Violence against women with disabilities, structured interventions and dedicated services are needed

We need data, we need dedicated services, we need more attention and commitment. The multiple discriminations to which women with disabilities who suffer gender-based violence are subjected require specific attention in order to be known, avoided and thus addressed. At the international level, the call came from the WHO, which pointed out that women with disabilities are at particular risk of being abused, precisely because their situation is largely hidden in most surveys on gender-based violence. Yet, their situation of vulnerability exposes them to a greater risk of being a victim of gender-based violence, a risk - according to the European Disability Forum - two to five times greater than that of other women. "We need to understand the particularity of the case in which women who are already discriminated against in their lives, at work, in access to health care and are therefore indebted in their rights become more exposed to gender-based violence. We need an intervention that addresses the total dimension of women with disabilities,' says Silvia Cutrera, women's coordinator and Fish Onlus vice-president.

An analysis and insight into the numbers (albeit partial) come from the monitoring carried out by the Observatory for Security Against Discriminatory Acts (Oscad). The report collects data from October 2023 to 30 September 2024 and highlights, among other things, the awareness of the perpetrator of the abuse to direct his violence towards a person who can only defend himself to a limited extent, compared to the offence suffered, for reasons that may be physical or cognitive. Such are the cases, for example, of abuses on women in health care facilities. Another characteristic that is amplified is that of isolation and the objective difficulty of asking for help or, sometimes, of being able to represent the violence suffered. Often, the report points out, violence is perpetrated by the very people who should be deputed to care for and protect women.

The data collected from October 2023 to September 2024 show a 66% increase in so-called 'spy crimes' compared to the previous period, there were540 crimes against women with disabilities. This increase is mainly related to the change in data collection, which now allows the recognition of the characteristic of disability. An increase, therefore, due to an improvement in the quality of the data, but also to the emergence of a phenomenon that is still largely undeclared. In detail, molestation against family members committed against women with disabilities increased by 34% (319 cases, of which 15 against minors), sexual violence increased by 74% (94 cases, of which 11 against minors), while persecutory acts count 127 cases (+296%), of which 32 against minors. An initial sign, therefore, that can be read positively and that can pave the way for complete disaggregated data.

According to Cutrera, 'a good starting point' is also the fact that in the White Paper drawn up by the technical-scientific committee of the National Observatory on Violence against Women there is a section devoted to multiple discrimination and the risks faced by women with disabilities, from which the guidelines for anti-violence centres and for all the bodies involved in preventing and escaping violence should derive in the next three years. Something is moving, therefore, but the road to guaranteeing equal rights and support for women with disabilities is still a long one.