Out of the shadows: Violence against girls and women with disabilities in Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Campos Pinto, Paula
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/29218
• topic: Gender Violence; Women with Disabilities; Human Rights; Portugal.

To live a life free from abuse and violence is a fundamental human right. Yet for many girls and women with disabilities, this remains a difficult goal to achieve. This paper examines the issue of violence against girls and women with disabilities in Portugal, by addressing three key questions: what forms of violence against girls and women with disabilities are more prevalent? How significant is the issue in Portugal? How to ensure the right of girls and women with disabilities to protection against violence? Drawing from 60 semi-structured interviews with women and men with various types of disabilities, the study reveals a high prevalence of situations of abuse among girls and women with disabilities including psychological, physical, sexual, financial and social violence. Results are discussed in light of human rights principles and suggestions are made to develop a research agenda and continue exploring the topic in the near future.