Maybe He’s Caring: Responding to disabled women who experience domestic abuse

In this post Dr Jenna Breckenridge (Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh) explores the unique domestic abuse experiences of disabled women and discusses opportunities and challenges for improving the response to this important issue.

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• Disabled women are two times more likely to experience domestic abuse than non-disabled women.
• A large study of domestic abuse prevalence across Europe (including 28 different countries) found that 50% of disabled women have experienced domestic abuse in their lifetime¹.
• Disabled women are four times more likely to experience sexual abuse².
• On average, disabled women experience abuse for up to 2 years longer than non-disabled women³.

This is a significant problem in which gender discrimination and the widespread oppression of disabled people, known as disablism, collide. Disablist attitudes portray disabled people as weak and dependent, meaning that perpetrators may perceive disabled women to be easier to control and overpower. Society often portrays disabled women as asexual, undesirable and undeserving of intimate relationships and, as a result, they are often disbelieved when they disclose domestic abuse. This is especially the case when the perpetrator of abuse is also the woman’s main carer.

A unique form of abuse

Although disabled women experience all forms of domestic abuse – sexual, psychological, physical and financial - they also experience a unique form of abuse that specifically targets their impairments. Women say this abuse makes them more disabled than they need to be. For example, women have described how their perpetrators remove batteries from power wheelchairs, refuse personal care, sabotage communication devices, deliberately cause injury to assistance animals or purposefully mismanage women’s medications.

Yet, despite experiencing more severe, more prolonged and more frequent abuse, disabled women are less likely to receive sufficient domestic abuse support from agencies across health, social care and the third sector.

How do we make support more accessible?

This might involve providing more accessible forms of communication, particularly for women with learning disabilities or sensory impairments, to ensure that women understand what help is available to them. Refuges need to consider how women’s basic care needs can be met – for example, assistance with mobility, activities of daily living, transportation - especially when her abusive partner has also been her main carer. Ultimately, however, different women, with different impairments, will have different support needs and it is important that domestic abuse services have a better understanding of the unique barriers facing disabled women and develop strategies for overcoming these. The crucial first step in achieving this is to listen to disabled women and work collaboratively with them to design domestic abuse support that is inclusive and accessible to all.

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References

1. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2014) Violence against women: an EU-wide survey. Accessed at http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2014/violence-against-women-eu-wide-survey-main-results-report
2. Martin SL, Ray N, Sotres-Alvarez D, Kupper LL, Moracco KE, Dickens PA et al. (2006) Physical and sexual assault of women with disabilities. Violence Against Women, 12: 823-838.
3. Young ME, Nosek MA, Howland C, Chanpong G, Rintala DH (1997) Prevalence of abuse of women with physical disabilities. Archive of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 78: S34-S38.

Being valued - workshop update - Part 1

Today is workshop 4 - the last in the series of “Getting It Right for Looked after Disabled Children and Young People”. http://www.scottishinsight.ac.uk/Programmes/Programmes20122013/Lookedafterdisabledchildren.aspx

Mike Stein, University of York, presented “Care Less Lives” in England about the history of the young people’s rights movement in care. The chronological rights movements show the changes in how young people’s experiences have been included. Leeds Ad-lib group (1973), “Who cares?” (1975-1978), The National Association of Young People in Care (1979-1994), “Black and in Care” (1984-1985), “A National Voice” (1999-today) explore different campaign and strategies of looked after children.  While there has been change, certain themes continue to reoccur. There is an ongoing issue in disabled young people’s inclusion in these movements.

