issues for women with disabilities,
including the barriers they face in securing appropriate and
affordable housing. Copyright.
'Targeting a Disability Allowance' - by
Margaret Cooper (1996)
The paper is based on the premise that a carefully targeted
component model allowance, to offset the unavoidable costs of
disability, is the most cost effective way of relieving the
poverty of people with disabilities who have to pay high support
costs. The paper also proposes a Model and criteria for the
development of a standardised disability allowance. Copyright.
'Families Want Their Cookies Now' - by
Margaret Cooper (1996)
Disability challenges the caring function of the family more than
death, as the disability of a member will be lifelong.
Professional social workers/planners/engineers/counsellors say
families are important to caring for people with disabilities,
but are they doing anything more than mouthing a platitude? Do
they understand the difference that disability makes? In this
paper the author looks at the initial meaning of disability to
families, ways that families react, and then reflects on
professional attitudes to disability and families. Many of the
quotes used in the paper are directly from published accounts by
people with disabilities. Copyright.
'Women - Moving Beyond The Disability' - by
Lina Pane (1995)
This paper examines 4 main themes: Inequality between men and
women with disabilities in the sharing of power and decision
making at all levels; Insufficient initiatives to promote the
advancement of women with disabilities; Triple disadvantage -
looking at women with disabilities from non-English speaking
backgrounds; and the unmet health needs of women with
disabilities. The paper argues that women and society, in general
need to examine the experience of women as universal. This
includes gender, age, culture, sexuality and disability. Whilst
only women with disabilities can speak for women with
disabilities, others with overlapping concerns such as
non-disabled women and men with disabilities, are equally
responsible in the task of working towards change. Copyright.
'Empowerment and Women With Disabilities'
- by Margaret Cooper (1995)
This paper examines the concept of 'empowerment' and what it
means for women with disabilities. The author illustrates the
concept by providing examples from her own experience. Copyright.
'Emerging From the Shadows - A report on
the status of women with disabilities living in Australia' - by
Lina Pane (1994)
In our society, women are frequently discriminated against,
because they are women. People with disabilities are frequently
discriminated against, because they are disabled. Therefore to be
a woman and to have a disability is a double disadvantage. If
women with a disability are also from a non English speaking
background or an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander women they
are often subject to a triple disadvantage. This Report examines
this disadvantage from a number of perspectives. It looks at: The
burden of poverty on women with disabilities; Inequality in
access to education, health and related services; Violence
against women; Effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on
women; Inequality in the access of women with disabilities and
participation in the definition of economic structures and
policies; Inequality between men and women with disabilities in
the sharing of power and decision making at all levels;
Insufficient machinery at all levels to promote the advancement
of women; Lack of awareness of and commitment to internationally
and nationally recognised women's human rights; Insufficient use
of mass media to promote women's positive contributions to
society; and Lack of support and recognition for women's
contribution to managing natural resources and safeguarding the
environment. The Report also contains recommendations for action
to address these issues. Copyright.
'Triple Disadvantage: Women from
Non-English Speaking Backgrounds Living in Australia' - by Lina
Pane (1994)
This Report is the outcome of a research study about the
experience of women with disabilities from non-English speaking
backgrounds living in Australia. This was also a study of the
attitudes towards women with disabilities, of non-English
speaking background non-disabled women who participated in the
consultancy. The project was carried out by a woman from a
non-English speaking background with a disability. The research
design was based on feminist research, action orientated and
dialectic - an approach that visualises the world as an
inter-connected 'whole'. The Report discusses the project
methodology, the findings, and also provides strategies for
future directions. Copyright.
'Discrimination Against Women With Disabilities'
- by Margaret Cooper (1993)
Women with disabilities are not protected by the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) or the Disability
Discrimination Act (DDA) when it comes to gaining access to a Disability Support Program. This paper
seeks to explore and explain this issue for women with disabilities. Copyright.
'Invisible Acts: Violence Against
Women with Disabilities' - by Lesley Chenoweth (1993)
This paper argues that there are unique issues for women with
disabilities who are abused or subjected to acts of violence.
