Housing Justice is Violence Prevention

Housing justice serves as a vital component of violence prevention, as it directly impacts the lives of individuals with disabilities and their ability to thrive. In the United States, the lack of accessible housing poses significant challenges, with less than 1% of housing being wheelchair accessible and only a fraction of that suitable for those with moderate mobility difficulties. These statistics highlight the pressing need to address the housing crisis and ensure equal access for all. In this blog post, we will explore the barriers faced by individuals with disabilities, the financial burden they experience, and the importance of incorporating their voices and needs into housing solutions.

Barriers Faced by Individuals with Disabilities: Approximately 64% of households in the US rely on assistive devices, underscoring the widespread impact of disability on housing requirements. However, the availability of accessible housing remains dismally low, with fewer than 5% of residences deemed livable for individuals with moderate mobility difficulties. This lack of accessibility perpetuates exclusion and denies individuals with disabilities the fundamental right to housing.

Financial Burden on Renters with Disabilities: A staggering reality is revealed in the financial strain faced by individuals with disabilities. In 2018 alone, over 4 million renters with disabilities spent more than half of their monthly income on rent, mortgage, and utilities. This excessive cost burden not only limits their ability to meet other essential needs but also exacerbates the cycle of poverty and inequality. It is crucial to recognize that individuals with disabilities are more likely to be extremely low-income renters, further exacerbating their housing challenges.

Discrimination and Marginalization: Discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists, contributing to their housing insecurity. They face higher rates of discrimination, limiting their choices and opportunities. To address survivor homelessness and housing insecurity effectively, it is essential to prioritize the voices and specific needs of survivors who are most impacted, including Black immigrant, LGBTQ+, and individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, these needs often remain an afterthought in conversations surrounding actionable solutions.

Resources for Inclusion and Change: To delve deeper into the subject, we recommend accessing the following resources:

“Housing, Disability Justice, and Sexual Violence Prevention” by Natalie Sokol-Snyder: This 4-part blog series provides valuable insights into the foundations of disability justice, reasonable accommodation mandates, independent living supports, and prevention strategies. It offers a comprehensive perspective on the intersection between housing, disability justice, and violence prevention.

“The Importance of Home Healthcare” on the Hub: Engage in a thought-provoking conversation with Jody Michele Courtney, Danielle Pitmon, and Diane Pitmon, who shed light on the significance of home healthcare in supporting individuals with disabilities and promoting accessible housing.

“Learning from Lived Experiences: Policy Solutions from Culturally Specific Communities to Increase Survivor Access to and Retention of Safe Housing” – National Resource Center on Domestic Violence: This report focuses on policy solutions to enhance survivor access to safe housing. It emphasizes the critical need to include the perspectives and needs of marginalized communities in creating effective solutions.

Pursuing Housing Justice: Interventions for Impact: this This guide profiles a series of policy and programmatic interventions that advance housing justice, as defined in Building a Housing Justice Framework: “Ensuring everyone has affordable housing that promotes health, well-being, and upward mobility by confronting historical and ongoing harms and disparities caused by structural racism and other systems of oppression.”

The journey toward housing justice and violence prevention begins with recognizing the pressing need for accessible housing for individuals with disabilities. It is essential to break down the barriers that perpetuate inequality and discrimination, ensuring that housing solutions prioritize the needs of survivors most impacted. By embracing inclusivity, advocating for policy change, and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities, we can forge a path forward toward a more just and accessible future for all.

By Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams
Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Indiana Disability Justice

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SAAM Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2023

Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2023. Order your resource kit today at https://bit.ly/DJSAAM23

It is sexual assault awareness month, so let’s talk about prevention! We have curated various tools and resources from the Hub and our partners for you to use to shape your prevention strategies with people with disabilities in your local community, and with current, or future stakeholders. 

Our intention is that this resource kit makes it easier for preventionists and advocates to design accessible violence prevention strategies to create structural and environmental impact led by people with disabilities. We invite you to dive in and enjoy this prevention resource kit brought to you by Indiana Disability Justice (IDJ). Get your resource kit now!

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Disability Justice and Violence Prevention Spotlight: Catherine Titzer

Disability Justice and Violence Prevention Spotlight: Catherine Titzer

Image description: I am Asian (Filipino) and Caucasian. I have dark brown hair and brown skin. In the image, I am wearing a tied shirt with a geometric, black, green, orange, and blue pattern with a black tank top, white shorts, and silver jewelry. I am standing at a beach in California with the ocean in the background.

