Decentering ableism in gender based violence (GBV) research using co-creative arts-based approaches

Worldwide rates of gender-based violence (GBV) against people/persons with disabilities (PWD) exceed those without disabilities (Van Der Heijden et.al, 2019). Despite disability affecting 16% of the world’s population, efforts to research, prevent and respond to GBV rarely address the issue of GBV against PWD, and programmes designed to support PWD rarely pay attention to GBV. While increasing rates of violence during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to greater recognition that GBV has a disproportionate impact on PWD, there is a lack of data and understanding about the nature and drivers of this violence (Van Der Heijden et.al, 2019). Recent research on interventions addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) with disabilities highlighted the methodological barriers to developing a robust evidence base on GBV against PWD, finding the most common methods used for collecting data on GBV ill-suited to capturing the experiences of PWD (Banks et.al., 2022;  Palm & Le Roux, 2023). Without fully understanding how PWD experience GBV and the barriers they encounter when reporting and seeking support, existing GBV interventions will fail to prevent abuse and create structural, normative, and environmental obstacles for PWD.

This project explores GBV against PWD in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) in South Africa using survivor and disabilities-centred methods. South Africa has one of the highest levels of GBV outside war zones, and KZN-province is where this violence is most endemic. GBV affecting PWD in South Africa is particularly acute due to racial injustice, deepened inequality, and marginalisation, all exacerbated by COVID-19.

This project uses innovative arts-based approaches to better understand and respond to the needs of PWD who have experienced GBV. The project adopts an intersectional approach to capture the diversity of PWDs: including different types of disability and all genders, to interrogate how gender and disability shape violence across diverse cohorts’ lives. We use creative, participatory, and arts-based methodologies (PhotoVOICE 2.0 and body mapping) to enable PWD to act as co-researchers in the study. By partnering with the South Africa Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Afrique Rehabilitation and Research Consultants (ARRC), an organisation for PWD, having co-investigators with disabilities and including PWD as co-researchers, we will ensure that PWD are at the centre of this study. By using co-production this research will make the different forms of GBV against PWD visible and help us understand its complex and intersectional causes and impacts.

Project aims

In our research, the data co-produced with PWD will help challenge the root causes of, and improve responses to, GBV. Our project connects those working on GBV and PWD in South Africa and globally, to share knowledge on ‘what works’ to address GBV against PWD. Our research objectives are:

• To understand the nature of GBV experienced by PWD in KZN after COVID-19.
• To explore how different identity characteristics (e.g., religion, race, gender, type of disability) intersect with contextual variables (e.g., poverty, geographical location, unemployment) to contribute to PWDs’ vulnerability to GBV.
• To highlight the lived experiences of GBV-survivors with disabilities using co-creative arts-based methods.
• To explore the structural challenges that survivors with disabilities encounter in reporting and accessing support for GBV.
• To develop training and intervention guidelines for working with PWD in GBV research and service delivery.

Impact

The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between academics and practitioners and is firmly anchored in the South African context. Despite the prevalence of GBV against PWD, we currently know very little about the lived experiences of PWD when it comes to violence, how they cope and what interventions they would like to see. Developing such knowledge requires using innovative approaches that offer opportunities through which participants with different disabilities can narrate their experiences. Recent evidence shows that arts-based methods enable deeper engagement with sensitive topics such as GBV and are empowering for survivors. To understand the diversity of experiences of PWD who have endured GBV, and to develop a set of resources on prevention, safeguarding and behavioural change we will use PhotoVOICE 2.0 and body mapping. We will work in partnership with PWD, including survivors of GBV, as co-researchers which is empowering for participants. Through this approach, we will co-develop a set of creative resources highlighting the drivers and impacts of GBV on PWD, outlining how to improve responses and initiate prevention. Through delivering a better understanding of PWD experiences of violence and ways to prevent it, our research will be of direct benefit to survivors of GBV in SA with the potential to better inform interventions in other contexts and on an international basis.

We will draw on our extensive national and international links, including at the different United Nations agencies both in the fields of GBV and disabilities, to ensure that the research findings and outputs will benefit organisations for people with disabilities, those working on women’s rights and GBV, and men and boys’ organisations, and that they are involved as co-creators in developing resources about prevention and responses to GBV. To maximise the outcomes from the project, we will deliver training programmes for supporting organisations in SA and globally (virtually). This strong local partnership and local and global engagement will ensure that the benefits and legacy of the research continue after the life of the project, within and outside SA.

Publications and outputs

We will produce a broad range of outputs aimed at academics, professionals, policymakers, and the public including:

A Training manual: We will develop a training manual for and in consultation with partner organisations, duty bearers and service providers in SA on how to prevent, identify and respond to GBV against PWD. 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 GBV 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 PWD, carers, duty bearers and service providers. The material will raise awareness about GBV and outline where and how survivors can seek support.

Project report: The team will produce a report outlining best practice for preventing, identifying, and addressing GBV against PWD through artistic and creative interventions. This report will summarise the key findings of the project, including the guidance on how to conduct artistic interventions on GBV with PWD. This will be published by SAMRC for increased visibility and will be 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 GBV against PWD, we will produce a briefing paper for academics and practitioners outlining a set of guidelines for conducting research with this group, drawing on our experiences of conducting this study.

Exhibitions: Two exhibitions of body maps and photographs, accompanied by audio, written, and brail description will be used to challenge public perceptions about GBV against PWD, communicate the key factors leading to perpetration and articulate the needs of PWD for accessing adequate support.

Workshops & Webinars: We will arrange and deliver two training workshops and two webinars as discussed above.

Two ten-minute short films targeting practitioners/professionals and the wider public: We will produce short films drawing on the artistic outputs of co-researchers. The first will raise awareness of and challenge key misunderstandings about GBV against PWD in SA. The second will target a more international audience and will summarise the importance or artistic interventions to address GBV against PWD. Both will be presented in accessible formats.

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

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