Canadians with disabilities are about twice as likely to experience violence as their able-bodied peers, with greater instances of victimization taking place at every stage of life, new data from Statistics Canada indicated Thursday. But while 29 in 1,000 women overall reported surviving a sexual assault, the number jumped to 56 per 1,000 for disabled women. Cotter said widespread misconceptions about the sexuality of disabled women contribute to the higher instances of violence they faced. Disabled women were more than twice as likely to report spousal violence than non-disabled women, the report found, noting violence in such cases can involve issues such as restriction of access to mobility aids. “Because it is Canadians with disabilities, and especially women with disabilities, who have been failed by everyone.”

Source: thestar March 15, 2018 23:15 UTC