INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
The resources included here include the increasing and varied experiences and perspectives of women with disabilities on a global perspective and cover a broad range of issues.
Abu-Habib, L. (1997). Gender and disability: Women's experiences in the Middle East. Oxford, UK: Oxfam Publishing.
This book examines the situation of women with various types of disability in the Middle Eastern context, and describes the evolution of Oxfam's perspective on working with disabled women. It provides a general overview of the concept of disability and includes several case studies from Lebanon, Yemen and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Each chapter looks at specific aspects of the issue and personal histories from disabled women and members of organizations for disabled people provide supplementary testimony.
Oxfam is a development, relief, and campaigning organization that works to find lasting solutions to poverty and suffering around the world.
Alcorn, P., Gropp, H., Neubauer, J., & Reitsma-Street, M. (2004, January). Housing realities and requirements for women living with disabilities in the capital region of British Columbia. Victoria, BC: Women’s Housing Action Team. Retrieved July 20, 2005 from http://web.uvic.ca/spp/documents/realitiesreq.pdf
“There is…little information on the housing situations or perceptions of women…who are living with disabilities. A research study by the Women’s Housing Action Team was conducted in 2003 to help redress this gap. This short report offers a commentary on the magnitude of concerns and a summary of housing realities and requirements identified by a diverse group of women living with visible and invisible physical disabilities in the Capital Regional District of British Columbia.”
Ali, A., & Toner, B. B. (2001, September). Symptoms of depression among Caribbean women and Caribbean-Canadian women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25(3), 175-180.
This study compared an immigrant sample of Caribbean-Canadian women (n =: 20) and a sample of women living in the Caribbean (n = 20) on the following variables: dominant domain of meaning (defined as that aspect of the participant's life from which she derives primary meaning for her sense of self); self-silencing (defined as the tendency to silence one's thoughts and feelings; Jack, 1991); and symptoms of depression. Results revealed that the Caribbean women were more likely to report relational domains of meaning as primary (e.g., family, friendships, intimate relationships), while the Caribbean-Canadian women were more likely to report domain of self-nurturance as primary (e.g., career goals, spirituality). Furthermore, univariate analysis revealed that the Caribbean-Canadian women reported higher levels of self-silencing and depressive symptoms, and derived less meaningfulness from their primary domains of meaning compared to the Caribbean women. These findings suggest that the immigrant experience may be a factor in women's emotional well-being.
Ansell, K. (2005). Hitting home: Stories of disabled women. Ouch! Disability Magazine [Online]. Retrieved February 22, 2005 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/closeup/hittinghome.shtml
This web site related the experiences of four disabled women featured in the Disbelief video produced last year by the Leeds-Interagency Project, an organisation providing support for women in Leeds who are experiencing domestic violence. Disbelief was the work of Jane Bethell. Bethell is herself a disabled woman, and her role is to provide support specifically for disabled women experiencing domestic violence, and to raise awareness of the particular issues disabled women face when they become victims of abuse. She believes that she is the only paid worker in the country with such a remit.
Areschoug, J. (2005, September). Parenthood and intellectual disability: Discourses on birth control and parents with intellectual disabilities 1967–2003. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 7(3-4), 155-175.
In 1975, the sterilization of persons with intellectual disabilities was banned in Sweden. The ban can be regarded as an expression of a changed attitude towards persons with intellectual disabilities and towards their right to equal living conditions during the latter part of the 20th century. The question addressed in this study is whether this shift was paralleled by a changed discourse on intellectual disability and parenthood. I will argue that childbearing and parenthood in relation to individuals with intellectual disabilities have continued to be described as problematic and, therefore, as best avoided. The changed discourse on the rights of intellectually disabled persons, however, made it discursively impossible to suggest a coercive application of birth control methods. Instead, birth control was now introduced as an option and a benefit for the woman.
Arnade, S., & Häfner, S. (2005, July). Towards visibility of women with disabilities in the UN Convention. Winnipeg, MB: Disabled Peoples’ International. Retrieved February 20, 2005 from http://v1.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/topics_detail?page=278
A discussion paper on the integration of women’s issues in the “Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.”
Aronson, J. (2000, Fall). Missing voices in long-term care policy making: Elderly women and women with disabilities receiving home care. Centres for Excellence in Women’s Health Research Bulletin, 1(1), 14-15. Ottawa, Ontario: Centres of Excellence for Women’s Health Program and Research, Women’s Health Bureau. Retrieved March 18, 2005 from http://www.cewh-cesf.ca/bulletin/v1n1/page9.html
“This study explores the perspectives and aspirations of frail elderly women and younger women with disabilities who rely on care and assistance at home in Ontario. Their voices and their knowledge of the home care system are seldom included in current debates about long-term care policies that are, rather, dominated by the economically-driven imperatives of governments to manage efficiently and offload costs from the public ledger.”
This story is in the inaugural issue of the Centres of Excellence’s newsletter, focusing on a range of issues on women’s health. A full copy of the bulletin can be found at http://www.cewh-cesf.ca/bulletin/v1n1/CWH_english.pdf
Atkinson, D., McCarthy, M., Walmsley, J., Cooper, M., Rolph, S., Barette, P., Coventry, M., & Ferris, G. (Eds). (1999). Good times, bad times: Women with learning difficulties telling their stories. Worcestershire: British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD).
In this book, women with a learning disability give voice to their thoughts and feelings on a range of topics, which matter to them. The chapters cover subjects ranging from work, to relationships and the politics of learning disability. The book offers a unique insight into what it means to be a woman with a learning disability in Europe today. It also provides a detailed account of the process by which women with and without a learning disability worked to support each other to make their voices heard. It is essential reading for anyone involved in service provision and a landmark contribution to feminist writing.
Atkinson, D., & Williams, F. (Eds.). (1990). Know me as I am. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
This book is an anthology of poetry, art, and prose by people with learning difficulties. The editors have collected "life stories" from numerous people in such topics as memories, relationships, daily life, a sense of self, struggle and self-determination, oppression, creativity, imagination and fantasy, and transitions. The book concludes with three life stories and an exploration of the key themes of identity, personal struggle, and relationships. The editors also include implications for research and a discussion of their roles as editors.
Barbuto, R. (2005, July). Issues of gender in the context of the movement of persons with disability. Winnipeg, MB: Disabled Peoples’ International. Retrieved February 20, 2005 from http://v1.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/topics_detail?page=279
Brief report and resolution following a DPI Europe conference, “Disabled Women and Personal Assistance,” that was held in April 2005 in Paestum, Italy.
Barlow, J. H., & Williams, B. (1999, January). 'I now feel that I'm not just a bit of left luggage': The experiences of older women with arthritis attending a personal independence course. Disability & Society, 14(1), 53-64.
Few interventions have directly addressed the needs of older people with arthritis. One exception is a recent initiative developed by Arthritis Care, a voluntary organisation working with and for people with arthritis in the UK. The initiative comprised two Phases. In Phase 1, older people attended a well established course designed to increase participants' sense of control over their own ability to orchestrate the management of their arthritis-related needs. The focus of this paper is on Phase 2 of the initiative, a Personal Independence Course, which introduced older people to the social model of disability and encouraged them to take an active role in the community. Although Arthritis Care have considerable experience of working within a social model framework with younger people, this paper presents the results of the first Personal Independence Course targeting older adults with arthritis. Data were collected in a series of semi-structured interviews yielding rich insight into the lives of this often neglected group of older people.
Barron, K. (1997, April). The bumpy road to womanhood. Disability & Society, 12(2), 223-240.
This paper is based on a qualitative study dealing with societal constraints with regard to womanhood for physically disabled young women in Sweden. The findings show that the young women are subjected to stereotyped views on what having an impairment involves and have to deal with certain normative criteria of what constitutes womanhood. Despite being 'children' of their time and culture, i.e. rejecting the traditional subservient role of 'the disabled' and of women generally, the young women yearn for the pursuing of tasks, such as caring for children and the home, closely linked to the traditional role of (non-disabled) women. It is argued that this can be understood as a means of counterbalancing an early acquired role of passive recipient. Alongside a positive identification with the group of 'the disabled', the interviewees strive towards being seen as something other than disabled, i.e. as women.
Barron, K. (Ed.). (2004). Gender and disability. Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur.
This book seeks to contribute to the international discussion about gender issues in disability research.
Bedard, C., Drummond, C., Ricciardi, J., & Husband, F. (2003). Community women's circle: A partnership program developed to connect and serve homeless, poor and socially marginalized women with developmental disabilities. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 10(1), 55-59. Retrieved July 21, 2005 from http://www.oadd.org/publications/journal/issues/vol10no1/download/
bedard_etal.pdf
For approximately three years Street Health Nursing Foundation, Regent Park Community Health Centre and Surrey Place Centre (SPC) have been conducting a drop-in, support group for women who have developmental disabilities and are homeless, poor, and socially marginalized. We found that these women came from a different culture and shared some increased vulnerabilities not shared by the clients we meet at SPC. In order to make the group accessible to these women, keep them coming and hopefully help them to get adequate nutrition, we offered something to eat and drink. The cost of their transportation was also covered. Our aim was to: 1) connect with women who could be referred to SPC services; 2) help them develop a positive sense of themselves; 3) help them to develop socially acceptable and satisfying ways of interacting with others; 4) help them to determine and express their own attitudes, feelings, and values; 5) increase their sense of independence; 6) increase their knowledge base regarding their heath; and 7) develop a method of evaluating the group and individual outcomes. Some of the topics covered in the group included: general health, education, jobs, housing problems, abuse, relationships, feelings, being safe at home and in the community, being assertive, self esteem, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, losses, and problem solving. Structured monthly workshops have included such topics as biracial relationships, coping with frustration, and self esteem.
Belaza, M. L. (2003). Discrimination against women with disabilities. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
Why do women with disabilities often have difficulty obtaining economic self-sufficiency and equal access to education and training? Women with disabilities should have an equal right to employment, and should be portrayed in ordinary situations in the media, thus letting society benefit from their talents.
Including practical information on how to improve their situation this publication draws attention to these and other problems. Prepared by a group of specialists it analyses the underlying factors of a double discrimination based on gender and handicap and proposes actions to achieve real equality. It will be of interest for all those preoccupied with the fight to counter discrimination throughout Europe.
Benjamin, S. (2002). Reproducing traditional femininities? The social relations of ‘special educational needs’ in a girls’ comprehensive school. Gender and Education, 14(3), 281–294.
The charity/tragedy discourse of disability and traditional versions of femininity bear some striking resemblances. Both are associated with dependence and helplessness, and with resultant practices that are implicated in the enduring reproduction of social and material inequalities. This article looks at the ‘identity work’ of a group of girls, all of whom had been identified as having ‘special educational needs’, in a mainstream school in the UK. Using findings from an ethnographic study, the article explores how the girls position themselves in relation to the subject ‘special needs student’. The findings suggest that historical meanings associated with femininity and disability combine with contemporary schooling practices to produce a constrained range of subject positions around which the girls have limited room for manoeuvre.
Birch, J. (2003, February). Congratulations! It's Asperger syndrome. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in adulthood, Jen Birch relates her story with humor and honesty, taking us through the years of frustration and confusion that led to her diagnosis in 1999. She candidly describes her continual search for 'normality,' her experiences at work, her difficulties with relationships, her time spent in a psychiatric hospital and her struggle for correct diagnosis. Talking positively about how her life has changed since her diagnosis, Jen aims to use this newfound knowledge to inform others about the syndrome and how, once its pros and cons are understood, life can be lived to the full.
Blackford, K. A. (1993). Erasing mothers with disabilities through Canadian family related policy. Disability, Handicap & Society, 8(3), 281-294.
Blackford explores family policy in Canada as it pertains to mothers with disabilities. She argues that Canadian public policy claims to empower disadvantaged groups, and while women with disabilities who are mothers fit into this group, the author shows that they are still, in fact, discriminated against. The author demonstrates through federal, provincial, and municipal government policies that inadequate accommodation for women with disabilities denies them the rights and entitlements due to all Canadian citizens.
Blackman, L. (1999). Lucy’s story: Autism and other adventures. Mt. Ommaney, Australia: Book in Hand.
In her autobiography, Lucy Blackman gives a very detailed insider’s view of autism before and after she learned to communicate through typing. Blackman adeptly discusses the social construction of speech and how her lack of a method of communication allowed the process of the experience of receiving and speaking to pass her by in her early years. In her later years, she developed a friendship with an Australian writer who became her mentor in her burgeoning desire to be a writer. This book, as well as being a fascinating autobiographical narrative, is essential reading on the aspects of sensory discrimination, issues of visual perception, and discussion of the rituals associated with autism. Blackman also provides an in depth discussion of her school placements, what worked, what did not work in her school settings, and how her family relationships bridged both her school and communication gaps. A majority of the book provides a comprehensive discussion of the method of facilitated communication (FC). Blackman goes into meticulous detail as to how she came to learn FC and she takes text from when she first acquired the method and analyzes it to show the process of communication. In this discussion she provides her own explanation for message passing errors (language keys, personal communication perceptions, vision issues), and discusses how she used the method in high school—what types of classroom situations and student-teacher/home communication methods were successful and not. Blackman also gives the reader an honest and sometimes humorous account of her relationship with her mother and sisters.
Boylan, E. (1991). Women and disability. London: Zed Books Ltd.
Originally published as a kit for the International Year of Disabled Persons for The United Nations, the main purpose of this edited book is to provide information about the problems that women with disabilities face for not only survival, but for finding a place within their families and communities. The book covers such topics as prevention, education, rehabilitation, caregivers, aging women and disability, and some ways that women are "breaking out of the cocoon of disability."
Burr, J. (2002, April). Providing a contrasting view to evolutionary psychology's hypotheses on depression: Using a 'material-discursive' approach to interpret the experiences of depression in women from South Asian communities. Psychology, Evolution & Gender, 4(1), 93-113.
This study reports findings from a qualitative study exploring women from South Asian communities resident in the UK and their 'experiences of depression'. The paper aims to provide an apparently contrasting social context to the evolutionary perspective on women's experiences of depression. The theoretical foundation for the analysis of these findings is a 'material-discursive approach'. Depression is recognized as 'embodied', that is as grounded in the materiality of the body which is immersed in subjective experiences and the social context of women's lives.
Burke, R. J. (1999, January). Disability and women’s work experiences: An exploratory study. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 19(12), 21-33.
Presents the findings of a questionnaire sent to nine occupational groups where women predominate such as healthcare, teaching and childcare, together with other forms placed in day-care and women’s centres in Ontario. Looks at disability, personal demographics, the work situation, workplace stress, physical demands, psychosomatic symptoms, job satisfaction, insecurity, harassment and family pressures. Discusses findings suggesting that disabled women tend to have more negative work experiences, possibly due to previous education problems, discrimination and the nature of roles offered which lead to lower income levels in lower status roles.
