Disabled Women and Domestic Violence: Making the Links,a National UK Study

This article reports on the first-ever national study of domestic violence and disability in the United Kingdom. The multi-method study used the social model of disability and was mainly qualitative in design. It reports distressing findings of the abuse which disabled women may experience, confirming similar findings in Australia and other countries. Less provision than that available proportionally to non-disabled women is accompanied by a greater need for such focussed and specialist services. Disabled women in the United Kingdom therefore lose out on both counts. The paper concludes that a cultural shift or sea-change is required in relevant service provision at both management and operational levels, informed by disabled women themselves wherever possible. The study made wide-ranging recommendations at both the strategic level across localities and for relevant agencies in the United Kingdom. These recommendations have wide relevance in other countries.