Violence against people with disability

Physical violence

In 2021–22, 9.8% of men and 5.8% of women with disability reported experiencing physical violence in the last 2 years.

Sexual violence

In 2021–22, 1 in 25 (4.0%) women with disability reported experiencing sexual violence in the last 2 years.

Feeling unsafe

In 2021–22, 1 in 3 (34%) women with disability who used public transport alone after dark in the last 12 months felt unsafe.

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Introduction

Acts of violence can affect anyone. However, some people, such as people with disability, may be especially vulnerable to experiencing violence. Violence may also result in disability. This section covers recent experiences of violence, abuse and sexual harassment by people with and without disability, and how safe people with and without disability feel at home or in their community.

What is violence, abuse and intimate partner violence?

Violence

Violence can take many forms. Two main types of violence, as defined in the ABS Personal Safety Survey (PSS) (ABS 2023a), are:

  • Sexual – behaviours of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will, such as sexual assault (for example, rape, indecent assault and attempts to force a person into sexual activity) or threat of sexual assault.
  • Physical – incidents involving the use or threat of physical force with the intent to harm or frighten a person, such as physical assault or threat of physical assault.

Violence can be perpetrated by strangers or by someone the person knows, including an intimate partner.

In this section, violence is defined as any incident involving the occurrence, attempt or threat of physical or sexual assault. Sexual assault excludes unwanted sexual touching, which is defined as sexual harassment (ABS 2023a).

Partner violence

In this section, partner violence is defined as sexual and/or physical violence by a cohabiting partner. Cohabiting partner includes current partner who the respondent lives with in a married or de factor relationship, and previous partner who the respondent lived with.

Emotional and economic abuse

Abuse refers to when a person is subjected to certain behaviours or actions aimed at preventing or controlling their behaviour (emotional abuse) or access to economic resources (economic abuse), causing them emotional harm or fear.

These behaviours are intended to manipulate, control, isolate or intimidate the person they are aimed at. They are generally repeated behaviours and include psychological, social, economic and verbal abuse.

In this report, experiences of emotional and economic abuse are limited to those experienced by women from a cohabiting partner.

Recent experiences of violence

Data note

Data in this section are largely sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) 2021–22 Personal Safety Survey (PSS). For more information about the PSS, including the concepts of disability, disability severity, and disability groups used by the PSS, see Data sources.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2021–22 PSS data collection

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated government responses resulted in several postponements and adjustments to the planned PSS data collection. The adjustments included reduction of the survey content and of sample sizes to balance priorities across the survey program. While the reduced sample can still be used to report against the key indicators, some more detailed data are unable to be reported (ABS 2023a).

Changes to information reported in this section

In the previous versions of this report, this section reported mostly on people with disability who had experienced violence since the age of 15. This type of reporting could be useful to understand how many people with disability may require access to support services for past experiences of violence, but should not be interpreted as disability being a risk factor for, or outcome of, experiencing violence (ABS 2021).

The present report uses information from existing ABS publications based on the PSS. This limits the scope and extent of reporting; in particular, reporting on experience of violence in this report covers experiences during the past 2 years (12 months in some cases).

Women aged 18 and over with disability are more likely to have recent experiences of violence, abuse and harassment than women without disability. Of women with disability, an estimated:

  • 5.8% have experienced physical violence in the last 2 years, compared with 4.2% without disability
  • 4.0% have experienced sexual violence in the last 2 years, compared with 2.5%
  • 7.0% have experienced emotional abuse by partner in the last 2 years, compared with 4.6%
  • 4.6% have experienced economic abuse by partner in the last 2 years, compared with 2.4%
  • 14% have experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months, compared with 12% (Figure VIOLENCE.1).

Figure VIOLENCE.1: Women's recent experiences of violence, abuse and sexual harassment, by disability characteristics, 2021–22

The chart shows 33% of women with psychosocial disability have experienced sexual harassment, compared with 7.7% of those with sensory disability.

Notes:

  1. Data are for women aged 18 and over.
  2. Physical violence, sexual violence, partner violence, emotional abuse by partner, and economic abuse by partner are limited to incidents within the last 2 years.
  3. Sexual harassment is limited to incidents within the last 12 months.
  4. Emotional and economic abuse are limited to abuse by a cohabiting partner.
  5. Chart by disability group does not include ‘head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury’, and ‘other’ disability groups due to uncertainty in the data.
  6. Disability status and disability group are determined at the time of the survey. It is not known whether a person had disability at the time of experiencing violence, abuse or sexual harassment.
  7. People may report impairments related to more than one disability group. In such cases, people are counted separately for each disability group but are only counted once in the aggregated total.
  8. Data on the experience of partner violence are not published for women with severe or profound disability.
  9. Data have been rounded and randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data.

