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Annotated Bibliography: Vulnerabilities of women living with disability

Introduction

The topic of focus is on the vulnerabilities of women living with disability. Women experience different forms of disabilities including, mental, physical, and psychological that affects their normal living status. The annotated bibliography provides a brief summary of the main arguments raised by the authors and the conclusions and an evaluation of the article.

Annotated Bibliography

Dowse, L., Soldatic, K., Spangaro, J., & van Toorn, G. (2016). Mind the gap: the extent of           violence against women with disabilities in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues      (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ), 51(3), 341–359. Retrieved from    http://165.193.178.96/login?url=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3f            direct%3dtrue%26db%3daph%26AN%3d117994864%26site%3deds-live

            The number of reported cases of abuse of women with disabilities in Australia is below average (Dowse, Soldatic, Spangaro & van Toorn, 2016). Most of cases of abuses on women with disabilities are reported and this has acted against the fight against such abuses. It is only from 2013 that series of persecutions, media reports and  a number of state and national inquiries that have increased recognition of the nature, extent, and prevalence of  gender-based and disability based violence, especially unleashed against women living with disabilities. The article offers alternative ways to gather data and interrogates the available data to get a clear picture on the prevalence rate of cases of abuse against disabled women. For instance, Personal Safety Survey data 2012 highlighted that women with disabilities below the age of 50, 62 percent of them have experienced one form of violence since they were at the age of 15 years.  The report also states that for the last 12 months women with disabilities experienced three times the rate of sexual violence compared to women without disabilities. These facts are not conclusive because they only capture women with disabilities living in private dwelling and not those in disability care setting. The authors conclude by emphasizing on the need to get comprehensive and robust data to inform further direction to help fight abuses directed to women with disabilities.

The authors have elaborately addressed the challenge and vulnerability that women with disability face. The interrogation of different sources of information has helped them present an objective and credible argument that require attention to help change the behaviors of the perpetrators.

Foster, K., & Sandel, M. (2010). Abuse of Women with Disabilities: Toward an Empowerment    Perspective. Sexuality & Disability, 28(3), 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-010-            9156-6

            Foster (2010), argues that women with disabilities remain at high risk of being abused by the family members, caretakers, fiends and other people. One of the factors that contribute to this abuse is reliance on the provider of support hence, a major societal problem that the parties involved; service providers, practitioners and other professionals need to be aware, respond to and devise mechanism to alleviate the same.  The article therefore summarizes the problems and issues relevant to abuse of women with disabilities and describes empowering, proactive attitudes and behaviors of victim-survivors together with their support networks. The authors conclude by making an appeal for the relevant bodies to help women faced with disabilities by empowering them so that they can maintain their lives.

The article is precise and informative. It is relevant to the topic as it reiterate the existence of the challenge that women with disability face hence, provides insightful suggestions to empower them to sustain and maintain themselves. The article is also credible evidenced through multiple sources of information incorporated.

McCarthy, M., Hunt, S., & Milne, S. K. (2017). ’I Know it was Every Week, but I Can’t be Sure             if it was Every Day: Domestic Violence and Women with Learning Disabilities. Journal     of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 30(2), 269–282.   https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12237

            The article acknowledges that many women experience severe and frequent violence that impacted negatively on their psychological and physical wellbeing. Despite this abuse, these vulnerable women did not receive full help leaving them for their own. The article concludes by offering a challenge for individuals in both domestic violence and learning disability spheres such as the social care and healthcare professionals to work in unison to help women with learning disabilities, who are less able to act on their own behalf. The authors recommend increased advocacy and self-advocacy to help meet the concerns of the women with learning disabilities.

The article is precise and clear. The article helps to understand the challenges and the vulnerability of women with learning disabilities. The authors conducted in-depth research hence increasing the level of reliability and validity. Furthermore, the authors are professionals from Tizard Centre, University of Kent, Canterbury UK, which increases the level of credibility. The article is also published in the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.

Naved, R. T., Blum, L. S., Chowdhury, S., Khan, R., Bilkis, S., & Koblinsky, M. (2012). Violence against Women with Chronic Maternal Disabilities in Rural Bangladesh.       Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition, 30(2), 181–192. Retrieved from    http://165.193.178.96/login?url=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3f            direct%3dtrue%26db%3daph%26AN%3d79556481%26site%3deds-live

            The article points out the suffering, stigmatization, sexual abuse and violence against women with chronic maternal disabilities in rural Bangladesh. In  a study that incorporated 17 women  through interview, it became evident that most of the maternal women with stress incontinence, uterine prolapsed and fistula  are exposed to  emotional abuse with many more facing sexual abuse. There is a misconception on the cause of these disabilities and the inability of these women to execute their gender role expectations, which plays a major role in the stigmatization. The article concludes that mistreatment and abuse have negatively impacted on the life of women, many opting to suffering in silent. The authors recommend for initiatives to address the misconceptions regarding the case of such disabilities, and in the long term create long-term economic opportunities to reduce women over depending on male in marriage for their upkeep.

The reason for selecting the article and incorporating it in this study is that it highlights the vulnerabilities and sufferings that women are exposed because of their disabilities. The article is also reliable and relevant because of the elaborate research that went in is production.

Nguyen, X. (2018). Critical disability studies at the edge of global development: Why do we        need to engage with Southern theory? Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. 1-25.            Retrieved from:: http://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/400/636

            The article reflects on the disability studies that have been conducted previously. Most of these studies have adopted theoretical perspectives of the North with little regard to the perspectives in the South. Therefore, interrogating the aspects and the perspective about disability with the lens of southern theory provides a different way to view and understand the concept.  The author advances the southern theory and criticizes the domination of northern disability studies.  Southern theory allows or enables one to ask questions on reasons concerning domination of northern epistemologies in the southern contexts. It also provides an opportunity to understand the experiences of the disabled people in the south, which have  been made visible because of the dominant colonialism. Lastly, the southern theory has created room for people to interact with the indigenous people helping to know about the experiences that disabled people go through. The article is therefore more informative helping us to think in a different manner that can help understands the plights and the general status of people that leave with disability.

The article is therefore elaborate and educative in terms of providing different perspectives to understand disability issues. It is evident that looking at the issues in different angle can help gain a wider perspective about the same hence a form of empowerment. The author has incorporated multiple sources of information an illustration of extensive research.

Nosek, M. A., Foley, C. C., Hughes, R. B., & Howland, C. A. (2001). Vulnerabilities for Abuse   Among Women with Disabilities. Sexuality & Disability, 19(3), 177–189. Retrieved             from:   http://165.193.178.96/login?url=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3f          direct%3dtrue%26db%3daph%26AN%3d11303716%26site%3deds-live

            According to Nosek, Foley, Hughes & Howland (2001), women living with disabilities experience high rates of physical, emotional and sexual abuses compared to those women without any disabilities. There are certain disability settings that have increased rate of vulnerability for abuse of the disabled women. The author notes that the need for personal assistance with daily living to disabled women only served to create additional vulnerability.  The article concludes by stating that by virtue of a women being disabled, it becomes a necessity to protect them against forms of abuse. It is therefore imperative to develop a disability sensitive abuse-screening instrument as well as well as need to test interventions to help women with disabilities to recognize abuse and protect themselves from such situations.

The article is informative and addresses the topic in-depth, widening the scope on the vulnerability of women with disability. Despite interventions being in place, they require testing. Likewise, the vulnerable women require increased self-awareness on their risks and vulnerability to take caution. Researchers adopted a mixed research methodology that offers high level of reliability and validity. The authors are also experts and professionals hence increasing the level of credibility and confidence in the study findings.

Rossiter, K., & Clarkson, A. (2013). Opening Ontario’s “Saddest Chapter:” A Social History of   Huronia Regional Centre. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2(3), 1. DOI:           https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v2i3.99.  Retrieved from:   http://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/99

            The article provides a lengthy discussion, a social history of the Huronia Regional Center- the first centre that launched class action lawsuits.  The three separate lawsuits were launched against the government of Ontario to seek for justice for the multiple forms of abuse and inhumane treatment of the residents running provincial-Centres. The residents had been diagnosed with some forms of intellectual disability. Furthermore, the article explores social context of Canadian institutions, bureaucratic organization of the institutions and helps in understanding reasons that might have led to the maltreatment and neglect of the institutionalized persons. This article therefore, provides in-depth understanding of the social context in respect to persons with disability demonstrating the impacts that such treatment pauses to the person’s with disability.  People living with disability require good treatment and love and therefore, the lawsuits demonstrates the mistreatment but also the determination of the disabled individual to seek justice.

