A new dawn for women with disabilities

Just two years ago, our new National Head Office opened in Montreal. It has been an incredible two years – filled with victories, big and small!

In this edition of Abilities, we launch our new logo – a 21st-century take on our beautiful Goddess – with our new motto: Leadership, Partnership and Networking. There she is – fists still raised in defiance with a red maple leaf as a reminder that she serves all Canadian women with disabilities– with our new name, one that reflects both official languages and that“Ici nous parlons français!”

This month’s feature, written by Jewelles Smith, is a proud testament to our greatest strength and the key to our success as we go proudly forward under our new banner.

Our first major project since opening the new head office, Bridging the Gaps, funded by Status of Women Canada, was made possible through working closely with our partners in the disability and feminist sectors.

The project’s focus, access to women’s shelters for women with disabilities, brought us to a Global Summit on the rights of Women with Disabilities in Quebec, to the First World Conference of Women’s Shelters in Edmonton, to the Association of Research into Mothering Conference in Ontario and most recently to the Homelessness Conference in Calgary, where we have had many wonderful opportunities to network and engage leadership – our thanks again to all our partners!
– Bonnie Brayton, National Executive Director

Disabled Women and Shelter Access: Early Findings of the National Accessibility and Accommodation Survey

In February 2009, I attended and presented a paper at Growing Home: A Housing and Homelessness Conference in Calgary for DAWN-RAFH Canada. The National Accessibility and Accommodation Survey(NAAS) is part of a larger project, “Bridging the Gaps,” which examines violence against women with disabilities and issues around emergency shelter access, outreach programs, housing, poverty and transportation.

For most women who live with disability, the nature of the environment they live and work in creates the “handicap,” not the disability itself. Part of the work of “Bridging the Gaps” is to provide education to shelters on the ways that they can accommodate women with disabilities in their programs and spaces.

In a survey of 10% of women’s shelters in Canada, 97.3% of participants reported accommodating women with disabilities at some time, 45% reported turning them away. Some shelters reported inaccessible spaces (such as entranceways, hallways, stairs and bathrooms); however, a number of shelters felt they could not accommodate women because they did not have staff to support women who are not “independent.”

While we know that there are many challenges faced by women with mobility disabilities, women with other types of disabilities (mental health, chronic illness, women who are blind or have low vision, or who are Deaf or hard of hearing) also experience consistent difficulty in gaining access to emergency shelters.

More than 10% of the shelters that participated in the NAAS had to turn away women with mental health challenges. The reasons that shelters gave included: the complexity of the women’s needs; the difficulty that some women have living in communal spaces; or the inability to accommodate women who are not stable, who are not on medication and/or not willing to enter treatment programs.

Several shelters did not allow animals, even registered service dogs. Women who are Deaf or hard of hearing are not able to access many shelters and transition houses because they do not have working TTY phones. Without these phones, women who are deaf or hard of hearing cannot contact a shelter independently. Furthermore, many shelter staff members are not aware of community resources such as ASL interpreters.

There are also strong indications that the present emergency shelter model inadequately serves women with disabilities who are also parents. Anecdotal evidence from shelters and women with disabilities suggests that social workers recommend custody of children to able-bodied parents (often the abuser), rather than provide funding to accommodate mothers with disabilities in shelters. Shelters reported finding ways to manage situations internally to ensure that the mother and child were both safe and cared for. Very few shelters have adaptive equipment for parents (such as cribs or bathing supportive devices), and many structures have multiple floors (with stairs), allowing children to run throughout the house with their mothers unable to follow. Some shelters do not allow children to stay at the facility, and this puts further strain on mothers seeking safety from violence and poverty, who are being asked to make an impossible choice.

For all the challenges facing shelters and women with disabilities seeking safe haven, the creative and collaborative way that shelter staff have worked with women to accommodate particular needs is commendable. The majority of shelters have stated that when a woman approaches them, they attempt to accommodate her or find someone that can.– Jewelles Smith, Vancouver, B.C.