Jan Siska, Charles University in Prague, conducted research “Children’s Rights for All” to analyse implementation of the UNCRC in EU Member States from the perspective of children with intellectual disabilities during 2009 to 2011. The project includes national experts in 22 countries. The study focuses on statistical data, education, protection against violence and abuse, healthcare, encouraging participation and combatting discrimination, and family support and living in the community. The result shows that health is the best implemented right within the themes, education comes the second, followed by family support and living in the community. Abuse is the least recognised in implementation from the research finding.  Protection against violence and abuse shows the absence of policy or strategy. There is little information available about the forms of abuse suffered, and the assumption that preventive and reporting measures in case of abuse apply equally to all children  www.childrights4all.eu

After the speakers’ presentation, there was group discussion about approaches to valuing looked after children’s experience, opinions of the development the of rights movement and insight from international perspectives. Participants suggested the importance of listening to children’s life stories and their opinions of education. The strategies and policies in different countries change from time to time as people’s recognition of the issue may change overtime. Nonetheless, children’s opinions should always be the core of considering any issues related to them.


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Being valued - is the fourth and last in a series workshops looking at ‘Getting it right for looked after disabled children and young people’ (read about the 1st,  2nd and 3rd workshops on the blog.)

The workshops bring together academics, policy makers, service practitioners, third sector organisations, service user organisations to discuss and debate the key issues with the aim of generating an impetus for research, policy and practice that will ultimately improve the lives of looked after disabled children and young people.

Afternoon highlights – The Challenge of counting and defining disabled looked after children

The afternoon part of the seminar was equally stimulating to the morning (see post below), with an emphasis on action - what can be done to improve data and information for disabled looked after children?

Dr Berni Kelly & Dr Sandra Dowling, from Queen’s University Belfast, presented on-going research about the lives of disabled children who are looked after in Northern Ireland.  A core challenge in collecting prevalence data is the variations across 5 Health and Social Care Trusts in recording and service provision for disabled children.

Charlie Hogg and Sharon Glen, from the Scottish Government, explored national statistics for disabled looked after children in Scotland. Scotland is the only part of the UK to include information on disabled looked after children in annual national statistics. The speakers suggested at least five challenges for these statistics: the large number of ‘not known’ returns from local authorities, in regards to whether or not a child has a disability; whether the children returned as having disabilities in fact are assessed by a ‘qualified professional’ as required for the statistics; matching up the classification of disabilities with adult services’ classifications; how multiple disabilities are recorded; and how changes in individual children’s  circumstances (e.g. impairments become evident, or a diagnosis is made) are recorded within local authorities, and thus included within the annual returns. 

Both presentations pointed out the data regarding disabled looked after children are problematic. Longer-term planning, continuous and consistent data collection should be promoted and monitored.

Following intensive discussions, the seminar concluded with suggested action points. For example, a standardised definition of disability should be negotiated across services and jurisdictions. Governments and non-governmental organisations should co-operate to improve information of disabled looked after children on their presentation situation – as well as their placements and other outcomes – to assist in substantially improved planning.

Further information

View the presentations and podcast for the first seminar.

The first workshop “Being Counted”, on October 24th in Glasgow, started off the four-part series “Getting it Right for Looked After Disabled Children and Young People”. The series is organised through the Scottish Universities Insight Institute, by the programme team from Action for Children, CELCIS and the University of Strathclyde, CRFR, and the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research. 

Morning session - The Challenge of counting and defining disabled looked after children

The first workshop “Being Counted”, on October 24th in Glasgow, started off the four-part series “Getting it Right for Looked After Disabled Children and Young People”. The series is organised through the Scottish Universities Insight Institute, by the programme team from Action for Children, CELCIS and the University of Strathclyde, CRFR, and the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research. 

Being Counted focused on the challenge of counting and defining disabled looked after children and understanding how looked after disabled children are theoretically constructed across disciplines.

The morning session started with the warm welcome from Dr Graham Connelly, CELSIS, University of Strathclyde. Dr Claire Baker, Senior Policy Manager, Catch 22’ National Care Advisory Service, presented her insights on the challenge of counting and defining disabled looked after children. In her presentation, she demonstrated the lack of standardised statistics – let alone any statistics – on disabled looked after children across the UK. Her research showed that disabled looked after children are less likely to be adopted, but more likely to be placed in residential care or stay in foster care. [for further information about her research, see http://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/permanence-and-stability-disabled-looked-after-children]

Professor Nicholas Watson, Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research, University of Glasgow, presented on “Theorising Disability and its implications for Looked After Children”.  Disabled looked after children can face at least three ‘problems’ in terms of claiming services: they are children, they are disabled and they are looked after. He discussed how disability theories encourage attention to ‘barriers to doing’ and ‘barriers to being’, which can be very salient for disabled looked after children. He reflected how research that does include disabled looked after children often fails to include their views, presents the children as passive and ‘vulnerable’, focuses on service provision and their future outcomes. 
 