Campbell, H., Robinson, J., & Stratiy, A. (2002). Deaf women of Canada: A proud history and exciting future. Edmonton, Alberta: Duval House Publishing.
A collective history of Deaf women and their contributions to their various communities, Deaf Women of Canada recounts their anecdotes, stories and histories to help us understand their experiences. Information about the daily lives and struggles of Deaf women is not easy to come by, mainly because, until recent decades, women were not considered makers of history. Be inspired and sustained by the women whose remarkable accomplishments are traced in this book—heroines to call our own.
Canadian Abilities Foundation. (n.d.). Women with disabilities: Violence prevention resource guide. Toronto: Author. Retrieved February 21, 2005 from: http://www.enablelink.org/women/WOMEN.html
The grim statistics on reported abuse indicate that women with disabilities face a much higher risk than the rest of the female population--perhaps twice as high. Many women with disabilities must rely on other people for physical assistance, financial support or decision-making that involves their care. This increases their vulnerability to physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and/or neglect.
However, the good news is that the number of violence prevention resources available to support women is steadily growing, and more and more of these are accessible to women with disabilities.
A print version (limited availability) may be available by writing to: Canadian Abilities Foundation, 489 College Street, Suite 501, Toronto, Ontario, M6G 1A5, E-mail: info@enablelink.org
Canrinus, M., & Lunsky, Y. (2003). Successful aging of women with intellectual disabilities: The Toronto experience. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 10(1), 73-78. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.oadd.org/publications/journal/issues/vol10no1/
download/canrinus&lunsky.pdf
Older women with intellectual disabilities are a growing population, whose perspective has been traditionally ignored in research. This study aims to identify some key issues in aging for this group from the perspective of the women themselves. Nine women in the Greater Toronto Area participated in 1 to 2 hour interviews addressing personal demographics, economic and personal safety net, health, social roles, and well being. Findings indicate that these women face significant challenges as they age, especially in the areas of health and economic well being. Despite their challenging situations, most women report feeling relatively happy and are satisfied with the support in their lives.
Chadwick, P., & Levine, S. (Producers). (1996). Disabled women: Visions and voices [Video]. Boston: Wide Vision Productions.
This video showcases the emergence and power of "group strength" among women with disabilities from around the world. This audio and photo documentary celebrates the experiences and accomplishments achieved at the First International Symposium on Issues of Women with Disabilities, the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women and NGO Forum held in Beijing, China in the Fall of 1995.
Chenoweth, L., & Cook, S. (Eds.). (2001, April). Violence against women with disabilities [Feature issue]. Violence Against Women, 7(4).
The articles published in this issue include:
- A Brave New World? Neo-Eugenics and Its Challenge to Difference
- "Bring My Scooter So I Can Leave You": A Study of Disabled Women Handling Abuse by Personal Assistance Providers
- Linking the Assessment of Self-Reported Functional Capacity With Abuse Experiences of Women With Disabilities
- Sterilization of Girls and Women With Intellectual Disabilities: Past and Present Justifications
- "Is It Meant to Hurt, Is It?" Management of Violence in Women With Developmental Disabilities
- The Investigation of Abuse and Women With Disabilities: Going Beyond Assumptions
Chernomas, W., & Clarke, D. E. (n.d.). Social support and women living with serious mental illness. Winnipeg, MB: Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence.
This project explored the social support in the lives of women living with schizophrenia. It was designed to build on an initial study, which examined the informational, and support needs as perceived by this population. In the initial study, women indicated there were a limited number of people in their lives. This present study focused on exploring with women their formal and informal sources of support, the kind of support people in their lives provided, and the kind of support women felt was lacking. Women were encouraged to talk about support in the context of their everyday lives, responsibilities, and sense of self, in light of having a serious mental illness. The Executive Summary and a link to the document in PDF is available at http://www.pwhce.ca/socialSupport.htm
Chouinard, V., & Crooks, V. A. (2005, January). 'Because they have all the power and I have none': State restructuring of income and employment supports and disabled women's lives in Ontario, Canada. Disability & Society, 20(1), 19-32
We examine the connections between neo-liberal forms of state restructuring and intervention in disabled people's lives, looking in particular at how these have affected disabled women's experiences of an income support program, the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), in Ontario, Canada. We first outline why and how state programs have been re-designed and implemented in increasingly harsh ways as a result of such neo-liberal forms of state restructuring. Even groups formerly considered among the 'deserving poor' have found their access to social assistance diminished. We then argue that this is an outcome of state programs, policies and practices which are re-asserting and more deeply entrenching 'ableness' as a necessary condition of citizenship, inclusion and access to justice. Finally, we illustrate how disabled women's lives and well-being have been altered as a result of changes in the provision of these forms of state assistance using in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 10 women in Ontario.
Clements, J., Clare, I., & Ezelle L.A. (1995, December). Real men, real women, real lives? Gender issues in learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. Disability & Society, 10(4), 425-436.
This article seeks to define gender issues and explores the significance of these issues for challenging behaviour in the field of learning disability. It is argued that lack of awareness about these issues contributes to the development of challenging behaviour and to difficulties in identifying the needs expressed through these behaviours, whatever their origin. Specific areas examined include models of residential provision for adults, prioritisation of service activities, attribution processes (needs identification), and the sexuality of people with learning disabilities. In each area issues are raised and the implications for service practice defined.
Corbett, J., Jones, E., & Ralph, S. (1993). A shared presentation: Two disabled women on video. Disability, Handicap & Society, 8(2), 173-186.
In this article, the authors share their experiences about making a video in which disabled women present their lives and experiences as they wish to have them portrayed. They hope that this video will be seen as "emancipatory research" in which disabled and non-disabled women work together. Included in this article is a discussion of the representation of disability on British television, specifically focusing on negative and positive images and charities.
Crawford, J., Lewis, C., & Sygall, S. (2002). Loud, proud & passionate: Including women with disabilities in international development programs. Eugene, OR: Mobility International USA.
Loud, Proud and Passionate illustrates the importance of including women with disabilities in international development, women's organizations and community projects and highlights the efforts and successes of disabled women worldwide.
Loud, Proud and Passionate is a valuable resource for international development organizations, women's and disability organizations, International Studies and Disability Studies programs, and for any reader who wants to learn from women with disabilities from around the world.
Cross, P., & Anello, B. (2003, March). Disclosure of records workshop for women with disAbilities and Deaf women. North Bay, Ontario: DAWN Ontario & Ontario Women's Justice Network (OWJN). Retrieved March 14, 2005 from http://dawn.thot.net/workshops/disclosure.html
This is an online version of a Canadian workshop designed to assist women with disAbilities and Deaf women make informed decisions regarding their therapeutic, medical and personal records. It focuses on how these records might be used in a variety of legal proceedings in which women who have experienced violence might become involved.
DAWN Canada. (n.d.). The only parent in the neighbourhood: Mothering and women with disabilities. North York, ON: Author. Retrieved March 16, 2005 from http://www.dawncanada.net/mother.htm
This position paper is based on the results of DAWN Canada's 1988 survey of women with disabilities. The project included the distribution of 1,200 questionnaires, which were returned by 245 women with a variety of disabilities and meetings with approximately fifty of the respondents who volunteered to be interviewed. Through this project and this paper, DAWN Canada hopes to increase awareness of issues affecting mothers with disabilities and to point out areas for further discussion and research.
DAWN Ontario. (n.d.). Women with disAbilities & parenting: Plain language factsheet. North Bay, ON: Author. Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://dawn.thot.net/wwd_parenting.html
A brief discussion of parenting for women with disabilities, focusing on attitudes, counseling, information, support services, transportation, reproductive technologies, and resources. DAWN Ontario has many other publications concerning parenting and women with disabilities available.
Deane, R. (2005, February). Washing my life away: Surviving obsessive-compulsive disorder. London: Jessica Kingsley.
How many of us double-check that we really have locked the door or switched off the iron? For some people, such mundane everyday worries can become life-ruining obsessions. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects one in fifty people and one of them was Ruth Deane. In this frank and personal account she shares her own experience as an OCD sufferer, from the first innocuous signs of onset to the devastating effect of the condition on her relationships with her family and friends, her self-esteem and her marriage. Ruth Deane takes the reader on a moving, honest and at times light-hearted journey, from washing her hands until they cracked and bled, to hospital admission and eventual management and recovery from OCD.
This book offers hope and support to sufferers and an insight into the disorder for family, friends, professionals and all those who want or need to understand OCD and the recovery process.
Disability Awareness in Action. (1997). Disabled women [Resource Kit No. 6]. London: Author. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.independentliving.org/docs2/daakit62.html
This is resource kit reviews the status of disabled women, includes strategies and action for change, and provides several resources and contacts. The kit can also be downloaded as a PDF file at: http://www.independentliving.org/docs2/daa6.pdf or http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/disability%20awareness%20in%20action/daa%20disabled%20women.pdf
Disbelief [Film]. (2004). Leeds, UK: Leeds-Interagency Project.
Disbelief has been produced to raise awareness of the issue of disabled women experiencing violence from men they know. The film runs for 20 minutes and features four disabled women who have experienced violence from men they know. The women talk about their experiences of violence and the difficulties and barriers they encounter when seeking help and support. A resource/training pack accompanies the video and can be used with agency staff or women’s groups to explore the issues raised by the video in greater depth. To order a copy of Disbelief or for more information on LIAP's work with disabled women experiencing domestic violence, telephone Jane Bethell at LIAP 0113 234 9090, or e-mail jane.bethell@leeds.gov.uk
Dive deeper in peer groups of disabled women. (2001). Helsinki, Finland: National Association of the Disabled in Finland. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.dpi.org/en/resources/pdfs/dive_deeper_women.pdf
This guide is the result of a joint women’s project of three national disability organizations. The project partners were from Finland, Romania and Sweden. The National Association of the Disabled in Finland and its women’s group were responsible for project co-ordination. The objective of Socrates DEEP--Disabled Women’s Empowerment & Energy--project was to increase equality and empowerment among disabled women as well as increase awareness generally about disabled women in society. The red thread of the project was the ideology of peer support: disabled women were active themselves in planning the project, as experts, trainers and a target group. This guide includes the materials produced by each project country and organization, and it is largely based on experiences collected in the course of the project.
Dobkin, P. L., Da Costa, D., Joseph, L., Fortin, P. R., Edworthy, S., Barr, S., Ensworth, S., Esdaile, J. M., Beaulieu, A., Zummer, M., Senecal, J. L., Goulet, J. R., Choquette, D., Rich, E., Smith, D., Cividino, A., Gladman, D., St-Pierre, Y., & Clarke, A. E. (2002, Spring). Counterbalancing patient demands with evidence: results from a pan-Canadian randomized clinical trial of brief supportive-expressive group psychotherapy for women with systemic lupus erythematosus. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24(2), 88-99.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of Brief Supportive-Expressive Group Psychotherapy as an adjunct to standard medical care in reducing psychological distress, medical symptoms, and health care costs and improving quality of life in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted with 133 SLE female patients from 9 clinics across Canada. Clinical and psychosocial measures were taken at baseline, posttreatment, and 6 and 12 months posttreatment. Outcomes assessed were psychological distress, quality of life, disease activity, health service utilization, and diminished productivity.
Results: Intention-to-treat analyses revealed that there were no clinically important group differences on any of the outcome measures.
Conclusion: Although both groups improved over time on several measures (e.g., decreases in psychological distress, stress, and emotion-oriented coping), these changes could not be attributed to the psychotherapeutic intervention. Thus, evidence does not support the referral of these patients to this type of intervention.
Doe, T., & Kimpson, S. (1999, March). Enabling income: CPP disability benefits and women with disabilities. Ottawa, ON: Research Directorate, Status of Women Canada. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/pubs/0662279247/199910_0662279247_e.pdf
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is a contributory insurance program designed to be universal for all working Canadians, originally intended to replace a portion of lost income for workers at retirement or disablement. Currently, women (and men) with disabilities who show the capacity to earn income are generally disallowed CPP disability benefits because of the strict definition of “disability” and administrative inconsistencies. This research uses existing quantitative data and new qualitative data gathered in focus groups of disabled women in four cities across Canada, including qualitative data from a focus group with CPP administrators who were consulted on how the CPP currently works before developing cost-effective recommendations to “enable income.” These alternate disability pension policies would distribute resources equitably and respond to circumstances in the lives of women with disabilities, such as fluctuating health and ability to work. Although it is recognized that any policy reforms would affect both women and men with disabilities, this research focuses on women because of the inordinately adverse impact of current official federal definitions of work and disability, and thus policy, on the lives of disabled women. The report contends that, by eliminating the penalty for working, the CPP could empower women, provide incentives for returning to work by removing the threat of losing CPP disability benefits, generate needed income for the CPP and increase taxable dollars for general revenue. The proposed changes extend recent (1995) policy changes focused on creating “work incentives” for people with disabilities and would allow disabled women (and men) to return to work when they are able, without penalty, until such time as they can sustain themselves financially. Suggested policy reforms also address the need to redefine “disability,” aligning it more closely with the complex reality of being a woman living with disability. Themes emerging from these women’s experiences of the CPP demonstrate the difficulties they experience, including the fear of losing secured CPP disability pension income if they engage in paid employment.
Driedger, D., Feika, I., & Batres, E. G. (Eds.). (1996). Across borders: Women with disabilities working together. Toronto: The Women's Press.
This edited book with an international perspective highlights the experiences of women with disabilities working together. Each chapter is written by disabled women leaders and explores how women with primarily physical disabilities join together to demand participation in society, and document their experiences of working together and of forming disabled women's self help groups. Across Borders begins with a description of the growth of the disability movement worldwide and discusses the issues facing women with disabilities in the areas of employment, education, attitudes, and violence. The essays are grouped by region, and also include poetry and photographs.
Driedger, D., & Gray, S. (1992). Imprinting our image: An international anthology by women with disabilities. Toronto: Women’s Press.
The editors compiled articles from 17 countries by women with disabilities. They stress the importance of understanding disability not as an inherent tragedy but as a social problem created by a lack of sensitivity and awareness to the experiences of women with disabilities and to the physical, social, and psychological barriers that occur as a result of this insensitivity. The book is organized around its central principle that women with disabilities are citizens with the means to contribute to their societies. The book is divided into five sections. They include: Our Image in the Family, Our Image in the Community, Imprinting Our Image on the World, In Spite of the World, and Dealing with the World.
