On December 1st, 2017, DAWN Canada will host a national policy roundtable on violence against women with disabilities. The event will take place at the Albert at Bay Hotel in Ottawa from 9-1pm and will include disabled women leaders from across the country.

At this event, DAWN Canada will launch “More Than A Footnote” a campaign that will call on political leaders to commit to responding to violence against women with disabilities and Deaf women.

Join us on Facebook Live for our panel discussion between 10:30am-11:00am!

What we know:

The key outcomes of DAWN Canada’s review of Legislation, Policy and Service Responses to Violence Against Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women in Canada (LPS), revealed that:

1.Women with disabilities and Deaf women are being “ungendered” in policy

• DAWN Canada recognizes the distinct issues faced by marginalized genders (women, trans people, non-binary people), but the ungendering of women with disabilities shows how deeply rooted ableist attitudes are negatively affecting women with disabilities and Deaf women.
• The result is that there are no violence-related programs, funding, or services focused specifically on women with disabilities.

2.Women with disabilities and Deaf women have been a footnote in policy

• Most policies and programs related to gender-based violence will name “vulnerable groups” in the preamble and then describe these “vulnerable groups” in a footnote.
• In the nearly all of the polices and programs related to violence against women that were reviewed through the LPS project, women with disabilities and Deaf women were referred to as people with disabilities or as a vulnerable group.
• This separation of women with disabilities has left us as a footnote in the minds of policy makers and absent from programs and services.

CALL TO ACTION

• We call on national and provincial political leaders and decision makers to heed the recommendations of the United Nations and to publicly commit to ensuring that women with disabilities and Deaf women are more than a footnote in anti-violence strategies, policies, programs and services! Women with disabilities have the right and the urgent need to access services in the communities where they live!

• We call on federal decision makers to use an inclusive and intersectional approach in the development and implementation of the new Federal Strategy on Gender-based Violence and in new Federal Accessibility Legislation through a whole of Government approach. No more GB+ for us!

• We call on our Allies and Supporters in the disability community, women’s movement and broader human rights sector to join in on-going actions to ensure that women with disabilities and Deaf women are no longer a footnote in programs, polices and services!

• Subscribe to our list by clicking: http://eepurl.com/dqZVsD

• Tweet and Facebook using the hashtag #MorethanafootnoteWWD