Both speakers raised questions on definitions of disability: the variability of definitions, the problems of defining and identifying disability, and the differing use of such definitions by different stakeholders (professionals, parents/carers, children and young people). Participants joined groups to discuss in-depth their agencies’ approaches to these issues, the dilemmas and the potential solutions. 

More on the afternoon session to follow … 

Over the next few weeks, more information will be available from the seminar – podcasts, powerpoints, publications – and we will highlight these over the blog.

Developing evidence into action

Our About Families project has developed an innovative 'evidence to action' process which supports voluntary and statutory organisations to use research when they are developing services. Topics are selected with project partners, based on the challenges facing the parents they work with. We gather and present the evidence and then work with the organisations to create and implement action plans to develop services based on this evidence. The involvement of service users is a central element to this approach.

Key findings from our reports have been published in previous blogs (Is Scotland the best place to bring up children; Two-thirds of families worse off compared to last year) and are available from our website (www.aboutfamilies.org.uk), but as we progress we wanted to share some examples of what we and our partners have achieved during the 'action' phase.

The About Families evidence topics:

• Parenting teenagers: relationships and behaviour
• Together and apart: supporting families through change
• Parenting on a low income
• Parenting and support (to be published end October 2012)

Heart to Heart
Heart to Heart provide confidential support to men and women who have been affected by divorce or separation. About Families worked with Heart to Heart to help them develop services which were more responsive to the needs of parents who have experienced relationship difficulties. We worked specifically on developing a toolkit which volunteers and staff at Heart to Heart will use to support parents. Together, we developed an online survey to gain more understanding about the views and experiences of parents and held a focus group with parents who had used Heart to Heart services. We took the key themes which came out of this work, issues such as anger, communication, forgiveness, anxiety and looking forward, to link them to the key findings from 'Together and Apart: Supporting families through change', within the toolkit.

Mentor
Mentor provides support to kinship carers and their families in Edinburgh and the Lothians. About Families worked with Mentor UK to explore how the evidence from 'Parenting teenagers: relationships and behaviour' and from 'Together and apart: supporting families through change' related to kinship care families. We discussed the key findings with families to learn how they relate to their experiences, and to explore coping strategies. A booklet was produced - each section within the booklet is based on research findings and explores the findings in relation to kinship care, as well as giving example coping strategies for Mentor volunteers to share with the families they work with.

Scottish Book Trust
The Scottish Book Trust early years programme delivers 'Bookbug', Scotland's national book gifting programme. The Trust is currently rolling out an assertive outreach programme to reach vulnerable children and families and those living in the most deprived communities across Scotland. About Families worked with Scottish Book Trust and You First to explore how evidence from 'Parenting on a low income' could help develop training for practitioners working with vulnerable families. Young parents were asked to reflect on Bookbug, as well as to talk about some of the key findings from the report. They discussed issues such as, the lack of choice facing families living on a low income; stigmatisation; the practical difficulties in accessing services; not knowing what is available or what to ask for; being labelled as inadequate parents. As a result of considering these issues and finding out the views of young parents, the Scottish Book Trust has developed the training they give to professionals working in local communities.

For more information on the About Families project please contact Karen Mountney, k.mountney@ed.ac.uk 

Consulting on a Children & Young People Bill

CRFR recently submitted a response to the Scottish Government's consultation on a proposal for a Children & Young People Bill.

CRFR has undertaken a range of relevant research, to comment on key aspects of the Bill: i.e. children's rights, children's wellbeing and early learning and child care provision.

Our view was that the proposed Bill, if underlined by processes and commitments, could ensure that children's rights are given more breadth and depth in policy making and practice. Certainly, the Ministerial support for 'making rights real' for children is very welcome.