Duncan, B., & Berman-Bieler, R. (Eds.). (1998, May). International leadership for women with disabilities final report. New York: Rehabilitation International. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.rehab-international.org/publications/Leadership_Women/index.html
The International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities was one of the most heralded, far reaching and successful events of 1997. Held June 15-20 in Washington, DC, the Forum attracted legislators, artists, advocates, organizational executives, trainers, international assistance experts and grassroots development specialists from around the globe. As a follow-up to the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, the Forum served as an international progress report on concrete implementations of the Beijing Platform for Action benefiting the world's estimated 300 million disabled women and girls.
Dunn, R. (n.d.). Funny you should ask: Living with a disability. Winnipeg: Council of Canadians with Disabilities.
In Funny You Should Ask, Ms. Dunn presents a humorous collection of short stories which describe what it is like to be a woman living with a disability. Peter Carver in his foreword to Funny You Should Ask writes, "For if there is content in these stories, there is also great style. The style of a humorist. You will find in these stories an observant eye, but an eye with a gleam in it. That is a great gift."
Edhborg, M., Friberg, M., Lundh, W., & Widström, A. M. (2005, August). “Struggling with life”: Narratives from women with signs of postpartum depression. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 33(4), 261-267.
Aim: The aim of this study was to explore and describe how Swedish women with signs of postpartum depression two months postpartum experience the first months with their child.
Method: A grounded theory approach was chosen. Twenty-two women who showed signs of depression, i.e. scored 10 or more on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), were interviewed at an average of 80 days after the delivery.
Results: The new mothers were struggling with life related to the self, the child, and the partner. They expressed feelings of loss of who they are, felt overwhelmed by the responsibility for the child, and were struggling with feelings of abandonment, worries, and breastfeeding problems. They often felt like “bad mothers” but they never blamed the child. Most mothers were reluctant to speak about their feelings and they assigned their depressed mood to personal weakness rather than illness. In relationship to the partner the mothers were struggling to keep their equality in the new situation and to get him involved in childcare.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that depressed feelings postpartum may be explained in terms of losses and changes. However, postpartum depressive symptoms remain hidden and it is important to understand the complexity of postpartum depressive mood, described here as struggling with life related to three different dimensions: the self, the child, and the partner.
Einerhand, M., & Van Der Stelt, H. (2005, January). Growing disability rates - The gender issue: The Dutch case in an international perspective. International Society Security Review, 58(1), 65-84.
In the Netherlands, with its remarkably high disability rates, a new phenomenon seems to be emerging. Growing disability rates in the past few years have been exclusively caused by the growing inflow of women into the disability schemes. Comparing the Dutch situation internationally shows that roughly the same problem seems to exist in those countries in which there is a more general problem of large inflow into disability. Women are overrepresented in these arrangements. The Dutch literature shows that there are many factors (both work- and non-work-related) that contribute to a larger push of women towards disability. We conclude that the benefit system can be seen as a sort of "filter." If the filter is weak, many persons will enter disability. If the pressure on women to enter is larger (or the forces to stop women from entering disability smaller), then inflow risks for women will be higher.
England, K. (2003). Disabilities, gender and employment: Social exclusion, employment equity and Canadian banking. In V. Chouinard & V. A. Crooks (Eds.), Disability in society and space [Feature issue]. The Canadian Geographer, 47(4), 429-450.
People with disabilities, especially women, suffer from appallingly high rates of poverty, and paid work is frequently cited as a primary route out of poverty. I draw on feminist analyses of work and disability studies to reflect on the Canadian federal government's Employment Equity Act. I use the example of the 'Big Six' banks to investigate the numerical representation and occupational distribution of women and men with disabilities compared to their counterparts without disabilities. However, social justice in the workplace is at least as much about the quality of social relationships as it is about statistical effects. Reaching workplace equity also involves the creation of a workplace climate where people with disabilities experience supportive and responsive supervision, along with a sense of being respected and valued. I assess the banks' progress towards identifying and eliminating discriminatory disabling barriers. I close with a discussion of workplace climate and locate the Act in the context of a broader network of change that includes challenging ableism.
Fairchild, S., & Quinn, P. (2000, July 29). Socio-empowerment issues for women with disabilities. Paper presented at CASSW Pre-Conference Symposium on Women, Joint Conference of the International Federation of Social Workers and the International Association of Schools of Social Work, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.mun.ca/cassw-ar/papers2/Fairchild.pdf
In this discussion, we chose to examine the legislative and political environment affecting women with disabilities in four different countries: India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa. The intent was to determine what laws and policies have been enacted and how these efforts have affected women with disabilities.
Fawcett, G. (2000, May). Bringing down the barriers: The labour market and women with disabilities in Ontario. Ottawa: Canadian Council on Social Development. Retrieved April 4, 2005 from http://www.ccsd.ca/pubs/2000/wd/index.htm
“This report provides the most up-to-date statistics available on working-age women with disabilities. Of particular interest to those who work at the community level are the statistics at the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) level within Ontario. Integrating quantitative research with qualitative research, this report provides insights into the complex interplay of factors that create employment barriers for women with disabilities. While women and men with disabilities are typically both affected by the same barriers to employment, they are not always affected to the same degree or in the same way. Because of both their gender and their disability, women often face a unique obstacle course when trying to navigate their way through the world of paid work.”
Feature issue on cancer and international health for women. (2006, January). Health Care for Women International, 27(1).
This special issue features articles reporting on international health for women with breast and cervical cancer.
Feld, R., Colantonio, A., Yoshida, K., & Odette, F. (2003, August). Mental health and vitality among Canadian women with physical disabilities. Psychological Reports, 93(1), 75-83.
This study investigated scores for mental health and vitality in a large community-based sample of women with physical disabilities. The scores from two subscales of the SF-36 were collected from 1,096 women with physical disabilities through a mailed survey regarding health and well-being. These scores were compared to normative data using t tests. The mean scores of the vitality subscale were significantly lower than that of the normed sample when analyzed by age groups. The mental health scores were significantly lower as well, except for one age group (65-74 yr.). These results suggest that health care workers should address aspects of mental health and energy when caring for women with physical disabilities, as these areas are often overlooked in this population. Health promotion programs aimed at these topics should be designed specifically for this population as well.
Frazee, C., Gilmour, J., Mykitiuk, R., & Bach, M. (2002). The legal regulation and construction of the gendered body and of disability in Canadian health law and policy. Toronto: National Network on Environments and Women’s Health. Retrieved March 8, 2005 from http://www.yorku.ca/nnewh/english/pubs/LegalRegulationandConstruction.pdf
This study seeks to document and analyze the uneasy relationship between that most ubiquitous and unyielding form of social control–the institution of law–and the “unwieldy... humanness” of women’s bodies “in all their glorious imperfection.” Our over-riding objective is to make visible and concrete the links between a woman’s lived experience of health, and the organization of her experience by law.
Frohmader, C. (2002). 'There is no justice: Just us!' - The status of women with disabilities in Australia. Tasmania: Women with Disabilities Australia.
This report outlines the need for a specifically funded national peak body for women with disabilities in the context of the status of women with disabilities in Australia. This context includes the relative absence of research, data collection and policy development to improve the social and economic status of women with disabilities and the historical neglect of the skills and abilities of women with disabilities by governments, industry and the community as a whole. There are other publications by WWDA available at http://www.wwda.org.au/pubsale.htm
Galati, M., Coppedè, N., Napolitano, E., Soldevila, R. R., Talavera Mua, E., Cabellaero Pérez, I. M., Schmitt-Guerrero, J., & Bouzid, H. (2004). Gender identity in the life of people with disability: Women and mothers in contact with disability – Opportunities of meeting in the female universe. Italy: DPI Italia. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.dpi.org/en/resources/topics/documents/kitinglese.pdf
This document was produced as part of the Alba research project, a collaboration between DPI Italia. G.F.P.H (Groupement Francais des Personnes Handicapées), France and COCEMFE (Confederaciòn Coordinadora Estatal de Minusvalidos Fisicos de Espagna), Spain.
“The activities carried out in the project Alba and the analysis of the contents that came forward from the focus groups of disabled women and mothers of disabled children follow the same direction. The point of view, proposed in these reflections, is the point of view of women; in fact, women were the leitmotiv of Alba. The working group chose this frame to look at the world of disability, being conscious of the richness and the variety of the contribution of women, but also acknowledging the role of the women-mothers in a family with a disabled child (assistance, care, etc.), and in society (mothers, workers, daughters, etc.).
The group, which carried out the research, was composed of disabled women and non, they worked together integrating their professional resources and their life experiences, sharing them in order to propose new knowledge and new ways. Another type of integration, resulting from the research, was the European one: Italian, Spanish and French women had a confrontation and collaborated, from a professional point of view, to share their cultures, their knowledge and their experiences. The final product was this kit, which represents the whole, but also the fusion and integration of different points of view, different ways of living as a woman in contact with disability.
The final aim of this enterprise was to find new methods and new contents, useful for the processes of empowerment, as well as the analysis of new innovating proposals for the processes of female advocacy. We tried to answer the question: how can we support women in these processes of independence and autonomy?
We hope that these reflections may support the female roles in disability and may suggest new strategic lines for those that wish to follow this new road towards emancipation.”
Gender and women's mental health. (n.d.). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health International. Retrieved March 12, 2005 from http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/
This fact sheet on gender and women's mental health, published by WHO, reviews the facts concerning gender disparities and mental health, women's mental health, gender specific risks, gender bias, and WHO's focus on women's mental health. Other resources concerning gender and mental health from WHO are available at http://www.who.int/mental_health/resources/gender/en/
Ghai, A. (2002, Summer). Disabled women: An excluded agenda of Indian feminism. In E. Kittay, S. Silvers, & S.Wendell (Eds.), Special issue: Feminism and disability II. Hypatia, 17(3), 49-66.
My purpose in this essay is to locate disabled women within the women's movement as well as the disability movement in India. While foregrounding the existential realities for disabled women in the Indian scene, I underscore the reasons for their absence from the agenda of Indian feminism. I conclude by reflecting on the possibilities of inclusion within Indian feminist thought.
Ghai, A. (2003). (Dis)embodied form: Issues of disabled women. New Delhi, India: Her-Anand Publications.
"(Dis)embodied Form is an engagement with the issues of disabled women. Written from the epistemic location of an existential reality of physical disability, the author’s goal is to locate disability within the feminist discourse. The author’s primary objective is to create a bridge between feminism and disability theory and practice. The book underscores the struggle by disabled women against the hegemony of normality and patriarchy. The reader will come across both the experiential terrain as well as the theoretical nuances, which have contributed to the experience of disability."
Global voices for gender equity: How women create change. (2003, June). Washington, DC: American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.aauw.org/ef/internationalsymposium_finalreport.pdf.
Proceedings of the AAUW Educational Foundation's Fall 2002 international symposium, International Perspectives: Global Voices for Gender Equity that was held in partnership with the Educational Testing Service. The report highlights key speakers, presentations, and issues that emerged, including the symposium track on education for women with disabilities.
Grant, K. R., Amaratunga, C., Armstrong, P., Boscoe, M., Pederson, A., & Willson, K. (Eds.). (2004). Caring for/caring about: Women, home care and unpaid caregiving [Health Care in Canada Series]. Aurora, ON: Garamond Press.
The Canadian health care system is undergoing steady change, but one thing that remains constant is the key role that women play in providing care. Women are estimated to be comprise nearly 80% of both the paid and unpaid care workers in this country. Yet, their numbers do not coincide with their influence. Government reforms such as the introduction of market systems in health care may result in some cost efficiencies, but not necessarily better working conditions for those who care, much less better care for those who need it. Similarly, the increasing transfer of patients into community care may mean that individuals are able to convalesce in more familiar surroundings and with the people they love, but the added burden on family members—usually women—may mean forgone paid work, not to mention changes in personal relationships between those who care and those who are cared for and about.
Gray, D. E. (2003, February). Gender and coping: The parents of children with high functioning autism. Social Science and Medicine, 56(3), 631-642.
Gender is a concept that is frequently discussed in the literature on stress, coping and illness. Research has reported that women are more vulnerable than men are to stressful events and use different strategies to cope with them. Furthermore, it is often asserted that these gender-based differences in coping may partially explain the differential impact of stressful events on men and women. Unfortunately, much of this research has equated gender with sex and failed to contextualise the experience of illness and coping. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of the role of gender and coping among parents of children with high functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome in an Australian sample. It attempts to analyse the different meanings of the disability for mothers and fathers and describes the various strategies that parents use to cope with their child's disability.
Greater London Action on Disability (GLAD). (1998). ‘I'm used to it now' - Women in Residential Care Project Report. London: Author.
Details interviews with 44 women in 16 “homes” across London, highlighting the lack of choice and poor quality of life which they experience. An order form for GLAD publications can be found online at: http://www.glad.org.uk/services/publications/order.shtml#doctop
Greater London Action on Disability (GLAD). (2002). Disabled women hold up half the sky. London: Author.
Report from a conference for disabled women where disabled women were able to discuss some of the issues affecting them. A summary of this conference is available online at: http://www.glad.org.uk/services/report-summaries/womconf.shtml#doctop
Greater London Action on Disability (GLAD). (2003). Disabled women showing our power. London: Author.
Report from the second GLAD conference for disabled women.
Groce, N. E. (1997). Women with disabilities in the developing world: Arenas for policy revision and programmatic change. In K. F. Schriner, S. N. Barnartt, & B. M. Altman (Eds.), Disabled women and public policy: Where we’ve been, where we’re going [Special issue]. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 8(1&2), 177-193.
Examines some of the most important issues women have to face, in light of poverty and traditionally negative attitudes towards women in general and disabled women in particular.
Habib, L. A. (1995). Women and disability don't mix: Double discrimination and disabled women's rights. Gender and Development, 3(2), 49-53.
In this brief article with an international perspective, the author asserts the importance of understanding and addressing gender issues and how they impact on the experiences of women. She argues that this is important in order to develop strategies for establishing and enforcing the basic human rights of people with disabilities in order to fight double discrimination in such areas as family life, marriage, education, health care, and care for a disabled child.
Handa, S. (1998, June). Gender and life-cycle differences in the impact of schooling on chronic disease in Jamaica. Economics of Education Review, 17(3), 325-336.
