Disability: Framing the Issues

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DisabilityFraming the Issues

• OVW Training Technical Assistance Providers
  Meeting
• August 21, 2007

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Welcome Exercise

• Introduce yourself and your organization to the
  other people at your table.
• At your table, identify your top 3 answers to the
  following question
• Why is it important for us to address issues of
  elder abuse, disability, and accessibility in our
  work as TA providers?

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Learning Objectives

• Understand the importance of addressing the needs
  of violence against women with disabilities and
  Deaf women in our work.
• Have a better understanding of disability and
  have a practical framework for improving access.

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Learning Objectives contd

• Start a dialogue regarding how to incorporate
  issues of disability and accessibility within
  your own work as a technical assistance provider.
• Better respond to inquires regarding disability
  that are made to you by the grantees you serve.

5
Small Group Exercise

• At your table, answer the following question
• What are the top four disabilities for adults in
  the United States?

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Top Four Disabilities (Adults)

• Arthritis
• Back problems
• Heart disease
• Respiratory disease

Source Center for Disease Control
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ADA Definition of Disability

• Disability is an impairment, either mental or
  physical, that limits one or more major life
  activities.
• Major life activities include the ability to
• care for yourself,
• learn,
• work,
• walk,
• see,
• hear,
• speak,
• breathe, or
• maintain social relationships

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WHO Definition of Disability

• Disability is something that is outside of the
  individual. It is created based on the
  interaction between an individuals personal
  factors, his or her limitation, and the
  environment.

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WHO Definition contd

• Personal Factors
• Race, ethnicity, culture, gender, etc
• Limitations
• How ones body or mind functions
• Environment
• Physical structure, how people communicate and
  share information, policies, attitudes, etc.

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WHO Definition of Disability
Disability
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Benefits to Providers

• Offers a more practical way to solve problems by
  focusing on how a person functions and not her
  medical diagnosis.
• Creates a more pro-active and empowering role for
  providers to improve the experiences of survivors
  with disabilities.

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Enhancing Accessibility

• Meet your legal responsibilities.
• Design environments for the widest array of
  people.
• Provide individualized solutions to meet
  individual needs.
• BE A PROBLEM SOLVER.

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Statistics

• 62 percent of women with physical disabilities
  experienced physical or emotional abuse from
  their intimate partners.
• Women with developmental disabilities are four to
  ten times more likely than women without
  disabilities to be sexually assaulted and they
  are at greater risk for repeat victimization.
• According to the National Center for Injury
  Prevention and Control, 76 of adults with
  cognitive disabilities have been sexually
  assaulted.

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Unique Dynamics

• Some perpetrators use tactics that expressly
  target women with disabilities and Deaf women.

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Unique Dynamics

• Some examples would be
• becoming a relied-upon, or primary, caregiver
  before assaulting her
• preventing her from leaving the relationship by
  removing access to adaptive or assistive
  equipment
• manipulating the content of her communication
  devices, such as erasing emails, giving out false
  information, or impersonating her over TTY or
  email.

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Unique Dynamics

• What are other ways that you have seen this
  happen in your work?

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• Women with disabilities and Deaf women commonly
  encounter barriers to accessing assistance and
  support when attempting to report sexual/domestic
  violence or stalking to legal or law enforcement
  services.

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• It is possible that this impediment contributes
  to the extended length of abuse and repeated
  victimization among this population.

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• Research shows that women with disabilities and
  Deaf women do not receive equal access to
  community resources even though they may be more
  likely to experience sexual and domestic violence
  than people without disabilities.

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3 Categories of Barriers

• Physical
• Programmatic
• Communication/information
• Policies and practices
• Attitudinal

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Access-Opoly

• A chance to see how organizational barriers and
  supports impact the ability of Deaf survivors and
  survivors with disabilities to access needed
  services after an assault.

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Access-Opoly

• Choose 5 people at your table who will play the
  game.
• Ask one person to have their game piece represent
  a survivor with cognitive or developmental
  disabilities
• Ask one person to have their game piece represent
  a survivor who is Deaf /hard of hearing or is
  blind
• Ask one person to have their game piece
  represent a survivor who has a physical
  disability
• Ask one person to have their game piece represent
  a survivor with a psychiatric disability
  (persistent or situational)
• Ask one person to have their game piece represent
  a survivor who has no disability

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Access-Opoly contd

• As you roll the dice for survivor, you will move
  on the board. If you land on a square that
  applies to YOUR situation, then you follow the
  direction in that square. A square may apply to
  more than one survivor.
• As your table moves through the game, imagine how
  each of the barriers or supports on the squares
  would impact the work that your grantees do with
  survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence,
  and stalking.

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Small Group Exercise

• At your table, please discuss what you think of
  when someone mentions the  ADA in the context of
  your work for OVW as a TA provider. 
• Specifically, what does the ADA mean to you?

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What You Can Do as a TA Provider

• Start a dialogue with others in your own
  organization.
• Review your own organizations accessibility,
  including policies and procedures.
• Build relationships with disability and Deaf
  organizations.
• Identify opportunities to include issues of
  disability in your work.

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Individual Exercise

• Identify three things you can do in your
  organization to incorporate issues of disability
  and accessibility in your work.