Kenny House, part of Fredericton, New Brunswick’s Liberty Lane’s second stage housing project which features 10 units had been in the works for 10 years and it’s finally here. With one apartment tailored to the needs of a women with disability, Kenny House recognises that those with challenges to daily living are not immune to abuse.
In planning accommodations for the differently able, it’s critical to gear environments taking into consideration the ‘most’ disabled. Accessibility issues for a C2 quadriplegic are more involved than for a paraplegic or for a woman with cerebral palsy who walks with crutches or uses a walker. Transition houses and 2nd stage housing and non-profit housing need to be fully aware of the unique changes that must be made to dwellings that will become home to women in crisis who live with various types of disability.
Research suggests that women with disability are more likely to suffer domestic violence and sexual assault than women without disability and women with disabilities report abuse that lasts longer and is more intense than women without disability. By virtue of obvious visible limitations to freedom of mobility and movement, women with disability may also live with various components of health and wellness that are not visible. So there’s the case of ‘all is not as it seems’. They stay in abusive relationships for many of the same reasons that women without disability stay in abusive situations, but there’s another layer to their decisions to stay in place.
Some will stay because their home is where they feel safe because the spaces ‘fits’ their physical limitations and meets the emotional needs sometimes imposed by those limitations. The tendency to ‘put up’ with slaps, kicks, punches, verbal abuse and emotional abuse get squashed down. Sadly, what often happens to break that cycle is a major emotional explosion that sometimes requires hospitalization. Then, the woman in crisis will allow herself to ‘break’ in what must be a safe place. A hospital is supposed to be safe.
With hospitalization, whether for an overnight or two nights, is an opportunity for a woman to feel safe to attempt to settle herself. Clinical staff can go a long was to contributing to wellness by ensuring that the woman, upon presenting in the ER, which is often the first stop, is immediately taken to a quiet room and not obliged, in a public space, to disclose the reason for her visit. Sometimes, the person who abused her may very well be the one who brought her to get medical attention. Hospital staff need to quickly become proactive to protect privacy and safety. Women with disability need that extra layer of protection put in place. Minimizing their risk of further harm is paramount. Connection with a woman’s shelter while a medical exam is underway would be an appropriate step.
If there is no going back home, after a period in a women’s shelter, and secure housing becomes necessary, places like Kenny House with its accessible unit offers a safe place to heal and make a plan to move forward. If staff need to be educated about specific needs of women with certain types of disability, they will learn. They will ask questions. The staff is there to help in whatever way they can. Let them in. Women stay at Liberty Lane units for a year, during which time they develop skills to move on with their lives - education and employment empowerment are crucial.
Like other women, women living with disability are often abused by someone they know. In addition, women with disabilities face the risk of abuse by health care providers or caregivers — being abused by someone relied upon for care escalates that trapped feeling, so it’s important that the victimized is able to communicate with a person who can be trusted, whether a doctor, family member, friend, or neighbor.
When the violence is perpetrated by personal assistants, family members and/or friends, it is often considered to be a problem that can be addressed by the social service system rather than considered to be a crime that should be addressed by the police and/or the criminal justice system. Women with disability who are victims of abuse deserve the same considerations at law as their non-disabled peers, and to minimise their situations because they live with disability is yet another crime against them.
Access to safe havens like Transition House and accommodations provided through Liberty Lane are a necessary part of the community. It is important for us to do our part as we belong to the same community. Think about it. Someone you know may be utilising their services while you’re reading this commentary. Our contributions continue their efforts.
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca
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