As part of the #16Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, the AVA team held a FREE day-long seminar on Tackling Violence & Abuse Against Disabled Women & Girls at The Foundry.
The event was funded by London Councils & Drill, and speakers included our very own Donna Covey CBE (Chief Executive, AVA Project), Ruth Bashall (CEO, Stay Safe East), Susie Balderson (Policy & Training Director, Vision Sense) and Vicki Trapps (IDVA, SignHealth DeafHope). (Our guests’ full presentations are also available for download! Just click on each title and downloads should begin automatically).
Donna Covey began the event with a warm welcome and talked a bit about the work that AVA does with the Drill Project, outlining some of the barriers disabled survivors encounter when trying to access vital services.
Ruth Bashall gave an enlightening presentation entitled Putting Theory Into Practice, The Stay Safe East Experience, showcasing the very unique and important work done by her user-led organisation to accommodate the women who are faced with these barriers.
Susie Balderson then wowed us with her incredible research into Tackling Violence & Abuse Against Disabled Women & Girls in the Long-Term as part of the Drill Project, (the findings of which will be released in early 2019), discussing how patterns of violence experienced by disabled survivors can be different from those experienced by non-disabled survivors.
Vicki Trapps filled us in on Why We Need Specialist Domestic Abuse Services for Deaf People, offering an insight into how her organisation works with deaf women and young people in many different contexts, including offering prevention work and training.
Our project manager, Ruth Atkinson, has written a more in-depth blog on the day as part of our #16Days collaboration with UK SAYS NO MORE, which you can read here.