The incidence and correlates of adult health are becoming a policy issue in many middle-income countries due to the aging of population structures associated with medical technology and the demographic transition. Adult health problems such as physical disability and non-communicable chronic diseases require unique health infrastructure and expertise and can impose a large cost on already cash-strapped health services. This paper explores the socioeconomic determinants of chronic illness in Jamaica, a middle-income country where chronic diseases are the primary source of the nation's disease burden. Econometric results from a national household survey indicate that additional education significantly reduces the reporting incidence of chronic illness, with the impact especially strong among adults aged 14–49. Moreover, this relationship persists after controlling for household resources, suggesting even greater health related social benefits to education than previously considered. Finally, as in other parts of the world and for other health measures, Jamaican women report earlier and higher incidences of chronic illness, but these differences cannot be explained by differences in the level or impact of education, nor are they likely to reflect mortality selection.
Haniff-Cleofas, R, & Khedr, R. (2005, January). Women and urban environments: Women with disabilities in the urban environment. Toronto: National Network on Environments and Women’s Health, Bureau of Women’s Health and Gender Analysis, Health Canada & Toronto Women’s Call to Action. Retrieved July 21, 2005 from http://www.yorku.ca/nnewh/documents/wwdisaEN.pdf
“The issues concerning women with disabilities are immense. Much research, however, limits its focus only to the barriers to employment for persons with disabilities. An examination is needed of the broader social participation of women with disabilities by focusing on how issues of identity, accessibility, poverty, housing supports, transportation, and urban governance intersect with one another.”
The National Network on Environments and Women's Health partnered with Toronto Women's Call to Action in January 2005 to produce background papers for NNEWH's March 4th workshop entitled Building Healthy Cities for Canadian Women. This is one of five papers.
Hans, A., & Patri, A. (Eds.). (2003). Women, disability and identity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
This volume consists of critical and theoretical articles about women with disabilities in both developed and developing countries. Disabled women and their place in these societies has been a subject that has been neglected in the past, therefore these essays will fill a gap in the evolving literature on disability studies.
The nature of the problems faced by disabled women are such that they need to be addressed by both the feminist and disability movements. But the fact is that they remain invisible within the women's movement at large. This volume, therefore, attempts to provide a space to women with disabilities in the global feminist literature and movement.
Hanson, N. (2002, April 10). On approval: The geography of disabled women and work. Paper given at the New Directions in Disability seminar series, Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. Retreived March 1, 2005 from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Hanson/On%20Approval.pdf
“Failure to recognise the potential (economic or otherwise) of disabled persons within the labour market has left this segment of the population with few alternatives for gaining access to essential goods and services…. Disabled women face additional…role complexity owing to assumed private domestic and parenting duties, coupled with public gender role expectations.”
Hastings, E. (1996, August). Assumption, expectation and discrimination: Gender issues for girls with disabilities. In Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) Gender Equity Taskforce, Gender equity: A framework for Australian Schools. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: Department of Education, Tasmania. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.education.tas.gov.au/equitystandards/gender/framewrk/
assumption.htm
This chapter concerns the perspective of girls with disabilities in education and is from a document developed by the Gender Equity Taskforce and Reference Group following the national Promoting Gender Equity Conference in Australia which brought together a wide range of academics, practitioners, parents and others with an interest in the area of gender equity.
Hawley, J. (2003). From the margins: Voices of women with disabilities. International Journal of Disability, Community & Rehabilitation, 2(2).
Employment is considered a key element in full citizenship and is strongly linked to both disability-related supports and incomes. Employment provides a sense of fulfillment and self-worth. It is also the best defense against poverty. With the lowest rate of labour force success and one of the highest rates of poverty in Canada, women with disabilities are the most employment challenged of any adult group. This interaction of gender and disability is further pronounced by racial, cultural, and sexual orientation.
The researcher uses her twenty years of experience of working with women with disabilities to construct fictionalized accounts of the vocational rehabilitation experiences of women. This collection of short fiction highlights the economic, psychological, attitudinal, and systemic challenges that women with disabilities experience as they attempt to enter or re-enter the paid work force.
The stories cover a number of themes: self-confidence and relationship to reality is undermined without the authentication of a disability; the prevalence of abuse, both as the etiology of a disability and the vulnerability for abuse for a women with a disability; the interconnections between abuse dynamics and vocational development patterns; the impact of the social construct of women as caregivers; income support polices that contribute to the feminization of poverty; negative societal attitudes toward women and the resulting lack of support; and gender bias in career counselling. These accounts are intended to challenge and transform the rehabilitation praxis.
Holt, G. (Ed.). (2004, October). Women with learning disabilities and mental health [Feature issue]. Tizard Learning Disability Review, 9(4).
In May 2002 a conference, Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Women with Learning Disability, was held at Guy's Hospital [UK], a joint venture between the Judith Trust and the Estia Centre, Guy's. The aim was to enable discussion of the importance of good mental health for everyone, for good services for those who become mentally ill and for these services to be sensitive to the particular needs of women with learning disabilities.
Hugemark, A., & Roman, C. (2002). Disability, gender and social justice: Claims for redistribution and recognition in the Swedish disability movement [Working Paper Series 2002/1]. Uppsala, Sweden: Sociologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.soc.uu.se/publications/fulltext/wp2002-01.pdf
In their struggle for social justice most disadvantaged groups face both cultural injustices (non-recognition, disrespect etc.) and socio-economic injustices (exploitation, marginalization, deprivation etc.). Political claims must thus be made both for being recognised as a group, and for the redistribution of economic resources. Such claims stand in an uneasy relationship, however, because recognition claims tend to promote group differentiation, while redistribution claims tend to promote group dedifferentiation. Attending specifically on intersections between gender and disability, the purpose of this paper is to discuss this dilemma in relation to different parts of the disability movement, and changes in welfare state policies.
Hume, J. (1996, January 26). Disability, feminism and eugenics: Who has the right to decide who should or should not inhabit the world? Paper presented at the Women's Electoral Lobby National Conference, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Retrieved March 17, 2005 from http://www.wwda.org.au/eugen.htm
“In this paper I wish to explore 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, I believe also infringe women's rights and should be a matter of grave concern for all feminists. The following discussion is not about the rights and wrongs of the abortion debate but adopts a disability rights interpretation of new reproductive and genetic technologies.”
Hussain, Y. (2005, August). South Asian disabled women: Negotiating identities. The Sociological Review, 53(3), 522-538.
This paper is concerned with the identities of disabled South Asian women within Britain. It presents empirical evidence concerning how disability, gender and ethnicity are negotiated simultaneously for young disabled Muslim and Sikh women. How these identities are negotiated is analysed in the realms of family, religion and marriage drawing on qualitative interviews with the young women, their parents and siblings. The paper argues against ideas of singular identity or the hierarchisation of identities or oppressions. The paper contributes to contemporary debates about how young South Asian women are constructing new forms of identity in Britain.
International leadership for women with disabilities: Selected resources on women & girls with disabilities. (1998, May). In B. Duncan & R. Berman-Bieler (Eds.), International leadership for women with disabilities final report. New York: Rehabilitation International. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.rehab-international.org/publications/Leadership_Women/SelectedResources.html
This is an extensive bibliography on resources concerning women and girls with disabilities including resources published after 1990 and content “relevant to international issues.”
Jackson, J. (1992). Letters from our lives [Film]. Reading, PA: Bullfrog Films.
"Disabled women are often isolated and hidden away, so we know very little about their struggles. To mark the end of the United Nations' Decade of Disabled People in 1992, disabled women from around the globe have written open letters to the world describing their individual plights. In parts of the world where being a woman automatically demotes one to being a second class citizen, being a disabled woman represents a double dose of discrimination. In this moving program, we hear the sadness and the hope of disabled women in Zimbabwe. We share in their struggle to survive on a daily basis and to create a better world for their children. Not only will Letters from Our Lives foster a deeper understanding of people with disabilities, but it will send an inspirational message to anyone facing a hardship. It will touch a deep chord within all viewers."
Jirasuradej, L. (Director/Producer). (2002). Mama Wahunzi [Film]. New York: Women Make Movies.
In Kenya and Uganda, poor healthcare, disease and economic disparity have created an overwhelming shortage of wheelchairs, with more than 200,000 in demand yearly. In both countries there only exist five production shops, where 250 wheelchairs are built yearly. Of these, a staggering 1% are given to women. Mama Wahunzi, literally meaning “women blacksmiths” in Swahili, is an inspiring documentary about three disabled East African women who countered conventional wisdom and expectation by learning how to build wheelchairs for themselves and their community. Trained at a metal workshop sponsored by the American organization, Whirlwind Wheelchairs International, the women share how they gained control of their mobility and became self-sustaining entrepreneurs. This uplifting film shows how they single-handedly combated stereotypes of disability, gender and poverty, while finding a local solution to an international development problem. Their courage and hard work presents a universal and powerful tale of resilience, strength and hope. A press release for this film is available at: http://www.wmm.com/Catalog/press/Mamawa_presskit.pdf
Johnson, K., Strong, R., Hillier L., & Pitts, M. (2002, October). Screened out! Women with disabilities and cervical screening. Carlton, Victoria, Australia: PapScreen Victoria. Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://www.papscreen.org/ps/pdf/Screened_out.pdf
"Screened Out! was a six month study funded by PapScreen Victoria which was undertaken by the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society at La Trobe University. The project arose from concerns that women with disabilities are less likely than other women in the community to have regular cervical screening (Pap tests). This is a matter of concern because cervical screening has been found to be a very effective means of lessening the number of women who develop cervical cancer. In the project we aimed to discover the barriers that women with disabilities met when they had cervical screening. We began the study with a series of consultations with key organisations that provided services for women with disabilities or advocated with them. We then held interviews with 25 women who had sensory, intellectual, psychiatric or physical disabilities. We talked with other women in small groups. Finally we met with cervical screening providers and discussed how they saw the barriers for women with disabilities. We found that while some women did not have any problems in having Pap tests, other women found it very difficult."
Jones, M. K., Latreille, P. L., & Sloane, P. J. (2003, November). Disability, gender and the labour market [IZA Discussion Paper No. 936]. Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.iza.org/index_html?lang=en&mainframe=http%3A//www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract%3Fdp_id%3D936&topSelect=publications&subSelect=papers
Using data from the 2002 LFS, we examine the impact of disability on labour market outcomes by gender. Our results indicate that substantial differences in both the likelihood of employment and levels of earnings exist, despite several years of operation of the Disability Discrimination Act. Significant heterogeneity within the disabled group is identified: those suffering from mental health forms of disability fare particularly badly. Wage decompositions suggest the ‘penalty’ for disability is greater for women than for men. Using the Baldwin and Johnson (1992) methodology, we find the employment effects associated with wage discrimination against the disabled are very small.
Jones, M. K., Latreille, P. L., & Sloane, P. J. (2004, March). Disability, gender and the labour market in Wales. Swansea, Wales: WELMERC, Department of Economics, University of Wales Swansea. Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://www.swan.ac.uk/welmerc/DISABILITY%20GENDER%20and%20the%20LABOUR%20MARKET%20IN%20WALES%20-%20WELMERC.doc
Wales exhibits high rates of disability and inactivity, and a higher incidence of mental health problems than other parts of Britain. Using data from the Welsh Local Labour Force Survey 2001, our results indicate that the low participation rate of the disabled in Wales is partly attributable to their having fewer qualifications; marginal effects suggest education could be a potent remedy for improving their labour market status. In terms of the pay differential between disabled and non-disabled individuals, it would appear that disabled women in Wales suffer disproportionately to disabled men.
Jongbloed, L. (1998). Disability income: The experiences of women with multiple sclerosis. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(4), 193-201.
Article examining the experiences of unemployed women with multiple sclerosis (MS) with 3 income support programs: the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, long term disability insurance, and social assistance. Data are from ethnographic interviews with 23 women. Difficulties the women have experienced with the programs are discussed, including the low level of benefits in 2 of the programs, the earnings-based component of 2 of the programs, and requirements in eligibility criteria that applicants be defined as permanently unemployable. The consequences of these policies for economic status and employment reentry are discussed, along with implications for occupational therapists.
Julius, E., Wolfson, H., & Yalon-Chamovitz, S. (2003). Equally unequal: Gender discrimination in the workplace among adults with mental retardation. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabilitation, 20(3), 205-213.
Level of occupation and salary earned were examined in 227 adults in Israel with mental retardation to explore the correlation between gender and employment among people with mental retardation in the workplace. Women were found to be employed mainly in sheltered workshops and lower levels of occupation, and earned significantly less than men. Closer examination of each work place revealed that within each level of occupation there were no significant gender differences in salary. The findings suggest that while women with mental retardation earn lower salaries than men, this is mainly the result of their lower level of occupation.
Kampi brings out the potential of disabled girls. (2000, July). Raising Our Voices: The Newsletter of the Global Fund for Women. San Francisco: The Global Fund for Women. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/4news/newsletter/2000-07/Disabled_Rights.html
Brief article on the Katipunan Ng Maykapansanan Sa Pilpinas (KAMPI) program in the Philippines which “promotes a family approach to self-reliance through skills development of the disabled and training programs for their parents and siblings” and how it assists girls with disabilities.
Keith, L. (Ed.). (1994). Mustn't grumble: Writings by disabled women. London: The Women's Press, Ltd.
This edited book, compiled by a disabled woman, presents writings by other women who have a range of physical disabilities. The short stories and poems included in this book range in topic from issues of accessibility to abuse to equality. Disability is framed by these narratives as a social, cultural, and political issue, not only as a personal one. This is an excellent account of disability issues from a woman's perspective. It is powerful, moving, and educating for all readers.
Keith, L. (Ed.). (1996). What happened to you? Writings by disabled women. New York: The New Press.
Lois Keith compiled collections of fiction, essays, and poetry by disabled women in her new book, What Happened To You? Her goal is to give women with disabilities a space to express their views on such topics as abuse, equality, sexuality, prejudice, and legislation dealing with disability issues. These narratives construct disability as a cultural and political issue, not only as a personal one.
Kingston, A. K. (2003, April 20-24). Maternal power against a deaf Irish state: Unearthing the narratives of mothers of children with learning disabilities. Paper presented at Gender and Power in the New Europe, the 5th European Feminist Research Conference, Lund University, Sweden. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.5thfeminist.lu.se/filer/paper_319.pdf
“This paper discusses findings from a qualitative study of mothers with children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Down syndrome and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Ireland. Firstly, I will give a brief historical introduction to existing disability policies in Ireland and give examples of the power struggle between mothers and the Irish State. Secondly, I discuss my preliminary research findings of my participants’ lived experience of mothering a child with special needs. Finally, I will argue that the feminist movement has ignored this group of women in our society who, as active agents for their children, are fighting a very lonely battle and need a structured feminist forum for emancipation.”
Kirkebæk, B. (2005, September). Sexuality as disability: The women on Sprogø and Danish society. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 7(3-4), 194-205.
