SpeechesLaunch of Resources addressing priority issues for women with disabilities UniMelb, VWDN, DVRCV, WHV Melbourne Convention Centre
11/09/2008
by Dr Helen Szoke
Chief Executive
Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission
I wish to begin by paying my respect to the traditional owners of the land, the people of the Kulin Nations, and to elders past and present.
I feel somewhat humbled by this invitation to launch these resources, particularly as I stand before this audience of people who have been so intricately involved in the development of the resources, and in hearing about the collegiality, cooperation and confidence that those who have worked directly on the project has brought to its genesis.
Having had the opportunity to write a foreword to the report which is part of this launch, ‘Building the Evidence’, I think there are two words that describe my response to the work that has been done to date.
The first is haunting, as the research documents the experience of a group of women in our community that have already been disadvantaged, and whose rights have been compromised so significantly by virtue of their disability, without also facing the challenges of violence by carers or family, the people in whom they place their trust and reliance.
The second is chilling, in that it has taken so long for these breaches of basic human rights to be recognised and acknowledged, and the perpetuation of this violence has in effect been invisible to the community and not seen as a responsibility for us all to acknowledge. It has taken us a long time to get to this stage of understanding what is going on and what to do about it.
What has been impressive from my perspective is that the organisations that have been part of the development of these resources understood the importance of framing the original research and the subsequent resources within a human rights framework. We as a community are very underdeveloped in terms of understanding human rights issues and how we should advocate for change within a human rights framework and how we should be framing information, law making, and policy advice and service delivery within a human rights framework.
This is notwithstanding the fact that
In
This year we have had a review of the Equal Opportunity Act, and the need for this review, which was done in part to ensure compatibility of the equality provisions in the Charter of Human Rights, is really exemplified in the research report about violence against women with disabilities.
There are a couple of features of the current equal opportunity laws that should be challenged. The first is that there remains a significant burden on an individual or a group to bring a complaint to demonstrate discrimination, and often the discrimination may be deeply embedded in institutional practices. This report, and the subsequent resources, highlight that there are often failures of systems and institutions to respond to the needs of women with disabilities experiencing violence, and therefore we need a systemic mechanism or response to deal with that!
The second feature is that discrimination laws require a comparator – I have been treated less favourably than another person. If we get the comparator wrong, then it is hard to demonstrate that discrimination has occurred! I was most struck in the research report, by what on the face of it is an obvious statement – what constitutes violence for a woman with a disability may be different to violence against other women. Passive measures such as non-intervention, not providing services, not talking or engaging, not allowing communication, are all forms of violence for a woman who is dependent on a carer or family member for their active engagement and involvement.
The third feature is the onus on a complainant to demonstrate that they have been discriminated against rather than a respondent demonstrating what they have done to avoid discrimination.
The Commission in its submission to the Review of the Equal Opportunity Act has called for responsibility to be on organisations and institutions to proactively identify ways to achieve equality rather than just ensuring that they are compliant with anti discrimination measures. This is the way that we will achieve equality for all Victorians. This is a big change from how we currently view equality.
I am reminded of words of wisdom from Justice Michael Kirby who will ultimately go down in history as one of the greatest high court judges and human rights activists that Australian has ever had:
Of course such charters (laws) are no guarantee against wrongdoing, cover-up and official mistakes. But they are an institutional protection for what are partly institutional problems. At the least, they shore up the values that set society/’s standards which need to be given weight ….’[1]
The work that has been to develop this research, to frame the challenges faced by women as breaches of rights and to frame information about services and supports within that context is commendable and we should all use the legal mechanisms available to us to ‘shore up values’ and ‘set society’s standards’ in the way that Justice Kirby has identified.
I congratulate all of you who have been involved with this project and the final development of the resources.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the women who courageously told their stories to the research which ultimately resulted in these resources being produced should be acknowledged and thanked. It is their stories that are so necessary to tell, because as the report highlights, so often the existing support structures have been ill-equipped to properly recognise and understand these women’s experiences, let alone support their journey towards healing.
Thank you.
