Intimate Partner Violence Against Women with Disabilities: a Social Workers’ Perspective

Abstract

The exposure of the phenomenon of intimate partner violence against
women with disabilities from the perspective of social workers has
allowed us to gain insight into the causes, expression and consequences
of this phenomenon for women with disabilities. The research was based
on the feminist theory of disability and intersectionality. Feminist theory
highlights gender inequalities in the context of intimate partner violence;
feminist disability theory complements this approach by including disability
as an important category of experience, and intersectionality theory
helps to reveal the impact of the interaction of discriminatory identities
on the experience of intimate partner violence. Social workers’ attitudes
and perspectives on social work practice with women with disabilities who
have experienced intimate partner violence are revealed using a qualitative
research approach. Semi-structured interviews were chosen to collect data
for the study. The data obtained is analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Six (6) social workers whose social work practice included cases of intimate
partner violence against women with disabilities participated in the
qualitative study. The data revealed that intimate partner violence against
women with disabilities is a highly complex phenomenon, characterised
by unique risk factors, complexity of recognition and complexity. Feminist
theory, feminist disability theory and interactional theory highlight different
aspects of disabled women’s experiences of intimate partner violence.
Feminist theory highlights the economic and physical dependence of women with disabilities on their partners. Feminist disability theory draws attention to the interaction of gender and disability in experiences of intimate partner violence, highlighting the dependence of women with disabilities on their partner, on the home environment and on their limited social environment. The interactional approach reveals that gender, disability, unemployment and young age, all contribute to the negative effects of intimate partner violence.