The aim of this article is to show how, through professional diagnoses, social problems declared a specific group of women persona non grata in Danish society. The article is based on data derived from the archives of an institution directed at women of “loose and promiscuous character and low intelligence”: Sprogø in Denmark. The analyses focus on the professional narratives of the interned women, particularly the diagnoses and treatment applied, as they emerge from the archival material. Reading the “Sprogø-girls'” voluminous case sheets it becomes clear that the most marked professional buzzword is “sexuality”. Information was sought on the women's sexual behaviour and, for the staff on Sprogø, there was a special demand to report any signs of “sexual impulses” in the confined women. One recurring aspect was that, sexually, the women were seen as the active and inviting part, and that their behaviour was deemed deviant.
Kristiansen, K., & Traustadottir, R. (Eds.). (2004). Gender and disability research in the Nordic countries [Social Research on Disability]. Lunde, Sweden: Studentlitteratur.
What is disability? What is gender? Why gender and disability? In addressing these questions, this book introduces Nordic scholarship combining gender and disability to an English speaking audience. The book is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of current Nordic research in this area. The content is mostly empirical rather than theoretical and includes studies focusing on the lives of disabled women and men, and others affected by disability. The 15 contributors utilize various theoretical and methodological approaches, including qualitative and quantitative methods as well as historical, text and discourse analysis. The theme unifying the different studies is a focus on the intersection of gender and disability, with an emphasis on providing a gender or feminist analysis of various aspects of disability.
The book should be of value to anyone interested in gender and disability, in particular scholars and students of disability and feminist studies, and other disciplines concerned with the intersection of disability, gender and other social dimensions. The empirical analysis of disabled people’s everyday lives and the services designed for them also make the book relevant for disability activists, policy makers and practitioners in the field of disability.
Kumar, G. S. J., & Mary, A. R. (2001). Training and development of school heads in disabled welfare - A neglected area. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 21(7), 39-46.
This article deals with the concerns of women with disabilities as they progress. Girls who are blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired face many problems of rejection, not only possibly by their parents, but by public school personnel whenever they are “mainstreamed.” While there are social and academic advantages to the residential schools, when disabled women enter college, they often face difficulties with negative peer attitudes and misunderstandings with professors and administrators, as well as lack of access to the campus. These concerns are no less complicated by the fact that few successful and achieving role models for disabled women exist.
Kvigne, K., & Kirkevold, M. (2003). Living with bodily strangeness: Women's experiences of their changing and unpredictable body following a stroke. Qualitative Health Research, 13(9), 1291-1310.
The authors' aim in this phenomenologial and feminist study was to gain a deeper understanding of how female stroke survivors experienced their body after a stroke. They recruited 25 women in a rural area in eastern Norway who had suffered a first-time stroke and interviewed them in depth three times each during the first 1 1/2 to 2 years following the stroke. The data analysis was inspired by phenomenological method. The stroke survivors' experiences of their bodies were characterized by profound, disturbing, and, in part, unintelligible changes during the onset and the process of recovery from the stroke. Their experiences can be summarized under three major themes: The Unpredictable Body, The Demanding Body, and The Extended Body.
Kwiotek, R. G. (2002, December). Disability, gender and power: Finding a useful theoretical framework and an appropriate methodology. Paper presented at Using Emancipatory Methodologies in Disability Research, NDA Disability Research Conference 2002, Dublin, Ireland. Retrieved March 2, 2005 from http://www.nda.ie/cntmgmt.nsf/0/87418679FAE58B0E80256F02004753E9/$File/Disability,%20Gender%20and%20Power%20-%20%20Finding%20a%20Useful%20Theoretical%20Framework%20and%20an%20Appropriate%20Methodology.htm
“This paper will describe the process of developing a theoretical framework and identifying an appropriate methodology for researching complex, multi-dimensional power structures, exploring and revealing the absence of the voices and concerns of Irish disabled women from two social movements in Ireland, i.e. the women’s movement and the disability movement. The shortcomings and limitations of the social model of disability will be addressed from a feminist-disability-theory perspective and possible alternative approaches will be suggested.”
Lamb, V. L. (1997, July). Gender differences in correlates of disablement among the elderly in Egypt. Social Science and Medicine, 45(1), 127-136.
The purpose of this paper is to examine gender-specific models to determine whether different combinations of correlates are associated with male and female disablement, using a sample of non-institutionalized elderly persons in Egypt. Because women and men have different work, family, and household roles, as well as different health risks, it is reasonable to assume that there may be differing correlates for disablement for elderly males and females. The dichotomous dependent variable indicates problems, or the inability, in performing at least one of six activities of daily living (ADL). Of interest is the association of health, economic, and family variables, controlling for age. Logistic regression models are estimated for the total, male, and female samples. The results indicate that for males, having to stop working due to illness and having an unattended medical need are associated with higher odds for disablement as compared with females. Additionally, illiteracy increases the odds for male disablement, yet it has no effect on female disablement. Having experienced an injury in the past year is associated with disability for females, as is spending a lifetime in a rural setting and currently living in a fair to poor residence. Also for the females, increased number of living children significantly increases the odds for functional disability. Separate male and female models were estimated for each of the six ADL items. The trends indicated that the model covariates were more useful in modeling female disabilities in personal care activities, rather than problems with eating and mobility. The health variables were significantly associated with most of the specific ADL problems for the males.
la Rivière-Zijdel, L. (2002, November). Empowerment, self-esteem, self-defence: No longer a passive offer! Retrieved January 15, 2006 from http://www.kvindermedhandicap.dk/Speech%20Lydia.htm
This is text of a presentation made at workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, on self-defense for women with disabilities.
"To understand the value of self-defence for disabled women and girls we have to explore its origin, its general usage in the struggle against violence that women suffer and the different factors that are intertwined with the concept such as the emancipation of women, the gender differences and the emancipation of disabled people. Therefore a terse synopsis of the history of self-defence and martial arts, an exploration of the emancipation movements of women and disabled people, besides inside in oppression theories, are necessary to understand the effect it specifically has on disabled women and girls. Self-defence is more than only using your voice or learning to hit or kick; it is a powerful tool when it is learned and taught with a profound knowledge of all types of violence, discrimination and oppression that disabled women can become victim of."
LaSpina, N. (1998, October 2). Disabled woman: The forging of a proud identity. Keynote presentation, Southern Connecticut State University Women's Studies Conference "Fulfilling Possibilities: Women and Girls with Disabilities," New Haven, CT. Retrieved January 17, 2005 from http://www.disabilityculture.org/course/keynote.htm
This is the text of a keynote presented by Nadina LaSpina, a women with disabilities from Italy, on growing up in the 1950s in Sicily and how, despite the times, she overcome stereotypes and became proud in her identity as a disabled woman.
Lee, E. O., & Oh, H. (2005, September). A wise wife and good mother: Reproductive health and maternity among women with disability in South Korea. Sexuality and Disability, 23(3), 121-144.
As the first national survey on disability and reproductive health in South Korea, the present study was undertaken to describe experiences and needs related to pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal care among women with physical disability (WWPD). Using a stratified random sampling method, 410 married WWPD between the ages of 18 and 50 participated in the survey regarding respondents’ socio-demographic profiles, disability-related characteristics, and reproductive health during pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal care. Findings of this study indicated that most respondents wanted to have a child and perceived child care as possible with appropriate social support. Unlike the conventional wisdom and low societal expectation for these women to perform a maternal role, they gave birth and became caregivers for their child(ren) and family members. This study highlights a wide range of barriers experienced by WWPD with regards to taking care of their reproductive health. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.
Lorenzo, T. (2003, October). No African renaissance without disabled women: A communal approach to human development in Cape Town South Africa. Disability & Society, 18(6), 759-778.
The African Renaissance is upon us. Those who have eyes to see, let them see. Disabled women who live in wooden shacks in the peri-urban areas of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa, participated in storytelling workshops over a two-and-a-half-year period. They shared experiences of what helped or hindered their social and economic development since becoming disabled. The workshops were part of a participatory action research (PAR) study of the Division of Occupational Therapy, University of Cape Town, together with Disabled People South Africa (DPSA) and the Zanempilo Health Trust [formerly South African Christian Leadership Assembly (SACLA) Primary Health Care Project]. The findings revealed the struggles and sadness, as well as the strengths and spirit that the women experienced within their every day context at an individual, family and community level. The women spoke strongly about meeting physical, emotional, and spiritual needs (human development) as the means to social and economic development. The discussion reflects on the many paradoxes of disability encapsulated in the essence of interdependence of Ubuntu. Three themes discussed are building emotional resourcefulness: nurturing children and families in disability issues; and renewing spirituality and Ubuntu in disability and development programmes. In conclusion, managing the paradoxes of disability, the creation of a new individual and collective identity, and the capacity to change are proposed as the way forward.
Markovic, M., Manderson, L., Wray, N., & Quinn, M. (2004, December). ‘He’s telling us something.’ Anthropology & Medicine, 11(3), 327-341.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with patients and participant observation notes from a cancer support group and outpatients department, we analyse the experiences of Australian-born and immigrant women with gynaecological cancer to describe cancer diagnosis disclosures from the patients' perspectives and examine women's treatment decision-making. Data suggest that most women did not question the surgeon's recommendation and assumed a passive role in treatment decision-making. The contextual factors which impacted on this pattern were the unavailability of an alternative biomedical treatment path, the perception of the metropolitan hospital as a centre of clinical excellence with extensive experience in treating women with gynaecological cancer, and lay understandings of the nature of gynaecological cancer as 'a killer'. We also discuss the circumstances under which a few women took on the role of primary decision-maker.
Mason, M. (2000). Incurably human. London: Working Press.
Simultaneously personal and philosophical, this book is both a celebration of and call for inclusive communities and schools. Micheline Mason shares some of her experiences growing up and living with a disability in London. She challenges the dominant ideology of the medical model that suggests that she and others with disabilities are broken and need to be fixed, stressing that she is fully human as she is and does not need or desire a cure. The book chronicles her personal journey from experiencing segregation and discrimination to living a full life, fighting prejudice, and working for inclusive societies. She has dedicated the book to Marsha Forest, Jack Pearpoint, Judith Snow, John O’Brien, and Herb Lovett who “flew in as a team, crashed through our British reserve and, in their generosity, gave us the language and the tools of inclusion.” The book is divided into four sections: Exclusion Harms Everyone, The Inclusion Movement, Inclusive Education, Glimpses of a Possible Future.
Marshall, C. A., & Juarez, L. G. (2002, October-December). Learning from our neighbor: Women with disabilities in Oaxaca, Mexico. Journal of Rehabilitation, 68(4), 13-19.
The Vecinos y [Neighbors and] Rehabilitation project involved five years of research in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This article summarizes research from the fifth and last year of research - research that focused on indigenous women with disabilities living in the urban capital of Oaxaca City. It also describes action intervention: the development of a non-profit organization in the United States, the Women's International Leadership Institute (WILI). WILI is working with women with disabilities in Oaxaca to meet needs identified through the Vecinos research. The research processes used in the Vecinos project, coupled with the action interventions being taken by WILI, can serve as a model for international collaboration between the United States and Mexico and as a demonstration of the need for a bi-national agreement to work together as neighbors in rehabilitation.
Masuda, S. (1998, March). The impact of block funding on women with disabilities.
Ottawa: Status of Women Canada. Retrieved May 7, 2005 from http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/pubs/066263473X/199803_066263473X_e.pdf
"Most Canadians are unaware of the changes brought about by block funding for health, education, welfare (social assistance), and social services, which have been consolidated under the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST). People most affected by these changes are those in need of health services and people on welfare and welfare disability benefits. Although these cuts affect all persons with disabilities who depend upon the social services, women with disabilities are generally in a worse position than men with disabilities. The changes affect about 60 percent of all women with disabilities on a very personal level. The purpose of this research was to look at the impact of block funding on women with disabilities…. This research, based on discussions with women with disabilities in focus groups in every province and territory in Canada, shows that the changes under the CHST have had a profound negative impact on our lives as women with disabilities…. The women who participated in the focus groups felt that the lives of women with disabilities in institutions have become increasingly difficult."
Matthews, G. F. (1983). Voices from the shadows: Women with disabilities speak out. Toronto: The Women’s Press.
This book explores the lives of women with disabilities in Canada and is based on interviews with 45 women with disabilities. The author herself has a physical disability and the book is a mixture of her own autobiography and the interviews. The result is a very readable and interesting account of the lives of women with disabilities, some of whom live in institutions and others who live in the community.
The book is candid in its critique of the medical and rehabilitation professionals, institutions and the attitudinal and physical barriers in society. It explores the feelings of women with disabilities about themselves and their relationships with others. It points out that many doctors and social workers as well as society in general think that women with disabilities are asexual and therefore not in need of information on birth control or what is possible in terms of having children or a sex life. Other issues addressed are employment, education, housing, parenting, accessibility and social and governmental assistance.
The introduction to the book is written by Pat Israel and Cathy McPherson, "two feminists with disabilities" (as they call themselves). They discuss, amongst other things, the relations between the disability rights movement and the women's movement and criticize how un-accessible the women's movement has been for women with disabilities.
McDonough, P. A. (1997). The social patterning of work disability among women in Canada. In K. F. Schriner, S. N. Barnartt & B. M. Altman (Eds.). Disabled women and public policy: Where we’ve been, where we’re going [Special issue]. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 8(1&2).
Examines effects of functional limitations, the labor market, life stage, and family responsibilities, on whether or not a woman is able to be gainfully employed; based on data relating to women aged 20-64 from the household component of the 1986 Statistics Canada Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS).
McDonagh P. (2000, June). Diminished men and dangerous women: Representations of gender and learning disability in early- and mid-nineteenth-century Britain. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 28(2), 49-53.
The present article explores the relationship of gender and learning disabilities in early- and mid-nineteenth-century literary representations of people with learning disabilities. Literary texts are useful historical documents because these often foreground how learning disabilities worked symbolically in a social context and enable us to examine the ideological forces shaping notions of learning disabilities. The images explored in the present study suggest some common cultural themes. Men with learning disabilities were understood as being diminished, somehow lacking an essential component of masculine identity. Women, on the other hand, were often reduced to the essential, yet disruptive element of feminine sexuality, or later in the century, were conceived as deviant from the feminine norm in their carnality.
McLaughlin, J. (2003, August 20-24). Screening networks: Shared agendas in feminist and disability movement challenges to antenatal screening and abortion. Paper presented at Gender and Power in the New Europe, the 5th European Feminist Research Conference, Lund University, Sweden. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.5thfeminist.lu.se/filer/paper_352.pdf
“In various debates and issues non-disabled feminists have been rightly criticised for advocating ideas that are problematic for disabled people and counter to the principles of the disability movement. …While feminists working within disability studies…have developed greater dialogue between feminist frameworks and disability studies, reproductive rights remain an important point of contention between the two approaches.”
