INCLUDE – Innovative Co-Creation for GBV Research to Uplift Diverse Experiences

Worldwide rates of violence against women with disabilities are up to four times higher than  those against women without disabilities (Van Der Heijden et.al, 2019). Despite disability affecting 16% of the world’s population, efforts to research, prevent and respond to this form of violence rarely address violence against women with disabilities. Recent review of research on violence against women and girls with disabilities highlighted the dearth of data and the methodological barriers to developing a robust evidence base on violence against women with disabilities (Banks et.al., 2022;  Palm & Le Roux, 2023). Without fully understanding how women with disabilities experience violence and the barriers that they encounter when reporting and seeking support, existing interventions will fail to prevent abuse. This project explores violence against women with disabilities in eThekwini, KwaZulu Natal (KZN), South Africa. South Africa has one of the highest levels of violence against women outside war zones, and KZN-province is where this violence is most endemic. This project uses co-creation and arts-based approaches to better understand and respond to the needs of women with disabilities who have experienced violence. The research is conducted in collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council and organisations for persons with disabilities in South Africa to ensure that women with disabilities are at the centre of this study.

Project aims

In our research, we will use PhotoVOICE 2.0, body mapping, clay embodiment and rivers of life to work with women with disabilities in a participatory and trauma informed approach.  The data co-produced with the participants will enhance our understanding of violence against women with disabilities and help improve responses to it. Our research objectives are:

1. To understand the nature of violence experienced by women with disabilities in KZN.
2. To highlight the lived experiences of violence among survivors with disabilities.
3. To explore what contributes to the vulnerability of women with disabilities to GBV.
4. To identify the structural challenges that survivors with disabilities encounter in reporting and accessing support for GBV.
5. To develop training and intervention guidelines for working with and supporting survivors with disabilities.

Impact

The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between academics and practitioners and is firmly anchored in the South African context. The project uses co-creative approaches to enable women with different disabilities to contribute to the research using arts as a medium of expression and to co-develop a set of resources on prevention, safeguarding and responses to violence. Recent evidence shows that arts-based methods allow for deeper engagement with sensitive topics and are empowering for survivors. Through delivering a better understanding of violence against women with disabilities and ways to prevent it, our research will be of direct benefit to survivors of violence in South Africa and with the potential to better inform interventions in other contexts.

Through extensive and sustained stakeholder engagement and partnership building with local and national actors and policy makers in South Africa and internationally, including at the different United Nations agencies, we will ensure that our research will have wide a reach and significant impact on the ground.

Publications and outputs

In addition to journal articles and academic publications, we will produce a broad range of outputs aimed at academics, professionals, policymakers, and the general public including:

A Training manual: We will co-develop a training manual in consultation with partner organisations, duty bearers and service providers in South Africa on how to prevent and respond to violence against women with disabilities. The manual will be used in the training of professionals working in the sector and will draw on the artistic outputs of co-researchers to highlight the contexts where violence is likely to occur, indicators of perpetration and the common barriers to support after perpetration. The training manual will be published in a range of accessible formats.

Awareness raising materials: We will co-produce accessible awareness raising materials aimed at women with disabilities, carers, duty bearers and service providers to raise awareness about violence against women and outline where and how survivors can seek support.

Project report: This report will summarise the key findings of the project, including the guidance on how to conduct artistic interventions on sensitive topics with women with disabilities, available in written, audio and brail format accompanied by a simplified visual summary.

Ethical and methodological Guidelines: Due to the absence of international ethics guidelines specific to researching violence against women with disabilities, we will produce a briefing paper for academics and practitioners outlining a set of guidelines for conducting research with this group.

Exhibitions: Two public exhibitions will be held in south Africa and the UK to disseminate our findings and raise awareness and challenge public perceptions about violence against women with disabilities.

Workshops & Webinars: To help maximise the impact from our research, we will deliver two training workshops and two webinars targeting professionals, practitioners and policy makers.

A short film: The film will target practitioners/professionals and the wider public and help to raise awareness of and challenge key misunderstandings about violence against women with disabilities

Journal Articles: To disseminate the findings to academic audiences, we will produce four articles exploring:

• The nature and drivers of GBV experienced by women with disabilities in KZN targeting: Trauma Violence and Abuse.
• The use of intersectional arts-based research to understand the experiences of survivors of violence with disabilities targeting Qualitative Research.
• Understanding and preventing violence against women perpetrated by carers and support workers targeting Disability and Society
• The gap between ableist violence against women programming and the requirements of women with disabilities targeting Review of International Studies.

Conferences

The findings from our research will be presented to at least two conferences, one international, (e.g. the European International Studies Association) and one GBV focused (e.g. the Sexual Violence Research Forum, often held in South Africa).