Although I am not a person with a disability, I have become interested in advocating for victims of abuse who are. After completing a series of research projects over sexual assault legislation in the United States my freshman and sophomore year, I became aware of the higher rates at which individuals with disabilities experience assault. This pushed me to pursue studying this area, so for my International Baccalaureate Extended Essay, a 21-page research essay on a topic of my choice, I researched how bias and stereotypes concerning individuals with disabilities affect the rates of sexual assault they experience. Through this, I was able to meet Dr. Nora Baladerian, who has helped me better understand the need to educate both teachers and guardians of individuals with disabilities on how to deal with sexual assault. As a senior in high school, I have not had the opportunity to publish formal research; however, this is something I hope to do in the future. In addition to writing this research paper, I have also began other initiatives to bring attention to sexual assault and violence in my community. I am a co-founder and host of a podcast, “A Pinch of Prevention,” where we discuss domestic violence and other women’ issues with professionals and those knowledge in the field. I also organize events, write blogs for, and am a member of the Prevention Youth Council in Evansville, Indiana, a youth-led organization that advocates for healthy interpersonal relationships among teens and in the wider community. I have co-founded a committee at my high school whose mission is to ensure that our campus is safe and comfortable for victims of assault; we arrange fundraisers and spirit weeks and get feedback from students on how our school can work to reduce sexual harassment. 

What do you do for fun?

In addition to my passion for advocacy work, I also adore dance and have trained in classical ballet for almost my whole life. I have performed in numerous productions with Evansville Ballet and am honored to be dancing the role of Dewdrop Fairy in this year’s production of the Nutcracker! (https://www.evansvilleballet.co)

What does disability justice mean to you as you practice primary prevention?

To me, disability justice means continually educating myself and those around me about the network of laws, stereotypes, and other frameworks that discriminate against and oppress individuals with disabilities. Disability justice revolves around inclusion and ensuring that every person has a voice and is heard. 

Does anything about primary prevention need to change to bring disability justice to the world? 

Dr. Nora Baladerian’s approach to preparing for an assault through having parents, caretakers, and individuals with disabilities take clear steps to acknowledge and understanding how to deal with sexual abuse has impacted my prevention work. I believe her strategies should be widely implemented. 

What are some resources that you have created or that you just love that you want to share (articles, toolkits, etc.)? 

I would love to share my research on how bias and stereotypes impact the rates of sexual assault that individuals with disabilities experience. Also, although these resources are not directly towards individuals with disabilities specifically, I would love to share links to my podcast and the Prevention Youth Council’s blog, where teens in my community share their ideas about domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other issues they are passionate about. Listening to “A Pinch of Prevention” at https://open.spotify.com/show/5IMgsfoB6ZuOrQg2vyOTnj?si=VV5NSugKQx-1nSXUhUX5hw and reading blogs at https://preventionyouthcouncil.wordpress.com uplifts the voices of young adults in my community!

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Disability Justice and Violence Prevention Spotlight: Shelby Wade

Shelby Wade
Shelby Wade (she/her) is facing the camera and smiling and she is standing in front of a rock wall. Shelby is a white woman with long red hair and she is wearing a dark top with white designs.

What do you like to do for fun? Hobbies?

Play with my dog Clyde, play cards with my Husband, watch documentaries, and explore the Olympic National Forest which is right in my back yard!

 

What does disability justice mean to you as you practice primary prevention?

From my experience, this comes down to two things: Inclusive services and education, and dispelling myths about the autonomy and sexuality of people with disabilities.

What are some resources that you have created or that you just love that you want to share (articles, toolkits, etc.)?

Do you have a favorite prevention activity or strategy you use to achieve disability justice?

  • Education both within the community and to their counterparts. Because violence, especially gender violence, is a matter of control, ableism adds a further layer to our prevention efforts. If we do not make dismantling ableism, and other constructs of power, a core tenant of violence prevention education, we will not do justice for this community. In addition, providing comprehensive sex education to people with disabilities that incorporates components of self-advocacy and what constitutes abuse, is critically important.
  • I would also love to share a unique work group that operates as a recovery practice for all survivors of violence, but is especially empowering for survivors who are disabled. As a way to practice reclaiming control, consent, and respect, survivors work with service dogs; giving commands and watching the animals respond to their request produces a chance for survivors to reclaim their autonomy in a therapeutic environment.

Does anything about primary prevention need to change to bring disability justice to the world?

Many community-placed organizations fall into the trap of what Vu Le has called trickle-down-community-engagement. Vu Le describes this as organizations who (1) offer services because they can, not because they were asked for or needed, (2) educate and advertise their services but find that sectors of their community still choose not to engage, and (3) either do not measure their impact, or when they do, find little to no successful impact. To put it simply, “you can’t just give three drops of water to your rainbow carrots, wonder why they are not growing, and then complain about the lack of color in your salad” (Vu Le).