Being relegated to a marginalised status by their disability and
further discriminated against through their gender, these women
score 'two strikes'. One consequence of this is that they are
rendered invisible in both disability and women's movements. This
invisibility of identity not only exposes women with disabilities
to grave risks of physical, emotional and sexual abuse but also
limits their chances of obtaining support from existing services
for other victims of violence. Adopting a feminist critique of
disability, this paper offers an analysis of violence committed
against women with disabilities and explores some of the key
issues fundamental to a societal response to such violence. Copyright.
'Pre-Natal Testing and Selective
Abortion: The Development of a Feminist Disability Rights
Perspective' - by Melissa Masden (1992)
Pre-natal testing is one aspect of the new reproductive
technologies that has not received a great deal of attention,
unlike in vitro fertilisation for example. The consideration of
pre-natal testing that has occurred, has taken place within the
wider context of abortion. A re-examination of pre-natal testing
is desirable because of the way that it has furthered the
medicalisation of pregnancy and childbirth, and because of its
potential (already partly realised) to remove decision- making
control from the hands of women. The disability rights movement
has grave misgivings about the ideology of pre-natal testing and
selective abortion. This has in part been translated into an
anti-abortion stance. Given the history of reproductive abuse
(forced sterilisation, coerced abortion etc) against people with
a disability, this anti-reproductive autonomy position is short
sighted. A feminist disability rights perspective examines the
social attitudes that influence the decisions women make in
pre-natal testing and while questioning these attitudes,
maintaining women's right to reproductive autonomy. Copyright.
On The Record - A Report on the 1990 STAR Conference on Sterilisation: 'My Body, My Mind, My Choice' (1991)
A Report from the STAR Conference on Sterilisation, conducted in Victoria in 1990. The report focuses mainly on the issue of sterilisation as it relates
to women with intellectual disabilities. The Report covers a range of topic areas, including health and legal issues. A number of recommendations
are included in the report. Copyright.
'Double Disadvantage' - Barriers Facing Women
With Disabilities in Accessing Employment, Education and Training
Opportunities: A Discussion Paper' - by Natalie Tomas (1991)
'Double disadvantage' is intended to provide background
information on the barriers confronting women with disabilities
wishing to access education, employment and training. It brings
together existing research findings, surveys and other data on
women with disabilities including the observations and
experiences of individual women with disabilities. Much of the
material for this paper came from documented accounts of women
with disabilities' experiences of barriers to employment,
education and training. This paper has a twofold purpose: 1. To provide women with disabilities with information and
suggested strategies for action to enable them to better access
education, employment and training options; and 2. To provide information and raise issues among people with
disabilities, women's groups, disability rights organisations,
trade unions, government decision makers, equal opportunity
practitioners, disability service providers and any other
interested groups or individuals to enable them to begin to
consider, take account of and then develop strategies to overcome
the 'double disadvantage' of gender and disability. Copyright.
'Women With Disabilities: How Far Have We
Come?' - by Joan Hume (1990)
What is the current agenda for women with disabilities? What are
their major concerns? Are the stereotypes changing? Do they
really want to be sex objects? Has the women's movement helped or
hindered the disability cause? This paper looks at these and
other questions. Copyright.
'Women of the Shadow Universe: The Relationship Between Gender and Disability and its Effect on the Lives of Women With Disabilities - A Preliminary Survey' - by Diana Palmer and Patricia Woodcoft-Lee (1990)
Approximately 16% of Australians have a disability. Just under half of these are women,
15.2% of Australian women to be exact. However, although this is a sizeable chunk of the population, yet one which has until very recently been largely ignored, by policy makers, academics and the women's movement. it is also notable that, although there are almost as many females as males identifying as having a disability, the education and labour force participation rates for women are considerably lower for women and for men.
This paper attempts to analyse the factors which contribute to the lack of awareness, not only of the needs of women with disabilities, but
even of their very existence. Copyright.
This site was developed by Carolyn Frohmader for Women With Disabilities Australia.