I find this quote helpful when I’m feeling worn down and need a little inspiration and motivation to keep fighting.
“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ”
– Paulo Freire, “Pedagogy of freedom: ethics, democracy, and civic courage” (1998).
The only way to not advance the agenda of the powerful is to fight it. (ht ohfortheloveofdog)
Originally published July 2009
The PALS also indicates that Canadian women, 15 year of age and older, experience a higher prevalence of disability at 15.2 percent, than Canadian men at 13.4 percent. In 2006, 19.5 percent of Ontario adult women reported having a disability compared with 16.6 percent of men (Statistics Canada, 2006). Women with disabilities are significantly more likely to experience abuse than non-disabled women. It is estimated that women with disabilities are 1.5 to 10 times more likely to experience violence than non-disabled women, depending on whether they are living in the community or an institution (Public Health Agency of Canada, online).
[From: We Are Visible: Ten Years Later WARNING: PDF]
So.
How many emergency shelters are you aware of that are fully accessible, have a ‘terp available in some way for Deaf women, or provide their information in Braille? Have grip bars in the bathrooms? Have accessible toilets?
How many have funding for all of this?
The last women’s shelter I volunteered in had a disabled-parking zone in front, but that’s all I recall. What about you?