Earlier, I emphasized the description of these organizations as community-placed. This categorization comes from one of my professors at Harvard, Harry Harding, who discussed the difference between organizations as described above, who are simply placed in a community, versus organizations and services that are based in a community. Community-based organizations are informed by their community, intentional about services, and inclusive both within the organization and in how they discuss the issue and engage with their community. In order for sexual violence prevention to be effective within the disabled community, we must recognize that people with disabilities can make their own decisions and that they are not sexless.

Harmful myths often close the door to working with the community to educate about consent, self-advocacy, and safe sex. An example of this is demonstrated in a South Carolina middle school who invited my prior organization (shortly before I worked there) to come and give sexual violence prevention talks to their students. They had the prevention educator teach the same presentation to one grade at a time, one period after the next, the whole day. However, this disrupted the students in special education as it conflicted with their schedule. So instead of finding a different option, or tailoring the presentation to be inclusive of the learning styles of ALL students, the school had the special education class sit in on every single talk, the entire day. Not only did the school send the message to the special education students, and the rest of the school, that they were an after-thought, but they did not give the prevention educator the information and tools needed to provide a presentation that worked with all student’s needs. This event, reported to me by my organization when I came on board, made it evident how primary prevention efforts were missing the mark in serving the disabled community.

Where you practice primary prevention & disability Justice (location, organization, which levels of the SEM, typically):

I worked in primary prevention of sexual violence for three years as the Prevention and Education Coordinator for an adult crisis center in Charleston, SC. I also served for two years as the Chair of a three-county wide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) in the low-country of South Carolina. Currently, I work for the Medical University of South Carolina’s National Crime Victim Center which is housed in their Department of Psychiatry. In my role as the Program Coordinator, I work on Project BEST, a state-wide collaborative effort to use innovative community-based dissemination, training, and implementation methods to dramatically increase the capacity of every community in South Carolina to deliver evidence-supported mental health treatments (ESTs) to every abused and traumatized child who needs them. In addition, I work in a similar capacity under a grant for the National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center’s Training and Technical Assistance division. My violence prevention and advocacy work has continued both within this work and outside it as I independently pursue research on community-based primary prevention, response, and resilience.

Are you available for consulting?

Yes! Working with diverse populations eager to learn about and collaborate on program improvement and community engagement is my passion. My area of concentration focuses on violence prevention, particularly sexual violence, and how we can create intentional, equitable, and sustainable community prevention and response strategies and services.

How can people reach you?

sctwade@gmail.com or LinkedIn, Shelby Wade. Email is preferred.

Shelby’s biography:

Shelby first worked with people with disabilities in high school as a peer support for Integrated Learning Students with a range of disabilities from various cancers; autism spectrum disorders; blind, deaf, and hard of hearing; and many others. These students helped spark her interest in working with the community. Following high school, she worked with cognitively impaired students at supplemental education centers before becoming a behavior technician at an autism services organization. During college, earning a bachelors in sociology from Sonoma State in CA, Shelby became the lead behavior technician, the community group lead, and the trainer of all new employees on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for her organization. She won awards for passion and for Interventionist of The Year. While she enjoyed the work, Shelby wanted to move on to spaces that allowed her to empower people with disabilities from a violence prevention standpoint, something she connected with through personal experiences. After moving across the country, Shelby began working at a local rape crisis center in South Carolina. There she learned where prevention work was failing the disabled community and where disability justice organizations needed support in violence prevention. During this time, she served as the chair of a three-county-wide sexual assault response team (SART) and went back to school to get her graduate certificate in Nonprofit Management from Harvard.

Shelby currently works for the National Crime Victims Center on two grants, one with Project BEST which seeks to provide evidence-based treatments to children and their families across South Carolina, and another under the National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center where she is helping communities prepare for, respond to, and build resiliency after a mass violence event. Shelby’s passion for this work continues in her free time as she continues to research prevention efforts, write papers, teach, and provide consultation. Currently, Shelby is focused on neurobiology of trauma; inclusion as it relates to community engagement in violence prevention; program improvement in sexual violence organizations; and non-acute comprehensive medical advocacy for survivors of sexual violence.

A bit about her personally… Shelby is the wife of 8 years to her amazing partner, Jacob, who is an active duty member of the US Coast Guard. She is a dog mom to a 3-year-old, rescued, blue heeler mix named Clyde who is the best good boy there is. Shelby lives in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys going on hikes, listening to records, watching documentaries, and taking bubble baths!

Shelby Wade is the author of her interview. Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams is the interviewer and posted this to IDJ.