DAWN Canada is located on the Kanien'kéha Nation's territory of Tiohtià:ke, also known as Montreal.
DAWN Canada was founded in 1985 following a meeting between seventeen women from across Canada who came together to discuss issues of mutual concern. In a society which devalues and often punishes difference of any kind, women with disabilities face many barriers. If we are Indigenous women, LGBTQ, older women, women of colour or immigrant women, we encounter even more discrimination and more barriers
Did you know that:
- At least 53% of all people with disabilities in Canada are women
- The unemployment rate among women with disabilities is up to 75%
- 58% of women with disabilities live on less than $10,000 per year. Of those, 23% live on less than $5,000 per year
- Accessible cribs, accessible and affordable childcare and other services for mothers with disabilities are virtually non-existant
- A drunken and/or abusive father is often considered a better parent than a mother who has a disability
- Women and children with disabilities are twice as likely to be victims of violence than non-disabled women, women and children with multiple disabilities experience even higher rates of violence
- Across Canada, few rape crisis centres and transition houses are accessible to women with all kinds of disabilities
**Based on the 1991 Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS), which was problematic due to its definition of disability
Feminist Disability Leadership in Action:
