{"id":8203,"date":"2019-02-14T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/communityfirst\/?p=8203"},"modified":"2019-02-11T13:13:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T18:13:37","slug":"intersectionality-as-a-modus-operandi-for-violence-against-women-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/communityfirst\/2019\/intersectionality-as-a-modus-operandi-for-violence-against-women-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Intersectionality as a modus operandi for violence against women work"},"content":{"rendered":"

In CFICE\u2019s \u201cConversations With\u201d series, we interview community-campus engagement (CCE) practitioners to get their insights on CCE. Interview conducted by Kristina Reed, CFICE Communications Research Assistant.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/a>Bonnie Brayton has been the National Executive Director of the DisAbled Women\u2019s Network of Canada (DAWN) since 2007 when she established a national head office in Montreal. This national, cross-disability feminist organization has focused on advancing the rights of women with disabilities and deaf women in Canada and Internationally for the past 30 years. In this piece, Bonnie shares her thoughts on the intersections of Disability, violence against women, and community-campus engagement.<\/p>\n

Tell me about what Dawn Canada does and your involvement with them.<\/h2>\n

DAWN Canada is a feminist disability organization founded in 1985, so we\u2019ve been around for 33 years. We\u2019re, as far as I know, one of the first national women with disability organizations.<\/p>\n

In 2007, I became DAWN\u2019s first national executive director\u2026So that\u2019s when we really established a national head office inside this feminist collective in Quebec as a very important gesture towards really trying to become the most inclusive women\u2019s organization we could be\u2026 The decision to make the head office in Quebec was a really good one, because it\u2019s actually made us probably one of the most bilingual national women\u2019s organizations in the country\u2026<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve actually been located really strongly as one of the national women\u2019s organizations that the current government really is working with in a very meaningful way. It\u2019s taken a while but like I said, it\u2019s begun to bear fruit. For example, I sit on Minister Monsef\u2019s advising council on violence and I\u2019ve been on that council for three years. And I can see the results of being at the table\u2026<\/p>\n

\"DisAbled<\/a><\/p>\n

So what are the connections between disability and violence against women?<\/h2>\n

So, I\u2019ll start with something that I\u2019ve been saying for years which is that women become disabled through violence. And really pause to think about what I\u2019m saying, right? “Women become disabled through violence,” and what the implications of that are.<\/p>\n

Because the policy implications are huge, so people don\u2019t want to hear that. They don\u2019t want to hear that women become disabled through violence, but that\u2019s the truth! If you look at even trafficking, every person who\u2019s trafficked, ever, whether they start with a disability or not, will end with a disability. You know, I have a briefing note I can send you on human trafficking and disability and we\u2019re the only people in the country, and almost the only people in the world talking about this issue\u2026<\/p>\n

Did you see the new disability data survey results from 2017?\u00a024% of women in Canada have a disability. One quarter. Because we\u2019re doing better data collection, we\u2019re asking the right questions. One quarter. And you and I both know there\u2019s a stigma attached to disability. Many women are still not disclosing to a statistical survey if they have a disability. They\u2019re not saying \u201cyes\u201d to that question. But the newest data has it at 24% so one quarter of women in this country said \u201cyes\u201d this time when they were asked.<\/p>\n

So, the World Health Organization, Kristina, okay? The largest minority group in the world today are people with disabilities at a billion. And the majority of those are women. In Canada, the new data shows there\u2019s a five-point difference between men and women.<\/p>\n

So, what that tells you is that disability is a gendered issue. It is absolutely a gendered issue.<\/p>\n

What is DAWN doing to help women with disabilities escape violence?<\/h2>\n

It’s pretty clear to DAWN, deep into the research now, that some women are harder to accommodate [by shelters] than others because they\u2019re not identified as having a disability. The question of access for women with physical disabilities to shelters is a frustrating one, and a really simple one to fix because all you have to do is look at labour.<\/p>\n

And you know it is not necessarily disabilities that might be her first barrier. It might be that she is an immigrant, or a refugee, or she\u2019s indigenous. These kinds of things, like I said, you know, need to be taken in terms of the big picture. And the big picture one is: you start from the most marginalized women and then you work your way in, and then you don\u2019t leave anyone out.<\/p>\n

So, I guess what I\u2019m trying to say, Kristina, is that [accommodating] physical disabilities needs to be thought through as something that can be done and is very fixable. The other big piece though, we need to move beyond [the fact that] women with physical disabilities are not being served and are being victimized at higher rates. We need this whole cohort of women who are actually becoming disabled, become part of this larger problem we have: which is this whole displacement of women who experience violence. Where do they end up after they leave the shelter or transition house? I\u2019m telling you: some of them end up in human trafficking, some of them end up in the homeless population, and some of them end up in prison.<\/p>\n

