Overview of responses to the Violence and abuse of people with disability at home Issues paper (Auslan)
This video in Auslan is about the Overview of responses to the Violence and abuse of people with disability at home Issues paper.
Video transcript
Overview of responses to Violence and abuse of people with disability at home Issues paper
Background
In December 2020 we asked people to tell us their views and thoughts about the experiences of violence and abuse of people with disability at home. This video highlights some of the things people told us in their responses.
What did people say?
People told us:
- Not all domestic and family violence laws across Australia protect people with disability, as the state and territory laws differ. The laws do not include all the relationships they might have, such as with paid support workers.
- The violence and abuse people experience at home is perpetrated by a range of people including partners, parents, carers, support workers and co-residents.
- Women and girls with disability experience violence and abuse in their homes at very high rates.
- When people with disability are socially isolated or segregated, they are at high risk of experiencing violence and abuse.
- People with disability experience a range of barriers getting help for violence and abuse at home. These include:
- inaccessible services like women’s shelters which cannot accommodate people who use a wheelchair or an assistance animal, or don’t have funding for interpreters.
Good practice and proposals for change
We heard about some examples of good practice for addressing and preventing violence and abuse against people with disability at home.
Some examples are:
- A program in Victoria funds women and children with disability who experience violence up to $9,000 each while a family violence support worker makes a plan for the woman, her children and her family.
- In NSW, ‘Official Community Visitors’ attend supported accommodation services and group homes. They can enter and inspect a service at any time, talk to the residents and employees, and check documents. In doing this, they can make sure people in these services are safe.
We heard about proposals for change to help people with disability experiencing violence and abuse at home.
Some of these include:
- Changing legal and policy definitions of domestic and family violence. Ensure the definition of ‘domestic relationships’ includes support workers, unpaid carers, housemates, co-residents, prisoners and wider First Nations kinship networks.
- The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) should establish fast, clear, open processes for prioritising requests for people who urgently need safety and support.
- Make sure court buildings are accessible, (eg have lifts for people who use a wheelchair).
- Bring in a mandatory system to report abuse, neglect and financial abuse of people with disability that is the same across Australia.
You can find more information on our website.
Go the ‘Policy & research’ section and click on ‘Issues papers’.