Meekosha, H. (2002). Virtual activists? Women and the making of identities of disability. In E. Kittay, S. Silvers, & S.Wendell (Eds.), Special issue: Feminism and disability II. Hypatia, 17(3), 67-88.
This article examines the rise of a feminist engagement with the disability rights movement. Three realms of social being—individual, society, and the state—interact in the making of the identities of disability. The emergence of Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA), suggests the ways women with disabilities come to identify with an autonomous women's group and the ways in which the particular forms of our activisms are produced.
Meekosha, H., & Dowse, L. (1997, Autumn). Enabling citizenship: Gender, disability and citizenship in Australia. Feminist Review, 57(1) 49-72.
This paper queries the absence of disabled voices in contemporary citizenship literature. It argues that the language and imagery of the citizen is imbued with hegemonic normalcy and as such excludes disability. Feminist perspectives, such as those which argue for a form of maternal citizenship, largely fail to acknowledge disability experiences. Exclusionary practices are charted and links are made between gender, race and disability in this process. A citizenship which acknowledges disability is fundamental to re-imaging local, national and international collectivities.
Mobility International USA & Vion, D. E. (2002). Loud proud & passionate [Video]. Eugene, OR: Mobility International USA and The Sky's the Limit Productions.
This video documents MIUSA's Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability. Interviews with participants highlight the vision, determination, challenges and recommendations of women with disabilities who are grassroots leaders in over 25 countries. MIUSA's unique model of international leadership training is illustrated as women with mobility, visual and hearing disabilities are shown in unique training workshops and team-building activities, from project development to an outdoor ropes challenge course. Some clips are available online (http://www.miusa.org/publications/videos/loudproud) as well as a text version of the transcript.
Mobility International USA & Vion, D. E. (2003). Loud, proud and prosperous® [Video]. Eugene, OR: Mobility International USA and The Sky's the Limit Productions.
Loud, Proud and Prosperous® features women with disabilities in Zambia and Zimbabwe who are participating in cutting-edge microcredit programs. Through interviews with disabled businesswomen and at their places of enterprise, the video promotes new, more accurate images of women with disabilities in developing countries as micro-entrepreneurs supporting themselves and their families, and agents of economic development. International development organizations will gain insights and practical recommendations to more effectively tap the potential of women with disabilities as clients, businesswomen and economic contributors. People with disabilities in the US will gain international perspectives on the economic challenges and strategies of women with disabilities southern countries. Recommended for microfinance organizations, international development agencies, women’s and disability organizations, international studies and disability studies programs.
Morgan, M. (2003, June 26). Women with disabilities: From invisible to visible citizens [Bulletin Insert]. Disability Negotiations Bulletin, 2(9). New York: Ad Hoc Committee on an International Convention, United Nations. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.worldenable.net/rights/adhoc2meetbulletin09a.htm
This bulletin insert reports on a luncheon hosted by the government of South Africa and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), "Women with disabilities: Opportunities and challenges for women's rights activists in the development of a convention on the human rights of people with disabilities." The briefing emphasized the need for the explicit equality of women with disabilities within the context of any human rights framework.
Moss, P., & Dyck, I. (1999). Body, corporeal space, and legitimating chronic illness: Women diagnosed with M.E. Antipode, 31(4), 372-397.
The trendiness in using the body as a unit of analysis does not keep us from trying to understand how the body is part of the mundane stuff that makes up everyday life, particularly the chronically ill body. In our research with women diagnosed with chronic illness, we found that women experience their bodies, both sensorially and in their capacity for labor and leisure, through social scripts, seeming economic imperatives, and their own blood, sweat, and tears. The synchronous existence of the discursively ill and materially ill body seemed to be highlighted in these women's accounts of their experiences of myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E., popularly referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or CFS). This spurred us to rethink the body in terms not just of embodied social practices but also of embodied experiences. In this paper we draw on women's experiences of M.E. as a way to assist in building a radical body politics. We first review and critique various attempts to come to terms with the simultaneity of the discursive and material body. We then present our empirical study comprised of in-depth interviews with women diagnosed with M.E. and living in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We then elaborate the notion of corporeal space as a way to access embodied experience. We close with comments about how body and space create a nexus through which we can access bodily existence within space.
Murdoch, M., Gustafson, G. L., & The Independent Living Resource Centre-St. John’s. (2005). Women with disabilities and adaptive technology in the workplace: Participatory action research and applied principles of independent living - Full report. St. John’s, Newfoundland: The Independent Living Resource Centre. Retrieved August 30, 2005 from http://www.ilrc.nf.ca/Waat/select_report.htm
“This report provides an overview of a research project that examined the experiences and perspectives of unemployed, underemployed, and employed women with disabilities, and their knowledge of and need for adaptive technology… We found that despite education, work experience, and involvement in various training programs the majority of women with disabilities were unable to find sustained employment with a living wage. Although most women with disabilities have improved access to education, policies to advance use of adaptive technology in the labour market have not kept pace. Consequently, women with disabilities are demonstrably and significantly excluded from employment.”
Nakanishi, Y. (n.d.). Development and self-help movement of women with disabilities. Johanneshov, Sweden: Independent Living Institute. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.independentliving.org/docs5/nakanishi.html
This article focuses on development assistance models and philosophies for women with disabilities who struggle to achieve independence in Asia, first from the viewpoint of a development program organizer and then from the viewpoint of a witness of empowered self-help movements.
This is one of several documents in the Independent Living Institute’s virtual library. For other documents, go to http://www.independentliving.org/library.html and click on “Women with Disabilities.”
National Aboriginal Network on Disability. (1992). Voices in the wilderness: Aboriginal women and disabilities. Cornwall, ON: Author. Retrieved March 30, 2005 from http://www.schoolnet.ca/aboriginal/disable6/index-e.html
This paper identifies issues affecting Aboriginal women with disabilities and Aboriginal women who are primary caregivers of disabled relatives. It is the result of a literature review, discussions with Aboriginal women and a two-day "Aboriginal Women's Circle on Disability" held in Ottawa in March 1992. The paper also contains recommendations based on the Women's Circle discussions.
National Coordinating Group on Health Care Reform and Women. (2002). Women and health care reform. Winnipeg, MB: Canadian Women’s Health Network. Retrieved March 8, 2005 from http://www.cewh-cesf.ca/PDF/health_reform/women-hcrEN.pdf
“Women are the majority of health care receivers and health care providers in Canada. Approximately 80% of paid health care workers are women. Women provide most of the unpaid health care within the home. During the past decade, federal and provincial governments introduced major changes to the health care system. These health care reforms have a significant impact on women as patients, health care providers, and family caregivers. Health care reforms affect women’s health, work and financial well-being.”
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health. (2000). The impacts of policy on the health and well-being of women raising children with disabilities. Toronto: National Author. Retrieved March 8, 2005 from http://www.yorku.ca/nnewh/english/pubs/19.pdf
In October 2000, a round table was held with mothers raising children with disabilities as key informants. The purpose of the roundtable was to explore the impacts of policy on women's health and well-being related to raising children with disabilities. The round table was held in Edmonton, Alberta took place in conjunction with the 6th International Congress on the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities and the Canadian Association for Community Living Family Conference.
This brief document concludes that “…It is apparent that the current state of affairs for some women who are raising children with disabilities has a significant impact on their own health and well-being, as well as on their social and economic opportunities and sense of social security. Mothers raising children with disabilities are clear that the negative impacts on their own health and well-being are a direct result of current policy and the translation in delivery of programs and service, not the direct care of their child per se.”
Ngai, K. (2002). Translating research into action: Empowering disabled women through emancipatory research in a Chinese Society. Asia & Pacific Journal on Disability, 5(2). Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/asia/resource/z00ap/vol5no2/trans.htm.
Emancipatory research is highly commended by both disability activists and feminists for its enabling effects. The author therefore applies emancipatory research to a group of disabled women in a Chinese society with the ultimate goals of empowerment and self-advocacy. As a result, the outcome is positive and encouraging, though challenges are also encountered.
O'Hara, J.., & Martin, H. (2003, March). Parents with learning disabilities: a study of gender and cultural perspectives in East London. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 31(1), 18-24.
The rights of people with learning disabilities to marry and have a family is at the heart of the Government's new strategy (Valuing People), yet there are few integrated and co-ordinated services to meet their needs. All too often, learning disability is the sole reason why children are removed from their biological parents. Whilst there is a small but growing literature on the quality and extent of the social supports available, little attention has been paid to culture and gender. This study analyses data on parents who came into contact with the specialist community learning disability health team in East London over a 5-year period in respect of culture, gender and outcomes.
Paltiel, F. L. (1997). The Disabled Women's Network in Canada. Sexuality and Disability, 15(1), 47-50.
This paper describes the Disabled Women's Network (DAWN) in Canada, its origins, its significance, and its effective contributions to public awareness and social policy. DAWN was conceived as a result of the realization that the disabled community and its advocates lacked gender awareness or sensitivity, while the women's movement had a blind spot regarding women with disabilities. The paper will consider the topic against the background of disability statistics, the health care system in Canada and from a perspective of needs, risks and tasks of women in general and women with disabilities in particular.
Perry, D. & Whiteside, R. K. (2002, April). Recontextualising violence: Children, 'disability' and gender. Northbridge, WA, Australia: People 1st Programme (PIP). Retrieved March 1, 2004 from http://www.people1stprogramme.com.au/files/Recontextualising_Violence.pdf
“Violence and abuses of all kinds are increasingly publicly acknowledged as widespread in many societies. While it is important to recognise ‘groups’ of people who may be regarded as ‘at risk’ or most likely to be subjected to various forms of abuse, it is also important to look for revealing continuities and interrelationships with regard to reasons why people are violated at all. Until quite recently, various professions and disciplines have focused upon violence and abuse in contexts relevant to their particular areas of expertise with some reluctance to pose these larger often difficult and highly confronting social and political questions. There are however, signs that a broadening perspective is emerging and that the focuses of varying forms of analysis and research must be interrelated within wider frameworks.”
Perspectives on Education by Women with Disabilities [Feature issue]. (1996, Summer). Women's Education des femmes, 12(2). Retrieved February 29, 2005 from http://www.nald.ca/canorg/cclow/newslet/1996/sumr_v12/cover.pdf
“The women who have contributed to this special issue, Perspectives on Education from Women with Disabilities, have shared their experiences and knowledge, their triumphs and frustrations in an effort to wake up the world to their right to access education, employment and a life of dignity and independence.”
Posen, J., Moore, O., Tassa, D. S., Ginzburg, K., Drory, M., & Giladi, N. (2000). Young women with PD: A group work experience. Social Work in Health Care, 32(1), 77-91.
Parkinson's Disease (PD) affects between 5-10% of the PD population prior to the age of 40. The psychosocial changes that patients with early PD encounter may be more devastating and disabling than the actual motor disability. The paper describes a unique experience in group work with young female PD patients treated in the Movement Disorders Unit of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. The paper focuses on the special issues which characterized this group's experience: stigma, body and sexual image, and personality traits.
Preece, J. (2002). Feminist perspectives on the learning of citizenship and governance. Compare, 32(1), 21-33. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.educationarena.com/educationarena/sample/sample_pdfs7/
ccom32_1b.pdf.
This paper offers a critical appraisal of citizenship and governance in relation to gender. It draws on poststructuralist themes which look at the relationship between power and discourse. This perspective provides an analytical tool for exploring how gender has been understood in the construction of citizenship and governance values in Europe. Whilst the focus of this discussion is gender, the implications of this analysis for disability and race are also highlighted. The paper argues for a broader, more inclusive, ethical definition of active citizenship that, in turn, will influence how people learn to be citizens and take part in governance. A selected literature identifies different ways in which citizenship is portrayed and learned through texts, schooling, family and social behaviours and traditions. The changing European and globalisation contexts provide additional commentary on the demands for new forms of citizenship and governance. Particular attention is paid to the notion of active citizenship with some recent interpretations of the dichotomy between private (family) and public (political) domains in relation to citizenship and gender. The final sections then analyse different attempts to re-define a gender sensitive concept of citizenship, concluding with the argument for an ethical education which would empower women to play a more active, citizen role in governance.
Pridmore, A. (1997, June 15-20). Self-determined living for disabled women using personal assistance. Paper presented at the International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities, Bethesda, MD. Retrieved November 8, 2004 from http://www.empowermentzone.com/using_pa.txt
This is text of a speech delivered during the International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities on the author’s experiences “…as a woman employing Personal Assistants in Great Britain…” and ….”giv[es] an overview of how and why I started using Personal Assistants and then go on to describe the positive and negative aspects of self-determined living for women using Personal Assistants.”
Reeves, D., & Sheridan, C. (Eds.). (2003, April). Gender equality and plan making: The gender mainstreaming toolkit. London: Royal Town Planning Institute. Retrieved June 6, 2005 from http://www.rtpi.org.uk/resources/panels/equal-w/gender.pdf
“This gender mainstreaming toolkit provides practical guidance on how to incorporate gender issues into planning at the local level, helping promote equality between women and men. The target audience for this toolkit includes those responsible for formulating and implementing planning policy (policy planners), making decisions about the content of planning policy (elected members), and implementing planning policy (development control planners or development facilitators). The toolkit will also be useful for those engaged with the planning process, including community groups, groups representing women and men and those providing advice to communities such as consultants and Planning Aid organisations.”
While not specific to disability, it is considered a factor in planning and development as a diversity concern.
Raz, A. (2004, November). "Important to test, important to support": Attitudes toward disability rights and prenatal diagnosis among leaders of support groups for genetic disorders in Israel. Social Science and Medicine, 59(9), 1857-1866.
To situate the North American, and to some extent, European debate regarding disability rights and prenatal diagnosis in a social and cross-cultural context, this pilot study explored the views of leaders of organizations for disability rights and support groups for people with genetic conditions in Israel, where a similar debate has not emerged. Unlike many of their counterparts in North America, Israeli respondents were generally in favor of prenatal genetic testing as well as selective abortion, while at the same time expressing their commitment for already-born disabled individuals. The religious, legal, economic and socio-cultural context of this two-fold view of disability - which separates prenatal (preventive testing) and postnatal (supporting disability) - is discussed in order to further situate the debate in cross-cultural perspective. It is hypothesized that prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion are supported in secular Israeli society independently of the rabbinical stance, which forbids selective abortion, and in a way that reflects society's non-acceptance of congenital disability, veneration of the healthy body, and medical directiveness.
