Women with disabilities experience violence at significantly higher rates than women without disabilities, more frequently, for longer, in more ways, and by more perpetrators; they have considerably fewer pathways to safety, and are less likely to report experiences of violence. This is especially true for women with intellectual disabilities, above all if they live in long-stay residential institutions.
In the context of the Life After Violence project, Inclusion Europe did a study on how women with intellectual disabilities cope with violence they experienced in institutions, after they have left them.
The report was based on in-depth interviews with 10 women.
Read our articles:
- About the launch of the report in the European Parliament: “My biggest fear is that I will be put back into an institution”
- Interview with self-advocate Elisabeta Moldovan: “There were staff members who sexually abused residents”
- Interview with researcher Juultje Holla
- Article about successful deinstitutionalisation: “When people meet Julia now, they see someone who is awake and intensely enjoying life”
See all articles about life after violence, about institutions and about violence against women.
This work is funded by the Open Society Foundations.
| Implementation Period | 2016 – 2018 / 2019 / 2020 |
| Financed by | Open Society Foundations |
| Project Coordinator | Inclusion Europe |
The “Life after Violence“ report is available in:
- regular version in English.
Easy-to-read version in:
- English
- Dutch
- Croatian (produced by Udruza za samozastupanje)
- Italian (produced by Anffas)
- Lithuanian (produced by Viltis)
- Romanian (produced by Ceva de spus)
Methodology on how to talk with women with intellectual disabilities about violence.
Recording of the seminar organised with EDF in November 2020.
Video playlist.
Many women with intellectual disabilities
are abused.
Many of these women are abused
when they live in institutions.
For this project
Inclusion Europe talked to 10 women
who were abused.
They told us about their experiences.
They told us how they dealt with these experiences
when they moved out of the institution.
We did this project
between 2016 and 2018.
We did the project in the Netherlands.
We are now also asking women
in other European countries
about their experiences.