Source data tables: Data tables – Violence against people with disability. View data tables

Physical violence

In Australia, it is estimated that men are almost twice as likely as women to have experienced physical violence in the last 2 years:

  • 1 in 10 (9.8%) men aged 18 and over with disability have experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the last 2 years – similar to those without disability (9.0%)
  • 5.8% of women aged 18 and over with disability have experienced physical violence in the last 2 years – this was the case for 4.2% of those without disability (ABS 2023b).

Women with severe or profound disability, those who have schooling or employment restrictions only, and those who have psychosocial disability are more likely to have experienced physical violence in the last 2 years than women with other disability characteristics (ABS 2023b):

  • 14% of women aged 18 and over with schooling or employment restrictions only and 10% of women with severe or profound disability have experienced physical violence in the last 2 years, compared with 4.3% of those with moderate or mild disability and 3.6% of those with no limitations or specific restrictions
  • 15% of women with psychosocial disability have experienced physical violence, compared with 3.0% of those with sensory or speech disability and 5.4% of those with physical disability (ABS 2023b).

One in 25 (3.9%) women aged 18 and over with disability have experienced physical assault and 2.9% have experienced physical threat in the last 2 years (ABS 2023b).

Sexual violence

Women with disability are more likely to have experiences of sexual violence than those without disability. One in 25 (4.0%) women aged 18 and over with disability have experienced sexual violence in the last 2 years. This compares to 1 in 40 (2.5%) women without disability (ABS 2023c).

Women with psychosocial disability are more likely to have experienced sexual violence compared with other disability groups. More than 1 in 10 (12%) women with psychosocial disability have experienced sexual violence in the last 2 years, compared with 2.9% of those with physical disability (ABS 2023c).

Partner violence

Around 1 in 50 (2.2%) women with disability aged 18 and over have experienced violence by a cohabiting partner in the last 2 years, as did 1.5% of women without disability. Women with psychosocial disability are more likely to have experienced this (6.1%) compared with other women with or without disability (ABS 2023d).

Abuse

Emotional abuse by partner

What is emotional abuse?

Emotional abuse refers to when a person is subjected to certain behaviours or actions aimed at preventing or controlling their behaviour, causing them emotional harm or fear.

These behaviours are intended to manipulate, control, isolate or intimidate the person they are aimed at. They are generally repeated behaviours and include psychological, social, economic and verbal abuse.

Examples include:

  • controlling or trying to control a person from contacting family, friends or community
  • constantly insulting a person to make them feel ashamed, belittled or humiliated
  • shouting, yelling or verbally abusing a person to intimidate them
  • lying to a person's children with the intent of turning their children against them
  • threatening to take a person's children away from them (ABS 2023d).

Data presented in this section are limited to emotional abuse from a current or previous cohabiting partner experienced by women aged 18 and over in the last 2 years.

Women with disability are more likely than those without disability to have experienced emotional abuse from a cohabiting partner. In the last 2 years, experiences of emotional abuse by a cohabiting partner were reported by an estimated:

  • 7.0% of women aged 18 and over with disability, compared with 4.6% of women without disability
  • 8.9% of women with severe or profound disability
  • 13% of women with psychosocial disability, compared with 6.5% of those with sensory or speech disability and 6.9% of those with physical disability (ABS 2023d).

Economic abuse by partner

What is economic abuse?

Economic abuse refers to when a person is subjected to certain behaviours or actions aimed at preventing or controlling their access to economic resources, causing them emotional harm or fear.

These behaviours are characterised in nature by their intent to manipulate, control, isolate or intimidate the person they are aimed at, and are generally repeated.

Examples include:

  • controlling or trying to control a person from working or earning money
  • preventing a person from opening or having their own bank account
  • pressuring or forcing a person to sign financial documents
  • damaging, destroying, or stealing a person’s property
  • refusing to pay child support payments when required to (previous partner only) (ABS 2023d).

Data presented in this section are limited to economic abuse from a current or previous cohabiting partner experienced by women aged 18 and over in the last 2 years.

Around 1 in 20 (4.6%) women aged 18 and over with disability have experienced economic abuse by a cohabiting partner in the last 2 years. They are almost twice as likely as women without disability to have experienced this (4.6% compared with 2.4%, respectively). Women with psychosocial disability experience higher rates of economic abuse than other disability groups. More than 1 in 10 (11%) women with psychosocial disability experienced economic abuse by a cohabiting partner compared with around 1 in 20 of those with sensory or speech disability (4.1%) or physical disability (4.4%) (ABS 2023d).