The Roeher Institute. (1995). Harm's way: The many faces of violence and abuse against persons with disabilities. North York, ON: Author.
This study focused on violent or abusive circumstances experienced by people with disabilities and the impact of this on their lives. These circumstances include physical, sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse; denial of rights, necessities, privileges, and opportunities; and failure to respond to complaints of abuse and violence. The information for this study came from a Canadian survey of people with disabilities, and from interviews and focus groups with service providers, police, advocates, and family members. Also included as sources of information are a review of the literature on this topic and Canadian case law and statutes.
The author identifies factors which can contribute to such abuse, such as negative social stereotypes concerning disability and having caregivers who may lack adequate support and training. Also considered are issues of disclosure and identification of violence and abuse as well as responses (legal and otherwise) to the problem after it has been disclosed. Recommendations are offered for policy, program reform, statutory reform, providing information to concerned parties about the issue, and increased support from communities.
The Roeher Institute. (2001, February). Disability-related support arrangements, policy options and implications for women's equality. Ottawa, ON: Research Directorate, Status of Women Canada. Retrieved March 5, 2005 from http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/pubs/0662653238/200102_0662653238_1_e.html
This report examines equality issues of women with disabilities and the women who provide supports to them in the context of caregiving relationships. Equality of women within and outside of the actual relationships is considered. This report is also available as a PDF at: http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/pubs/0662653238/200102_0662653238_e.pdf
Rousso, H. (n.d.). Education for all: A gender and disability perspective. An unpublished report prepared by Harilyn Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited, for the World Bank. Retrieved March 12, 2005 from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DISABILITY/Resources/Education/
Education_for_All_A_Gender_and_Disability_Perspective.pdf.
“In light of the international commitment to Education for All (EFA), how are girls with disabilities faring? In truth, we don’t know, although from what we can tell, they are not faring well. Widespread cultural biases based on gender and disability greatly limit their educational opportunities. Why don’t we know more? Those committed to gender equity, by failing to consider disability, and those committed to disability equity, by failing to consider gender, have unwittingly rendered disabled girls invisible.”
Rousso, H. (2000). Girls and women with disabilities: An international overview
and summary of research. New York: Disabilities Unlimited Consulting Services.
“While widely diverse, one major commonality of women with disabilities is the double discrimination they face based on disability and gender. As a group, women and girls with disabilities fare less well on most indicators of educational, vocational, financial and social success than their nondisabled female and disabled male counterparts. But the barriers to success that they face often go beyond issues of gender and disability. Women and girls with disabilities from developing countries encounter many more hurdles than their disabled sisters in more developed countries. And within the same country, disabled women and girls who are poor or are members of racial, ethnic, religious, sexual or other minority groups have less access to resources and fewer chances for full participation in society than their counterparts who are better off financially and/or are members of majority groups.”
Rozen, S. (Director), & Kowarsky, E. (Producer). (1999). Liebe Perla [Film]. Israel: Eden Productions.
This powerful documentary highlights the friendship of two women while revisiting the Nazi’s treatment of people with disabilities. The women, a young disability advocate researching the treatment of little people during the Holocaust and an 80-year-old concentration camp survivor, are similar only in that they are both called short-statured. The film is in German and Hebrew with English subtitles. It is a provocative film that is best viewed with time for discussion afterwards.
Salthouse, S., & Frohmader, C. (2004, September 15-17). 'Double the odds' - Domestic violence and women with disabilities. Paper presented to the 'Home Truths' Conference, Sheraton Towers, Southgate, Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.wwda.org.au/odds.htm
“There is a high incidence of violence against women with disabilities. It is extensive and of a pervasive nature. Yet until recent years, there has been a profound silence around the experiences of violence among women with disabilities. The issues for women with disabilities have largely been excluded from most generic policies and from responses to the issue of women and violence. Women with disabilities are largely invisible in both the disability and women's movements. All these factors combine to produce a situation where women with disabilities are relegated them to a position of extreme marginalisation and consequently, to increased risks and experiences of violence.”
Sampson, F. (2003, Spring). Globalization and the inequality of women with disabilities. Journal of Law & Equality, 2(1), 16-32. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.jle.ca/files/v2n1/Sampson.pdf.
“This article focuses on one disadvantaged group—women with disabilities—whose members are affected in multiple ways by the operation of the market economy in the current era of globalization.”
Sands, T. (2005, November). A voice of our own: Advocacy by women with disability in Australia and the Pacific. Gender and Development, 13(3), 51-62.
Women with disability do not generally benefit from international human-rights laws and agreements, or from development discourse and practice. The interconnection between disability and gender identity is largely invisible within women's rights, disability rights, and development agendas. For women with disability in the Asia and Pacific region, this is particularly evident for Pacific women; within Australia, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. This article discusses these issues in the context of PWDA's advocacy approach to disability, gender, and development. It also describes PWDA's engagement with women's human-rights projects, which has formed part of its advocacy strategy to develop a voice for Australian and Pacific women with disability.
Sará-Serrano Mathiason, M. (n.d.). Women with disabilities: Lessons of reinforcing the gender perspective in international norms and standards. New York: United Nations UN Global Programme on Disability. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/women/wwdis0.htm
“Women with disabilities did not get on United Nations development agenda overnight. The first World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City in 1975, did not mention women with disabilities at all. The second World Conference on Women, held in Copenhagen in 1980, only asked Governments to ‘Direct special attention to the needs of elderly women, women living alone and disabled women.’ There was little detail in the text agreed by the Governments and persons with disabilities were not well represented.”
Portions of this document were published in somewhat different format in Beyond Beijing: A guide to equality for women with disabilities by the year 2000, published by Disabled People's International (DPI) in 1997.
Sartori, G. (1995). Toward empathy: Access to transition houses for psychiatrized women. Whitehorse, YT: Second Opinion Society of Whitehorse.
In 1990, the disAbled Women's Network (DAWN Canada) published a report called Meeting Our Needs: An Access Manual for Transition Houses. The authors had looked extensively at the situation of disabled women in accessing transition house services in an abuse crisis. Of the various categories of disability that they examined, "psychiatrically disabled" women were the most likely to seek such services–and the most likely to be turned away on the basis of their disability. This manual is designed to promote the equal access to transition houses that DAWN Canada found lacking. It is written by and from the point of view of women who have experienced psychiatric treatment.
Senn, C. Y. (1988). Vulnerable: Sexual abuse and people with an intellectual handicap. North York, ON: The Roeher Institute.
The author of this book claims that while sexual abuse has become a major issue in recent years, the sexual abuse of people with an intellectual handicap (i.e., mental retardation) has been virtually ignored in the public discussion and policy-making around the issue.
The author explores the myths surrounding sexual abuse and the myths surrounding people with mental retardation. The book focuses both on children and adults and the author shows how the myths surrounding disability contribute to the vulnerability of people with disabilities. This vulnerability seems to be well recognized, yet the author reports that it is almost impossible to get accurate measures of either prevalence or incidence of sexual abuse. Through a review of the literature which contributes to the understanding of sexual abuse of individuals with mental retardation the author suggests: (1) when sexual abuse is reported, 99% of the victims are assaulted by people known to them, (2) only 20% of assaults are reported, and (3) depending on the sampling and information gathering techniques used, estimates range from 25% to 83% of women, and up to 32% of men, with mental retardation have experienced sexual abuse. The author concludes that children with disabilities are at higher risk for sexual abuse than other children and adolescents, and that girls and women with disabilities are the most likely victims.
The author describes ways people with mental retardation used to indicate that they have been sexually abused and explores treatment and prevention issues. The book also addresses issues such as inaccessibility of services for individuals with mental retardation, offenders who have mental retardation and legal issues in sexual abuse of children. The book concludes with recommendations to protect individuals with mental retardation from sexual abuse.
This book is, to the best of my knowledge, the first comprehensive study of sexual abuse of people with mental retardation.
Sikand, M. (1998, August). Leadership development for women with disabilities: Key issues and strategies in leadership training and successful participation in microcredit programs. Final report of the Mobility International USA International Symposium on Microcredit for Women with Disabilities, Eugene, Oregon. Retrieved February 12, 2005 from http://www.miusa.org/publications/freeresources/intlsymposium
This is "…the full report from Mobility International USA's first International Symposium on Microcredit for Women with Disabilities. Thirteen women leaders with disabilities from 11 developing countries met with US-based international development organizations, experts on microcredit and leaders in disability to strategize about how to improve access of women with disabilities to microcredit programs."
Sim, F. G. (1999). Integrating women and girls with disabilities into mainstream vocational training: A practical guide. Bangkok: ILO East Asia Multidisciplinary Advisory Team, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/ability/wwdforeword.htm.
“This guide is intended primarily for instructors and administrators in vocational training institutes in both the public and private sectors, and It will also be useful to policy-makers in vocational training as well as in employers’ and workers’ organizations. The guide discusses the main issues relating to the seriously disadvantaged position of women with disabilities and provides basic information about disability. It suggests practical actions for vocational training institutes to increase the enrolment, participation, and integration of women with disabilities into their training programmes. By doing so, it is hoped that instructors and administrators of vocational institutes will be better informed to promote equality of opportunity for disabled women in training, and in subsequent employment. While most disabled persons can participate in mainstream training, this guide is geared primarily to those who require minimum support in the learning environment.”
Singleton, T. L., Breslin, M. L., & Lewis, C. (n.d.). Gender and disability: A survey of interaction member agencies findings and recommendations on inclusion of women and men with disabilities in international developmental programs. Eugene, OR: Mobility International USA. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.miusa.org/publications/freeresources/media/genderdisabilityreport.PDF
MIUSA has conducted a groundbreaking survey documenting the extent to which people with disabilities participate in the international development efforts of private relief, development and refugee agencies. Particular emphasis was placed on the participation on women and girls with disabilities in these agencies. MIUSA received a grant from USAID’s Office of Women in Development to conduct this survey among InterAction member organizations. InterAction is a coalition of over 160 US-based development, relief, refugee and policy-oriented agencies. By participating in the survey, InterAction members have taken a positive step toward integrating the disability perspective into the international development dialogue.
Smith, E., Murray, S., Yousafzai, A., & Kasonka, L. (2004, January). Barriers to accessing safe motherhood and reproductive health services: The situation of women with disabilities in Lusaka, Zambia. Disability and Rehabilitation, 26(2), 121-127.
Purpose: To ascertain how well health services in Lusaka, Zambia currently meet the safe motherhood and reproductive health care needs of women who have physical impairment leading to disability.
Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in Lusaka, Zambia. In-depth tape-recorded interviews were conducted with 24 purposively selected women with disabilities and with 25 safe motherhood/reproductive public sector health service providers. Qualitative analysis was conducted using NVivo software.
Results: Women with disabilities encounter various social, attitudinal and physical barriers to accessing safe motherhood and reproductive health (RH) services in this particular setting. The strong desire for children and affection can increase vulnerability to sexual exploitation. At the same time, a generalized assumption among reproductive health service providers that women with disabilities will not be sexually active, and not require RH services, leads to increased vulnerability to sexually transmitted infection including HIV. Once pregnant, traditional beliefs about transmission of disabilities can create barriers to integration in ante-natal clinics. Nurse-midwives' fear of delivery complications in women with physical impairments can also result in routine over-referral to a tertiary maternity facility which is outside the locality and harder for women with mobility limitations to get to.
Conclusion: Greater understanding of the influences underpinning societal attitudes towards sexuality and disability in this setting, and more extensive communication between health care staff and women with disabilities would facilitate positive action towards improving safe motherhood and reproductive health services for women with disabilities.
Snyder, M. (1999, April 26). Issues in gender-sensitive and disability-responsive policy research, training and action. New York: Enable, United Nations. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/disrppeg.htm
“Human rights is the critical issue for all persons with disabilities. However, there are additional, gendered issues that make contending with disability a far tougher task for women.”
Stephenson, W. (1983). Roxene. Calgary, Alberta: Detselig Enterprises.
This is a story about Roxene, a Canadian girl with mental retardation of native Indian origin. It is a true story of Roxene's life which describes her childhood and her teenage years. Most of the book focuses on Roxene's relationship with Margaret vanBiert, who "adopts" Roxene and becomes her friend, advocate, and legal guardian. Roxene is not very good with spoken words and her story is mostly told in vanBiert's words with additions based on the author's observations. We learn about Roxene's childhood with her family and how she, at the age of eight, ended up as a ward of the courts and was moved to a group home far away from her family who lived on an Indian reservation. The description of the friendship between Roxene and Margaret is the best part of this story.
Stewart, H., Percival, B., & Epperly, E. R. (Eds.). (1990). The more we get together: Women and disability. Charlottetown, PEI, Canada: Gynergy Books.
This resource is the result of a 1990 meeting of 300 women held on Prince Edward Island as the 14th conference of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. The 22 papers are divided into the following topics: difference and dis/ability; herstory; caregiving and mothering; and language and writing. Can be ordered from the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. See http://www.criaw-icref.ca/pubs/publicationDetails_e.asp?id=40
Stibbe, A. (2002). Attitudes to women with disabilities in Japan: The influence of television drama. Asia & Pacific Journal on Disability, 5(2). Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/asia/resource/z00ap/vol5no2/attitudes.htm.
"...traditionally disabled women have been marginalised and invisible in Japanese society, often hidden away by shame-filled relatives. However, over the last ten years, there has been an unprecedented increase in disabled female characters appearing in television dramas. These dramas portray disabled women as attractive, gainfully employed and successful, albeit often due to the influence of a non-disabled male character. This article explores the extent to which these television dramas have inspired the imagination of the Japanese youth who watched them during their formative years. A case study was carried out where 50 Japanese university students wrote compositions about fictional characters, both disabled and non-disabled, of both genders. These 200 compositions are compared across gender and disability lines, and correlated with features of the TV dramas."
Stuart, M., & Ellerington, G. (1990, Spring). Unequal access: Disabled women’s exclusion from the mainstream women’s movement. Women and Environments, 12(2), 16-19.
“The purpose of this article is to examine the tensions between the two movements [the feminist movement and disabled women] and to suggest some possible solutions.” This is one of first articles reporting on the exclusion of women with disabilities from the “mainstream” women’s movement, primarily focusing on Canada.
Sygall, S., & Lewis, C. (2000, July). Tapping into the power of women with disabilities in the international women's movement. Raising Our Voices: The Newsletter of the Global Fund for Women. San Francisco: The Global Fund for Women. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/4news/newsletter/2000-07/Tapping_into.html
“Women with disabilities around the world are challenging stereotypes, participating in community life and politics, and leading organizations for social change. Despite immense barriers, disabled women are working to become full and equal participants in their communities. Regrettably, their contributions and their concerns are rarely on the agenda of the many organizations that make up the global women's movement. Yet women with disabilities offer a powerful untapped resource to the movement for women's human rights.”
