From 2015 to 2018 DAWN Canada was funded through Status of Women Canada for this project with a long name and a big question attached to it.  Where is the response to women with disabilities?  A review of policies in our three most populous province, Quebec, Ontario and British and Federal policies did not just reveal gaps, but an abyss.  Not a single front line service, not a single transition house, shelter or program focused on the women who experience violence at the highest rates and represent almost one quarter of all women in Canada.

References to the higher rates of violence against women with disabilities were relatively easy to find in policy statements and pre-ambles as that’s something that’s been known and documented for at least two decades.  So what’s the problem?  Over and over again women with disabilities were footnoted or ‘ungendered’, being referred to as ‘people’ instead of as women - a policy-makers conundrum, too complex, not our area of responsibility - left for someone else to address at some later date. 

Enter DAWN Canada’s social media platform MORE THAN A FOOTNOTE.  DAWN has developed an entire series of CALL TO ACTION messages.

Early in 2019, DAWN CANADA will be releasing MORE THAN A FOOTNOTE, a report on the situation of women and girls with disabilities in Canada (ISBN# 978-0-9937378-0-0)

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Join us in supporting women with disabilities and Deaf women in Canada.  Subscribe to our CALL TO ACTION list @ morethanafootnote@dawncanada.net  or tweet us #MoreThanAFootNoteWWD and be among the first to receive the Report.  Millions of women are counting on us!