Improving health and wellbeing outcomes for women and gender diverse people with disabilities

The issue

Nearly one in every five Victorian women and girls has a disability (ABS 2011). Yet women, girls and gender diverse people face a health system that is often dismissive, discriminatory and inaccessible. Women and gender diverse people with disabilities (WDV 2019; Our Watch and WDV 2022):

• experience disadvantage across all areas of their lives, including social exclusion, economic insecurity and discrimination

• have reduced access to health information, screening, prevention and care

• are often sidelined from decisions about their health and care, or have their health concerns minimised or ignored

• are left out of health promotion and education programs such as sexual and reproductive health, and antenatal and postnatal care

• experience gendered violence that is more frequent, occurs over a longer period of time, across a wider range of settings and perpetrated by a greater range of people than women and girls without disabilities.

Our work

Women and gender diverse people with disabilities hold valuable expertise when it comes to health, justice and economic barriers. Our sector works to elevate the voices and follow the lead of women and gender diverse people with disabilities in addressing the systemic barriers they face in achieving optimal health and wellbeing.

Women with Disabilities Victoria is led by – and for – women and gender diverse people with disabilities, with three decades’ experience amplifying lived experience and expertise to create a fairer system. They provide evidence, resources and support so that our other services can deliver disability-inclusive women’s health and wellbeing initiatives across the state.

• We undertake research, evidence building and analysis to understand the current and emerging health needs, barriers and solutions to improve the health of women, girls and gender diverse people with disabilities.

• We deliver all-ability access to health information, education and programs to women, girls and gender diverse people with disabilities across the state.

• We develop health system capacity to deliver inclusive and intersectional services and programs so that more Victorians have access to safe, respectful services.

• We build health system capacity to deliver gender and disability inclusive services and programs so that more Victorians have access to safe, respectful services.

Case studies

The case studies in this section utilise either people-first (people with disabilities) or identity-first (Disabled people) language, depending on the language used by the project in focus.