However, we raised a number of points for consideration. 

• The Government should include a much clearer statement on how it will incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights on the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law, including timeframes.
• There needs to be more clarity on the duty on Scottish Ministers to "take appropriate steps to further the rights of children and young" and the duty should be extended to public bodies.
• Children's rights need to be the overarching framework for the Bill, and duties on public bodies should be focused on improving rights -- which incorporate children's wellbeing.
• Any strategies aimed at improving school readiness via a pre-school setting need to include, for disadvantaged children, strategies that seek to influence the child's home environment and parenting experiences at the same time.
• Children should be consulted, along with parents, to develop early learning and childcare provision.
• Developments in early learning and childcare must marry the need for high-quality care with flexible and accessible provision that also enables parents to take up employment. This is not happening for many families, particularly those in more disadvantaged circumstances or who are affected by disability.

 Please read our full response, with links to evidence, at:

http://www.crfr.ac.uk/consultations.html

Researching the lives of disabled children and young people: are they any different from non-disabled children?

The vast majority of disabled children and young people in the western world live at home with their families, most attend mainstream schools, and disabled children have the same rights to inclusion and equal treatment as non-disabled children and young people. Yet, they often remain left out – from generic children’s research, from policy-making about children’s services and, in their everyday lives, from inclusion in friendship groups and social and sporting activities.

So begins the editorial of the current special issue of Children & Society, dedicated to highlighting the views, experiences and opinions of disabled children and young people through the presentation of cutting-edge research and examination of current issues at policy level. Including the views of families affected by disability in mainstream research and literature is something that CRFR is keen to promote; it forms a central aim of the About Families project to support the development of evidence-based parenting services, and disability issues feature in research agendas across our work.

Considerable progress has been made in the last 20 years. The voices of disabled children and young people are increasingly included in research across a range of disciplines and the focus of research has shifted more recently to consider aspects of family functioning, relationships between families and professionals, transition to adulthood, identity, friendships and social lives. These topics feature in some of the papers included in the journal.  The publication of this special issue within a generic children’s journal marks an important achievement in itself – and we echo the editorial team when they express their hope that it won’t be necessary or appropriate to continue publishing work relating to disabled children in separate literature or within the confines of special issues. What this issue succeeds to do, and what has emerged from the About Families project is that the challenges, preferences and issues facing disabled children as they go through their lives remains largely the same as non-disabled children, albeit many disabled children face additional practical and social barriers to achieving their goals.

CRFR is delighted to welcome this special issue and congratulates everyone involved in its publication.

The contents include:

·         Editorial: Researching the Lives of Disabled Children - Kirsten Stalker

·         The challenge and challenging of Childhood Studies? Learning from disability studies and research with disabled children - Kay Tisdall

·         Theorising the lives of disabled children: How can disability theory help? - Nick Watson

·         Everyday segregation amongst disabled children and their peers: a qualitative longitudinal study in Norway - Borgunn Ytterhus

·         Understanding disabled childhoods: What can we learn from population studies? -  Eric Emerson

·         Rights of Disabled Children and their Families: a decade of policy change - Janet Read, Clare Blackburn and Nick Spencer

·         Working on well-being: researchers' experiences of a participative approach to understanding the subjective well-being of disabled young people - Bryony Beresford

·         Other Voices, Other Rooms: Reflections on talking to young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and their families about transition to adulthood - David Abbott

·         Disabled Children's Voices: The nature and role of future empirical enquiry - John Carpenter and Roy McConkey

·         Practice Piece: Sixth Sense: The Disabled Children and Young People's Participation Project - Rosemary Murray.

Access the special issue at: ‘The Everyday Lives of Disabled Children and Young People: New developments in research and policy’, Special issue: Children & Society, 26 (2012) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/chso.2012.26.issue-3/issuetoc

All papers from the ESRC seminar series which led to the special issue are available from: http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofappliedsocialsciences/socialwork/esrcseminarseries/

Learn more about About Families at: http://www.aboutfamilies.org.uk/.