In Canada, disabled people experience violent victimization at nearly three times the rate of abled people. [1] Disabled women are far more likely to experience all forms of intimate partner violence (IPV), including physical, sexual, emotional, and financial abuse, regardless of disability type. [2–3] Despite this reality, the disabled community is often excluded from gender-based violence (GBV) services, policy and prevention strategies. This exclusion is not accidental, it is an intrinsic part of ableism: a system of oppression that maintains abled people’s power over disabled people.
Ableism upholds white supremacist and colonial definitions of who is and isn’t valued. It is embedded in policies, institutions, and everyday interactions, shaping whose safety is prioritized, whose pain is believed, and whose lives are protected. Sins Invalid tells us, “The same oppressive systems that inflicted violence upon Black and brown communities for 500+ years also inflicted 500+ years of violence on bodies and minds deemed outside the norm and therefore ‘dangerous’.” [4]
Ableism increases the risk of GBV and makes it harder to access safety and support. Disabled people are often desexualized (considered devoid of sexual agency and desire) and denied the right to define our own relationships, bodies, or boundaries. We are subjected to medical abuses such as institutionalization and sterilization. The lack of meaningful representation in media, education, or leadership sends a harmful message that disabled people are not whole, diverse, or valuable members of society.
Structural barriers also limit access to sexual health and GBV supports: discrimination and stigma, physical and digital inaccessibility, communication and language barriers, and culturally unsafe services. Combined with the pay gap and inadequate social supports like the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), many disabled people are forced to remain in violent environments, dependent on caregivers or institutions for survival. When disabled people are abandoned by policy, violence thrives...