Szeli, É., & Pallaska, D. (2004, April). Violence against women with mental disabilities: The invisible victims in CEE/NIS countries. Feminist Review, 76, 117-119. Retrieved March 15, 2005 from: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/fr/journal/v76/n1/full/9400134a.html&filetype=pdf
“People with mental disabilities face discrimination and abuse around the world. Children and adults with mental disabilities have been routinely and arbitrarily detained in psychiatric facilities, social care homes, orphanages, and other closed institutions throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (CEE/NIS). Out of public view, they are subject to some of the most extreme forms of inhumane and degrading treatment. Even within communities, stigma and discrimination result in segregation, isolation, and disempowerment of people with disabilities. These factors leave people with mental disabilities both vulnerable to all forms of violence and abuse, as well as excluded from protective mechanisms and services available to other members of society.”
Taylor, M., & Carlson, G. (1993). The legal trends: Implications for menstruation/fertility management for young women who have an intellectual impairment. International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education, 40(2), 133-158.
This article reviews the Family Court of Australia cases concerning the hysterectomies performed on premenarchal women who have intellectual disabilities. The article discusses the implications of these surgeries on women who have an intellectual disability, and while the article is based on Australian cases, much can be applied to women in other countries.
Theme: Women with disabilities. (2001). Women in Action, No. 2. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.isiswomen.org/pub/wia/wia201/index.html.
Women In Action is a periodical that “covers a broad range of issues affecting women globally.” This theme issue features women with disabilities from all over the world.
Thomas C. (2001, April/May). Medicine, gender, and disability: Disabled women's health care encounters. Health Care for Women International, 22(3), 245-262.
In this article I examine the intersection of gender and disability in the medical arena by considering disabled women's experiences of receiving health care in the United Kingdom. Drawing on the "social model of disability," I focus on the attitudes and practices of doctors. I use two sources of qualitative data: (i) 68 disabled women's narratives gathered in the United Kingdom in 1996-1997; (ii) interviews with 17 disabled women regarding their reproductive experiences in the United Kingdom. I suggest that disabled women health service users are at risk of experiencing oppressive medical practices because two forces of oppression appear to be frequently, and interactively, in play: patriarchy and disablism.
Tilley C. M. (2000). The contributions of the Australian government in meeting the health needs of Queensland women with physical disabilities. Sexuality and Disability, 18(1), 61-71.
This article overviews the Australian federal and state government disability strategies, as well as the Women's Health Centres' contributions, in meeting the health needs of Queensland women with physical disabilities. It also explores one of the least considered intersections of multiple identity discourses—feminism and disability studies and argues that access to health and related services is an equity issue that must be addressed in particular ways for women with physical disabilities. In fact, it elaborates how our women's health services still largely continue to see the needs of women with disabilities as too narrow for their attention and our disability services continue to see their clients as ungendered and untouched by sociopolitical constructions of gender.
Tizun, Z. (1998). Socio-economic status of women with disabilities in an urban community in China. Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, 9(2). Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/asia/resource/apdrj/z13jo0200/z13jo0206.htm
A study was carried out in 1995 on 200 disabled women working in various welfare factories and 119 women with disability registered in Taoranting Jiedao, a residential subdistrict of Xuanwu district, an inner city district of the Beijing municipality. The results of the study were compared with the findings from a similar study carried out in 1990. The types of disability of the women, their marital status, employment status, education and characteristics of spouses were analysed. The findings suggest that women with disabilities in China have improved their status in many ways in the period between 1990 to 1995. However, much more has to be done to integrate them into the main-stream of society.
Torres, S. (Ed.). (1999). Body image thing (that)--Young women speak out [Series FV No. 8]. Ottawa: Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW).
This book contains 600 essays about body image by young women aged 13-19 from across Canada. The essays cover young women's personal experiences with life, including living with disabilities.
Traustadóttir, R. (2003, August). Disabled women and feminist research. Presented at Gender and Power in the New Europe, the 5th European Feminist Research Conference, Lund University, Sweden.
Feminist research places increasing emphasis on examining the many differences among us and the concept diversity has become a buzzword in feminist research. This is a word loosely defined but popularly used. In thinking about diversity people have recognized that gender, age, “race,” sexuality, and ethnicity matter; thus groups who have previously been invisible, including women of color, immigrant women, lesbians and older women are now in some way more visible. One group, however, continues to remains mostly invisible in feminist research; disabled women. Disabled and non-disabled feminists have expressed their deep concerns that the voices of disabled women have been missing in most feminist texts so their lives are unknown, their contributions unrecognized and the effects of social discrimination and inequality in their lives ignored. As a result there is newfound interest in the lives of disabled women and an increasing number of studies have been conducted over the past few years. This presentation provides an overview of this research. It examines when and how this research started, who the researchers are, what characterizes this research, how it has developed, what theoretical approaches are being used and what this body of research tell us about the lives and experiences of disabled women.
Traustadottir, R., & Johnson, K. (Eds.). (2000). Women with intellectual disabilities: Finding a place in the world. London: Jessica Kingsley
This book provides the first comprehensive exploration of the issues affecting the lives of women with intellectual disabilities. Women from all over the world, with and without intellectual disabilities, have collaborated to write about their lives, their experiences and their hopes for the future. Different aspects of life--work, family, relationships and community involvement--are discussed. Some of the women have found, or are finding, fulfilling, happy, creative lifestyles. One message which emerging from many of their stories is that their intellectual disability is less of a problem than the social and economic discrimination these women experience. This book thus raises important questions about society's attitudes to women with intellectual disabilities. It is also a place where these women's stories--from the sad or disturbing to the happy, moving or inspirational--can be heard. The book's unique plain English versions of chapters will ensure that it is accessible to other women with intellectual disabilities. It is an important, interesting and readable addition to literature about intellectual disabilities and about women's lives across the world.
Tremain, S. (Ed.). (1999). Bodies of knowledge: Critical perspectives on disablement and disabled women. London: The Women’s Press, Ltd.
This sort of interdisciplinary collection of essays on disablement and disabled with its critical/theoretical women, focus, has never been published in Canada. Although there have been collections published in the United States, these have been few and few between. Politicized analyses on disablement remain urgently needed. From a disability-rights perspective, disablement is by and large an effect of inaccessible forms of communication, exclusionary architectural design and infrastructural planning, and demoralizing attitudes. Viewing disablement in this way enables us to recognise the way in which ableism interconnects with other systems of oppression such as racism, poverty, and sexism.
Topics discussed in this collection include disablement and representation, the relation(s) between ableism and racism/classism/homophobia, anti-ableist activism and other progressive social/political movements (feminist, antiracist, etc), and the social construction of disablement.
Turmusani, M. (2001). Disabled women in Islam: Middle Eastern perspective. Journal of Religion, Disability & Health, 5(2/3), 73-85.
Western debates have increasingly included women issues in their analysis. These debates however, proved to have little relevance to women with impairments and are in fact being held under scrutiny by feminist writers. The position of disabled women in other cultures remains especially one of the most under-researched areas within current discourses on women and disability issues. This presentation fills the gap and presents an account based on textual analysis of disabled women in Islam and Muslim culture. It argues that disabled women in Islam have a lowly position in society due to historical perception related to both the inferior position of women in Islam as well as the lowly position of disabled people in society in general. Understanding the position of disabled women thus requires close investigation into these two positions within their particular socio-economic and historical contexts. Despite the presence of various feminists' movements in Muslim countries these days, these have not included much debate on disability and disabled women within their mainstream analysis. The paper concludes by calling for existing theoretical perspectives to include the analysis of disabled women within their remit and also to take note of wider contextual issues including cultures, religions, and economy when studying women in society.
Ubido, J., Huntington, J., & Warburton, D. (2002). Inequalities in access to healthcare faced by women who are deaf. Health and Social Care in the Community, 10(4), 247-253.
The Cheshire Deaf Women's Health Project undertook a research study to assess the access to healthcare of women who are deaf in Cheshire, UK. Group discussions took place with 13 women who were hard of hearing and 14 women who were Deaf Sign Language users. Questionnaires were distributed to a stratified random sample of 103 women taken from the social services register, 38 of which were returned. In order to reach more women whose first language was British Sign Language, 129 questionnaires were distributed to the leaders of various clubs and organizations for people who are deaf, and 100 of these were returned. The data revealed inequities in access to healthcare. For example, women who are deaf face a lack of awareness by health staff of how to communicate with them. The survey confirmed that these problems are of major importance to the majority of women who are deaf. For example, fewer than one in 10 deaf women said that they usually fully understand what the doctor says to them when they visit the doctor on their own. There are many other difficulties faced by women who are deaf, leading to inequalities when they are compared with hearing people. Almost half the respondents said that they would be more likely to use health services if help and/or services for deaf women were available. The introduction of various relatively simple measures would greatly help to reduce the inequalities of access to healthcare faced by deaf women. Under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, such action is essential if providers are to avoid facing possible legal action.
Umb-Carlsson, Õ., & Sonnander, K. (2006, May). Living conditions of adults with intellectual disabilities from a gender perspective. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50(5), 326-334.
Background: The role of gender has been a neglected issue in research on intellectual disability (ID). People with ID are generally treated as a homogenous group that are largely categorized by their level of ID. This study compared living conditions of women and men with ID and related the results to similarities and differences among the general population in corresponding age groups.
Methods: Persons with ID born in Uppsala County between 1959 and 1974 constituted the study sample. Information on the living conditions of 110 persons with ID was collected using questionnaires completed by relatives and staff. Information on living conditions of the general population was obtained through national welfare statistics conducted by Statistics Sweden (SCB).
Results: In both samples corresponding diversities were revealed for type of employment/daily activities, where women worked in traditional female job sectors and men were occupied with traditional male jobs. Women and men with ID participated to about the same extent in recreational and cultural activities and on only four of the 19 activities listed in the questionnaire (visits to the cinema and library, reading books and practising hobbies alone) significant differences were observed. Among women and men in the general population, we found gender-related differences in 13 of the activities listed. However, with the exception of women more frequently visiting the library and reading books, the two samples demonstrated no corresponding gender-related differences. For the remaining six domains (finances, family and social relations, housing, transport, community participation and personal safety), no differences were noted between women and men with ID. This finding contrasted sharply with the differences found between women and men in the general population.
Conclusions: Surprisingly, the comparison yielded few differences in living conditions between women and men with ID compared with those found in women and men of the general population. This finding suggests that people with ID were treated as gender-neutral persons rather than as women and men with individual preferences and needs. Thus, it appears that having ID is a more important determinant than gender regarding living conditions for women and men with ID.
UN ESCAP Workshop on Women and Disability: Promoting Full Participation of Women with Disabilities in the Process of Elaboration on an International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, Bangkok, Thailand. (2003, August 18-22/October 13). Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://www.worldenable.net/wadbangkok2003/Default.htm
This is the web site for “these…two workshop events designed to provide a good package of advocacy skills, targeting mainly women with disabilities. The agenda of the first workshop covered the various aspects of a convention and the Biwako Millenium Framework (BMF) targets to enhance the understanding of the concept of gender mainstreaming among NGOs and self-help organizations of persons with disabilities. Participants became familiar with and accepted the BMF and were motivated to implement the necessary actions to achieve the BMF goals, particularly those related to women and disability. Beneficiaries were policy makers of NGOs, IGOs, and self-help organizations in addition to some governmental organizations.” Includes a link to a “Statement of Recommendations” and a final report.
Victorian Women with Disabilities Network. (2000). Oyster grit: A collection of writings by Australian women with disabilities. Tasmania, Australia: Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA).
Each and every person has a unique life experience. Here we have a collection of stories of girls and women who deal with disability in extraordinary ways. Courage and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds have resulted in lives encompassing value, creativity success and happiness. Experiences, some spanning many years, are described with laconic humor and Australian understatement. This is our heritage for others to build on.
Walsh, P. N., Heller, T., Schupf, N., & van Schrojenstein Lantman-de Valk, H. & Working Group. (2000, January). Healthy aging - Adults with intellectual disabilities #2: Women's health and related issues: A report of the Aging Special Interest Research Group of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Retrieved March 18, 2005 from http://www.uic.edu/orgs/rrtcamr/womenshealthreport.html
“This report is concerned with issues which are important for the health of women with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they grow older and age. The specific focus on women's health is in no manner meant to be dismissive or designed to minimize concerns related to men's health issues. However, it is the position of the SIRG on aging that women's health issues have not received appropriate and sufficient attention, that women as they age are subject to sex-related conditions and changes, and that in many instances the interests and needs of aging women and women with disabilities are overlooked or neglected. Thus, this report is designed to explore factors related to well-being and quality of life for women, to examine and define sex-linked differences in their life experiences and opportunities and to define their distinctive vulnerabilities--including research on health status and access to health care.”
Walsh, P. N., & LeRoy, B. (2004). Women with disabilities aging well: A global view.
Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
The focus of this book is on women with developmental disabilities and what they experience when they age and what service providers and researchers can learn from their stories. Includes oral histories of over 160 women in eighteen countries.
Welch, P. (2002, September 8-10). Applying the capabilities approach in examining disability, poverty and gender. Paper presented at Promoting Women's Capabilities: Examining Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach, Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Retrieved July 27, 2005 from http://www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/vhi/nussbaum/papers/welch.pdf
This paper explores the similarities related to disability, poverty, and gender. Overlapping issues are described, which set the context for examining these issues using a single framework—namely, a capabilities approach. Although the effects of disability, poverty and gender are measured by different mechanisms, the parallels between these issues facilitate the application of the capabilities approach to explore their relationships. Both Martha Nussbaum’s and Amartya Sen’s capabilities approaches are applied in addressing these issues.
Women and Equality Unit. (2003, December). Disability and gender briefing. London: Author. Retrieved July 25, 2005 from http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research/factsheets/
ME_Gender_Briefing_0903.doc
Provides a range of UK statistics concerning employment related to disability and gender.
Zijdel, L. R. (2004, February, 18). Disabled women – non-disabled women: Strategies of action within the European context. Testimony at Public Hearing on Disabled Women, Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.europarl.eu.int/hearings/20040218/femm/larivierezijdel_en.pdf
“When speaking about disabled women it should always be done in relation to all women and the inequality that exists in our society between women and men. But to understand the position and difficulties of disabled women as citizens in the European Union, but also as participants in both the Disability and the Women's movements we have to understand a little bit more of the historical structures in society and the causes for inequality and discrimination that women face on a day to day basis.” Other testimony at this public hearing can be found at: http://www.europarl.eu.int/hearings/2004_en.htm