\"Bonnie<\/a>

Varvara Olson and Maren Mentor, International Visitor Liaisons with members of the Canadian delegation of Healing the Wounds of Trafficking: A Project for Canada hosted by the U.S. State Department – Anthony Morissette, Peter Moriera, Bonnie Brayton and Larissa Maxwell. (Missing: Isabelle Nelis)\u00a0\u00a9 Bonnie Brayton<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you think needs to be done to create change for women with disabilities?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s going to change in time, you know? This data, the 24% of women with disabilities in Canada is the biggest statistic I\u2019ve ever had, Kristina, and this just came out two weeks ago. That\u2019s going to have a huge impact on policy\u2026<\/p>\n

This requires people, politicians, policy makers to take up what is now irrefutable data. Which is that you have this very important population that has the highest rates of poverty, the highest rates of unemployment, the rightest rates of violence, and we\u2019ve left them in this policy vacuum\u2026<\/p>\n

Some of what DAWN really is very focused on, is the intersectional approach because it’s through this intersectional approach that you begin to get everybody to understand it\u2019s not an \u201cus and them\u201d thing\u2026 Amongst all women in Canada, the one thing that all of them could have in common… the one thing in common that all women can share is disability.<\/p>\n

I will say this, and this is an important point to make \u2026 47% of all violent victimization, (so violent victimization is physical assault, sexual assault, and robbery), 47% of all violent victimization in Canada was against a woman with a disability. So nearly half. That\u2019s the best data we have.<\/p>\n

And I just told you 24% of women in this country live with a disability\u2026 [A] shift has started to take place though, and that\u2019s why the new buzzword everywhere is intersectionality. And it\u2019s moving beyond buzz, to people being like: \u201cthis is not a buzzword, this is the only way we\u2019re going to fix this stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Scrabble<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m curious as to the CCE approach that DAWN has taken. Because I know that you have worked with a lot of community-based researchers and academic partners. What have those experiences been like and how has the CCE approach helped when looking at violence against women?<\/h2>\n

Well, I think I told you before, the community and community research is what should inform campus research, to be really clear. You cannot do good academic research unless you connect it to people who have lived experience…<\/p>\n

[Community-campus partnerships] that have worked for DAWN have been ones that have respected our expertise…You\u2019re not going to get me to trust you if you think that you\u2019re bigger and more important than I am, and that\u2019s because I know that I represent the most underserved population. I am very clear on the fact that I am the one that holds the power, because I represent this community that you don\u2019t serve\u2026 Humble yourselves, humble yourselves and figure out how you support that. And that is exactly how you do this right\u2026<\/p>\n

What advice you would have for other community-campus partnerships that want to include that disability lens in their work?<\/h2>\n

Well the first advice, is you\u2019d bloody well include a disability lens, because if you don\u2019t, you\u2019re not credible.<\/p>\n

If you want to be helpful the first thing to do is align yourself with organizations that are working from that place, so disability organizations, organizations that talk about social justice, or socio-economic justice…So, the first thing you might need to do is say \u201cwell, we can call and work with you, but the first thing we need to do is get the table set up, so let’s set the table.\u201d \u2026so set the table, and then bring people to the table. And pay them to come to the table…And like I said: there is no not including. That\u2019s the most important thing\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Further to this,\u00a0how we can keep those lived experiences at the forefront?<\/h2>\n

And how do you do that? … Like think about it: imagine how powerful it is for women with disabilities who have had the lived experience of violence to have somebody in front of them whose biggest concern is about getting it right, and reflecting what it is you want us to tell, what needs to change. And you know, it\u2019s very much about trust and the ability to empower somebody by saying: \u201cthis is for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristina:<\/strong> There needs to be a concerted effort to distinguish between, like you were saying, equity before equality…<\/p>\n

Bonnie:<\/strong> And like I said Kristina, if you\u2019re doing research that you can\u2019t give back to the people that it\u2019s about, then you’re not doing good research. If it doesn\u2019t provide women with disabilities with something, then you don’t get it right. I guess I\u2019d say, follow Samuel Beckett\u2019s advice: [\u201cEver tried, ever failed. No matter. Fail again. Fail better.\u201d]<\/p>\n

If you get it wrong, then you just go back to the people who can get it right, and the people who can get it right are the people you’re doing this for. You know? You\u2019re not doing it for yourself and your academic career, you\u2019re doing it because it\u2019s important. And stay grounded in that.<\/p>\n

To learn more about DAWN Canada, visit their website here<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In CFICE\u2019s \u201cConversations With\u201d series, we interview community-campus engagement (CCE) practitioners to get their insights on CCE. Interview conducted by Kristina Reed, CFICE Communications Research Assistant. Bonnie Brayton has been the National Executive Director of the DisAbled Women\u2019s Network of Canada (DAWN) since 2007 when she established a national head office in Montreal. This national, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[86,1,100],"tags":[525,839,818],"yoast_head":"\nIntersectionality as a modus operandi for violence against women work - Community First<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In CFICE\u2019s \u201cConversations With\u201d series, we interview community-campus engagement (CCE) practitioners to get their insights on CCE. 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