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment refers to behaviours a person finds improper or unwanted, makes them feel uncomfortable, and are offensive due to their sexual nature. It includes:

  • indecent messages, such as electronic messages and posts on social media, and written messages
  • indecent exposure
  • unwanted touching
  • inappropriate comments about body or sex life
  • sharing images/videos of the person that are sexual in nature and without consent
  • exposing the person to images/videos of sexual nature that they do not wish to see (ABS 2023e).

Around 1 in 7 (14%) of women aged 18 and over with disability have experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months. This is slightly higher than for women without disability (of whom 12% experienced sexual harassment). Men are much less likely to have experienced sexual harassment than women, an estimated 3.3% of men with disability and 5.1% without disability experienced this (ABS 2023e).

The proportion of women aged 18 and over with disability who have experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months varies by disability severity and disability group:

  • 25% of women with only schooling or employment restrictions experienced sexual harassment, compared with 19% of those with severe or profound disability, 12% of those with no limitation or specific restriction and 11% of those with moderate or mild disability
  • 33% of women with psychosocial disability experienced sexual harassment, compared with 19% of those with learning and understanding disability, 13% of those with physical disability, and 7.7% of those with sensory or speech disability (ABS 2023e).

Feeling safe

General feelings of safety

Data note

Data in this section are sourced from the 2021 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. For more information about HILDA, including the concepts of disability, disability severity, disability groups, and remoteness categories used by the HILDA Survey, see ‘Data sources’.

Satisfaction with personal safety

Each year, HILDA Survey participants are asked to rate their satisfaction with how safe they feel on a 0–10 scale. Ten represents the highest level of satisfaction and 0 the lowest (DSS and MIAESR 2022). In this analysis, people who indicate a satisfaction level between 6 and 10 are referred to as satisfied with how safe they feel, and those with a satisfaction level between 0 and 5 are referred to as not satisfied.

In 2021, more than 9 in 10 people with and without disability were satisfied with how safe they feel. At the same time, about 1 in 13 (7.8%) people with disability were not satisfied with their safety, compared with 3.3% of those without disability (DSS and MIAESR 2022). Older people with disability (aged 65 and over) were more likely (95%) to be satisfied with their safety than those with disability aged 15–64 (91%); however, both these groups were less likely to be satisfied than people without disability of the same age (99% for those aged 65 and over and 96% for those aged 15–64) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Among people with disability aged 15–64:

  • 8.3% of males and 10% of females were not satisfied with how safe they feel
  • 14% of people with severe or profound disability and 8.7% of people with other disability were not satisfied
  • those living in Major cities were less likely (90%) to be satisfied with their safety than those living in Inner regional areas (93%) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Feeling safe at night

The 2021–22 PSS collected information from men and women aged 18 and over about their feelings of personal safety in the 12 months prior to the survey in the following situations:

  • using and waiting for public transport alone after dark
  • walking alone in the local area after dark
  • when home alone after dark (ABS 2023f).

While men aged 18 and over with disability generally feel safe alone after dark, women with disability are less likely to feel safe compared with women without disability and men with and without disability. In 2021–22:

  • 66% of women aged 18 and over with disability who used public transport alone after dark in the last 12 months felt safe doing so, compared with 81% of women without disability and 91% of men with disability
  • 57% of women with disability who used public transport alone after dark in the last 12 months felt safe while waiting for public transport, compared with 72% of women without disability and 92% of men with disability
  • 77% of women with disability who walked alone in their local area after dark felt safe, compared with 88% of women without disability and 88% of men with disability
  • 89% of women with disability who were home alone after dark felt safe, compared with 94% of women without disability and 98% of men with disability (Figure VIOLENCE.2).

Figure VIOLENCE.2: Proportions of people aged 18 and over who feel safe alone after dark, by sex, situation, and disability status, 2021–22

The chart shows that 77% women with disability felt safe when walking alone at night, as did 57% of those who waited alone for public transport.

Notes:

  1. Restricted to people aged 18 and over who have been in particular situation alone after dark in the last 12 months.
  2. Data have been rounded and randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data.

Source data tables: Data tables – Violence against people with disability. View data tables

Women with disability are more likely to avoid using public transport or walking alone after dark because they feel unsafe than women without disability:

  • 19% of women aged 18 and over with disability who did not use public transport alone after dark in the last 12 months said this was because they feel unsafe to do so, compared with 12% of women without disability
  • 42% of women who did not walk alone in their local area after dark said this was because they feel unsafe, compared with 33% of women without disability (ABS 2023f).

Where can I find out more?

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