Victorian Women With Disabilities Network
A world where all women are respected and can fully experience life
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Publications
This page provides access to the publications of VWDN.
Our Framework - Influencing Change
VWDN Brochure
The VWDN brochure provides information about becoming a member of VWDN. You can print it and give it to people with disabilities who may be interested in becoming a member.
Brochure (Word)
Constitution
The VWDN constitution contains the rules of governance for the organisation.
Strategic Plan
The VWDN Strategic Plan sets out the work which will be done in the next three years.
A Framework for Influencing Change - Responding to Violence against Women with Disabilities, 2007-2009
To address violence against women with disabilities, the VWDN AIS has produced a framework called: A framework for influencing change - responding to violence against women with disabilities 2007-2009.
The framework can be downloaded in various formats:
Full report, PDF:
A framework for influencing change – responding to violence against women with disabilities, 2007-2009 (PDF 173KB)
Full report, Word:
A framework for influencing change – responding to violence against women with disabilities, 2007-2009 (Word 240KB)
Executive Summary, PDF:
A framework for influencing change - Executive Summary (PDF 138KB)
Executive Summary, Word:
A framework for influencing change - Executive Summary (Word 135KB)
Full report, Word, 16 font:
A framework for influencing change – responding to violence against women with disabilities, 2007-2009 (Word 242KB)
The Framework outlines 12 key strategies to guide the advocacy work of the VWDN AIS. The Framework targets family violence and sexual assault as priority areas of concern. The framework seeks to intersect with the Victorian Government’s Family violence and sexual assault reform strategies currently being implemented under the Women’s safety strategy and Fairer Victoria policy.
The key issues identified within the violence framework are:
- Women with disabilities have a right to live free of violence and fear.
- The extent of violence experienced by women with disabilities is a significant problem and government departments and service providers have not been effective enough in reducing this
- All government department that address violence need to consider violence against women with disabilities when they develop their policies and programs.
- Women with disabilities must be present, or represented, at events (such as conferences) that aim to prevent and respond to violence.
- Education can help women with disabilities identify experiences of abuse. Information about abuse needs to be provided to women with disabilities in appropriate formats.
- Women with disabilities who experience violence have the same needs as other women. In addition they may have specific needs related to their disabilities. Therefore, services for women who experience violence need specific information and resources so that they can respond properly to women with disabilities who experience violence.
- Any person who works to provide services for women who experience violence needs to be properly trained to understand the needs of women with disabilities. Their knowledge and skills need to meet certain standards, so that any person working in this area is competent to support women with disabilities who experience violence.
- Funding specifications and agreements must include women with disabilities in the way they require services to be provided. This often means specific needs must be budgeted for.
- More research needs to be done to find out the extent and types of violence that women with disabilities experience in Victoria. Research also needs to look at the factors in society that make women with disabilities vulnerable to violence.
The key strategies identified within the violence framework are:
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Continue to represent women with disabilities on key statewide advisory and governance committees and encourage awareness of the needs of women with disabilities at 5 regional or sub regional family violence integration committees.
- Provide specific information and advice to advisory and government groups to make sure that the needs of women with disabilities are addressed when standards of practice are developed. In particular, provide information and advice with regard to the Homelessness Assistance Service Standards (HASS), and the Counselling and Support Standards of Practice.
- Provide information about the needs of women with disabilities to 3 state-wide and 9 regional family violence integration committees.
- Work with the Disability Services Division (in the Victorian Department of Human Services) to develop and implement a training model for disability services regarding violence against women with disabilities. Encourage training in relevant for services that respond to violence against women and services that work with people with disabilities to consider the experiences and needs of women with disabilities.
- Work with other organisations to support the implementation of the recommendations of the Making Rights Reality Project Report. This is a project that considers how services working with women who have been sexually assaulted can better respond to women with disabilities.
- Provide input about the experiences and needs of women with disabilities who experience violence to the VicHealth literature review, and to VicHealth’s violence prevention framework.
- Provide information, support and mentoring to women with disabilities who are committed to advocating for women with disabilities who experience violence.
- Continue to develop working relationships with relevant organisations to address the needs and rights of women with disabilities at statewide, regional and local levels.
- Advocate to change legal definitions of family violence, so that all domestic violence experienced by women with disabilities – including domestic violence perpetrated by non-family members – is recognised and addressed by the legal system.
- Advocate for data collection on violence – such as the ABS Women’s Safety Survey – to include specific statistics for women with disabilities.
- Encourage research that evaluates support services available to women with disabilities who experience violence.
- Promote and encourage the sharing of information on healthy relationships, violence and support services for women with disabilities.
We are proud to announce a new VWDN AIS resource launched in September 2008.
The Building the Evidence Project analyses the extent to which current victorian family violence policy and practice recognises and provides for women with disabilities who experience violence; and makes recommendations to improve responses to women with disabilities dealing with family violence.
The research project was undertaken because we do not know the full extent of violence against women with disabilities because statistics about women with disabilities who experience violence are not collected well. Studies here and overseas suggest it is twice the rate of violence against non-disabled women. Meanwhile, the majority of women with disabilities do not have access to the resources they need to protect themselves from violence. Family violence and family services are not equipped to meet the needs of women with diverse disabilities; and disability services have not been adequately equipped to identify or respond to experiences of family violence.
The research was undertaken as a collaboration between the VWDN AIS, the Alfred Felton Research Program at the University of Melbourne, and the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria.
Accessing the Building the Evidence Report
The Building the Evidence Report can be downloaded in various formats, below. You can purchase a hard copy version by downloading the order form and sending it back to us.
Full report, PDF:
Full report, Microsoft Word:
Full report, Microsoft Word, no pictures:
Executive Summary, Microsoft Word, 16 font:
Building the Evidence - Executive Summary, 16 font (Word 66KB)
Executive Summary, HTML, 16 font:
Building the Evidence - Executive Summary, 16 font (HTML 43KB)
Individual chapters, PDF:
Executive Summary (PDF 73.2KB)
Research at a glance (PDF 691KB)
Recommendations (PDF 80KB)
1 Introduction (PDF 1.12MB)
2 Situating violence against women with disabilities (PDF 202KB)
3 Women's experiences of family violence response system (PDF 138KB)
4 Workers' experiences of supporting women with disabilities in the family response system (PDF 79.3KB)
5 Data collection and research (PDF 204KB)
6 Family violence standards and guidelines (PDF 248KB)
7 Workforce development (PDF 206KB)
8 Positive developments in service response to women with disabilities experiencing violence (PDF PDF 151KB)
9 Conclusion (PDF 35.8KB)
References (PDF 101KB)
Appendices (PDF 134KB)
The VWDN Newsletter is produced once a month and sent out to VWDN members in 12 font or 16 font size.
The newsletter contains information about VWDN activities, and other events, news stories, information resources, and websites.
Click this link to browse and download VWDN Newsletters
If you would like to contribute to the VWDN Newsletter please email us: vwdn@vwdn.org.au
Submissions to Government
Submissions are an important way to give feedback on government policy. It is important that government decisions consider the needs of women with disabilities.
Click this link to browse and download submissions made by VWDN
The VWDN Annual Report outlines the major achievements of the previous financial year.
Click here to browse and download past VWDN Annual Reports
Conference Papers
Giving conference papers is a great way to share information about important issues for women with disabilities.
Members of VWDN have presented papers at a variety of conferences.
Click this link to browse and download VWDN conference papers
Presentations
Click here to go to the Policies page
~ We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which the VWDN is located -
the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation ~