Keeping safe and staying
independent: Beginning to explore the
potential of “staying at home”
schemes for women with disabilities
who have experienced family violence
Dr Angela Spinney –
Swinburne University
Dr Melanie Thomson –
University of Melbourne
Presentation
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Introduction
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The research on which this provisional paper is based
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Family violence, disability and the links between them
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Homelessness for people with a disability
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NDIS
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Consideration of the potential of ‘staying at home’
schemes for women with a disability
Conclusion
Homelessness Prevention for women & children
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AHURI project – FR published end of 2012
Family violence continues to be the major driver of
homelessness
Escaping violence is the most common reason people seek help
from specialist homelessness services
The project evaluated innovative homelessness prevention
measures introduced in Australia and England and the extent to
which they have enabled women and children to safely remain in
their homes, avoiding homelessness.
Inter-relationship of service provision
Conceptual Framework (Spinney and Blandy, 2011)
4
Findings of the AHURI research
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Emerging orthodoxy that women and children should not be
made homeless as a result of experiencing domestic and family
violence, and this should inform policy
The most effective homelessness prevention schemes for
women and children who have experienced domestic and family
violence integrate legal issues, housing and welfare provision
Australia should expand the provision of homelessness
prevention schemes that support domestic violence victims to
remain in their own home rather leave the home in order to exit a
violent relationship
Disability
People aged under 65 who have;
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Intellectual disability: a person experiences difficulty
communicating, learning and retaining information
Physical disability: may affect, either temporarily or
permanently, a person's physical capacity and/or mobility.
Mental Illness: affects a person's thinking, emotional state and
behaviours.
Sensory disability: affects one or more senses; sight, hearing,
smell, touch, taste or spatial awareness.
House with No Steps, 2015
Disability in Australia
 4.2
million Australians are estimated to have
disability or 18.5 % of the population (AIHW,
2015).
 1.4
million Australians or 6% of those people
have a profound disability (AIHW, 2015).
 People
with disabilities experience poor quality
of life outcomes compared to that of the ‘general
population’.
The increased risk of women with disabilities to FV
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Family violence; A pattern of coercive behaviour used to maintain
control over a partner, through a combination of physical,
emotional, sexual or financial abuse, enforced social isolation
and intimidation (Cunningham & Baker, 2004)
Substantial body of literature shows that women with
disabilities are at a higher risk of experiencing family
violence – estimated to be 40% higher risk
Difficult to measure, but estimated that 40-90% of
women with disabilities experience family violence
(Brownbridge, 2006)
Barriers to women with disabilities leaving their home
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Financial – lower incomes
Practical -Restricted choices in the private rental market
- Having to leave a home adapted for their needs
Attachment to neighbourhood; support networks,
healthcare facilities
Refuges and housing services often lack the ability to
meet the needs of women with disabilities
No ‘exit points’ for women with disabilities from their
home where the violence occurs
Implications of NDIS
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NDIS – will be a national system of disability support which claims to focus on
the individual needs and choices of people with disability.
First Report of the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the National
Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) - one of the challenges that face the
NDIA, and a wide range of NDIS stakeholders is the availability of suitable
housing for people with disabilities
Chairman of the NDIA has stated that people with disabilities cannot use
NDIS funding to meet the costs of providing housing (e.g. paying rent or
mortgage payments
Based on the current levels of provision, the NDIA estimates an unmet need
for affordable housing for between 83,000 and 122,000 NDIS participants
By 2019, it is estimated that 154,000-193,000 people with disabilities on low
incomes may need housing assistance (CHFA, 2014).
So, what do we know?
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That women with disabilities are particularly vulnerable
to experiencing family violence
That for women with disabilities it can be very difficult
for them to leave home to escape the violence
That we may be talking about a large group of women;
about 2 million women in Australia are disabled and a
significant percentage may be experiencing violence
from someone in their home
NDIS may see capital funding for adapted housing but
not revenue funding
Would ‘staying home’ schemes help?
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Finding ways to enable women to stay safely and
independently in their own home with the perpetrator
removed would seem to make sense in terms of the
very high and increasing demand for adapted housing.
Very little research on this matter; Evaluation of the
bSafe emergency personal alarm project found that
“bSafe provides a risk management option that can
support women with a disability to achieve safety at
home’ (Taylor & Mackay, 2011) – but small sample
Conclusion and further thoughts
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Seems to be a topic worthy of further research, but;
How will we get to this very vulnerable group of women
with disabilities who are experiencing domestic violence
to gain their views?
How could ‘staying at home’ schemes reach out to
women who may not be able to contact them without
assistance?
Will NDIS be a source of effective care and support
packages once the perpetrators has been removed?
Thank you
Angela Spinney
Swinburne University of Technology
Melanie Thomson
University of Melbourne