A NEW REPORT has found that abusive partners of disabled women use their positions as carers to withhold medication and deny basic care and mobility needs.

Abusive partners are also using impairments to portray disabled women as unfit parents and inflict verbal and physical abuse that targets their disability.

The new research report, titled ‘Disabled Women’s Experience of Intimate Partner Abuse in Ireland’, was carried out by Women’s Aid in partnership with Trinity College Dublin and the Disabled Gender Based Violence Taskforce.

The report aimed to gain a deeper understanding of intimate partner abuse against disabled women and to improve domestic violence services that may serve them.

It included women who self-identify as having a disability and 97 questionnaires were filled out by disabled women. 

Of the 97 people surveyed, 86 said they have been with an abusive partner and some 13% said they have been with three or more abusive partners.

‘Completely at their mercy’

One of the biggest concerns regarding violence and abuse which emerged from the survey was the feeling that disabled women are “dependent” on their abuser.

“We can’t get away,” said one respondent. “If they are your carer and partner, you are completely at their mercy.” 

In another case, a woman sustained a brain injury from her abuser and said she was devastated that “he was getting carers allowance for me” and “he was giving me only €20 to keep the house and family and food for a week, and babies eating.”

Sarah Benson, CEO of Women’s Aid, said that “perpetrators of abuse, especially when masquerading as ‘carer’, must be held to account”.

Types of abuse

Benson remarked that women’s disabilities were often used against them, with medication being withheld, basic care and mobility needs denied, and that their disability was sometimes used to portray them as unfit parents.

The most common type of abuse experienced was ‘emotional or psychological abuse’, with 89% of respondents reporting this.

Some 76% of participants had experienced coercive or controlling behaviours, while 70% had experienced physical violence and abuse. 

Meanwhile, 60% had experienced “abusive tactics specifically related to disability”, which is about ways of hurting a partner that is to do with their disability. 

Other participants had experienced economic abuse, sexual abuse, online abuse, and stalking behaviours. 

Additionally, the report revealed that 98% of abused disabled women feel that having a disability has major impacts on their seeking help and coping with intimate partner abuse.

Meanwhile, 68% of respondents feared they would be less likely to be believed by professionals because of their disability and 39% of respondents told no one about what was happening to them.

Some 35% also reported that they didn’t have another way of having money and covering costs without their abuser.

Concern was also expressed that specialist domestic violence organisations and disability services are not adequately resourced and trained to be properly accessible and are often not seen as useful to disabled victims of intimate partner abuse.

Lack of funding

The report also surveyed domestic violence specialist services, and 94% of those surveyed acknowledged that lack of funding was preventing them from making their services fully accessible to disabled women. 

Among the 28 recommendations arising from the report, Women’s Aid has called for resources to be made available to improve the accessibility of courts and domestic violence services and to ensure that support organisations understand the specific needs of disabled women suffering intimate partner abuse.

Dr Susan Flynn from Trinity College Dublin and principal investigator on the research project, said the report outlined that disabled women “can find it much harder to access support and safety”.

“Thirty-nine percent of our respondents told no-one about what was happening to them, and this is something that we need to change as a matter of urgency,” said Flynn.

“No-one should suffer in silence.”