 The article is in-depth and informative. It also relevant as it addresses the issues of disability in Ontario widening the scope of knowledge about some of the challenges that persons with disability face in their day-to-day lives.

Swedlund, N. P., & Nosek, M. A. (2000). An Exploratory Study on the Work of Independent     Living Centers to Address Abuse of Women with Disabilities. Journal of rehabilitation –        Washington-, (4), 57. Retrieved from:            http://165.193.178.96/login?url=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3f direct%3dtrue%26db%3dedsbl%26AN%3dRN089891530%26site%3deds-live

            The article focuses on how the Independent Living Centers have contributed in addressing abuse of women with disabilities. The findings indicate that most of the women with disabilities face disability related issues when dealing with abuse.  They also observed that abuse was one of the important issues consumers discussed.  Even with efforts directed at helping these women, there are problems and challenges that hinder them from seeking for assistance. One of the factors is the lack of physically accessible shelters and abuse intervention program offices. Additionally, these women face abuse from the same people that live with them, those that afford them with economic support, personal or both. The study concludes by agitating for increased outreach to women with disabilities and those experiencing abuse. There is also need to train staffs on the abuse intervention program and other service providers on the disability related issues to help protect the women with disability from these abuses.

The article is relevant to the topic of study as it touches on the issues affecting women with disabilities. The article is also conclusive and precise.  The authors have employed scientific analytical tools in analyzing the data. Incorporating multiple sources depicts the fact that researchers carried out intensive research.

Thomson, G. (2005). Staring at the other. Disability Studies Quarterly, 25(4). Retrieved at:            http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/610/787

            The article seeks to provide an understanding on the feelings that individuals have when reactions of others seem to suggest that something is not right with them. The behaviors and reactions of the individuals make others to perceive in a different manner. For instance, in this article, staring is the major focus of discussion, in respect to Jeanne McDermott the mother of Nathaniel that was born with Apert’s syndrome.  Using this context, the article argue that staring is a vivid form of communication, a way people express their response to others. It is believed that the brain make sense of the unexpected quickly the moment someone sees something.  The article is also relevant to the topic of disability in the society. The stigma and the attitude of people towards those with different forms of disability attract different reactions even without them uttering a word.  Such reactions manifest through the way people stare at others and this communicates and sends very deeper message to those with various forms of disability.

The article is therefore appropriate and relevant in shaping and helping widen the scope of understanding the different issues pertaining to disability. The story is vivid and interesting to read as it epitomizes what goes in the society and the stigma against those with different forms of disabilities.

Yoshida, K., DuMont, J., Odette, F., & Lysy, D. (2011). Factors Associated With Physical and    Sexual Violence Among Canadian Women Living With Physical Disabilities. Health            care for women international, (8), 762. Retrieved from:           http://165.193.178.96/login?url=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3f            direct%3dtrue%26db%3dedsbl%26AN%3dRN294933682%26site%3deds-live

            The article focuses on the violence and physical/sexual abuse among women living with disabilities (WLD). According to Yoshida, DuMont, Odette & Lysy (2011), 10 percent of the world population has a disability translating to an estimated 650 million people across the globe. In the study, the authors noted that women with disabilities with an annual household income of less than $20,000 or those between $20,000 and $49,999 at one point experienced physical and/or sexual violence. Furthermore, those with one or more activities limited by pain were also likely to report having experienced sexual or physical violence. The study also revealed that women that had not accessed information about sexuality and older women were less likely to report incidences or cases of physical/ or sexual violence. The primary conclusion for this study is the need for the public health professionals and practitioners in the detection and prevention of violence institution to formulate amicable policies and solutions to help women living with physical disabilities from the hands of their abusers.

The reason for incorporating this article is because; it provides insights on the factors that contribute to physical and sexual violence amongst women with disabilities. The article is also credible and reliable to add new knowledge on the already existing body of knowledge about factors that contributes to abuse of disabled women in Canada and across the world.