OCCUPIED
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INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE
ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
NOVEMBER 25th
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: THE FACTS
• Violence against women with disabilities is far more extensive than violence amongst the general population
• Violence perpetrated against women with disabilities is significantly morediverse in nature and more severe than for women in general.
• Compared to their peers, women with disabilities experience significantly higher levels of all forms of violence and are subjected to such violence by a greater number of perpetrators.
• Women with disabilities are 40% more likely to be the victims of domestic violence than women without disabilities, and more than 70% of women with disabilities have been victims of violent sexual encounters at some time in their lives.
• Twenty per cent of women with disabilities report a history of unwanted sex compared to 8.2% of women without disabilities.
• The rates of sexual victimisation of women with disabilities range from four to 10 times higher than for other women.
• More than a quarter of rape cases reported by females in Australia are perpetrated against women with disabilities.
• Ninety per cent of women with an intellectual disability have been subjected to sexual abuse, with more than two-thirds (68%) having been sexually abused before they turn 18 years of age.
• Women and girls with disabilities have far less chance of being believed when reporting sexual assault, domestic violence, and other forms of violence, than other women and girls.
• Crimes of violence committed against women with disabilities often go unreported, and when they are, they are inadequately investigated, remain unsolved or result in minimal sentences.
• Women with disabilities continue to experience violence (particularly sexual violence) in residential and institutional settings, where they frequently experience sustained and multiple episodes.
Source: Fact Sheet: Violence Against Women With Disabilities.
Prepared by Carolyn Frohmader, Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA). Available at:
http://pwd.org.au/documents/temp/FS_Violence_WWD's.pdf
http://pwd.org.au/documents/temp/FS_Violence_WWD's.doc
