Janey Griffith

Disability as Diversity
Being a woman in todays society has disadvantages despite all the progress that has been

made towards equality with men. Women with disabilities have to jump through twice as many

social "hoops" as men with disabilities do. They are more likely to be victims of domestic

violence, medical abuse and sexual assault. In the modern workplace, women with disabilities

are three times as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled women. People assume they don't

want children or are less sexual. Society's image of what a woman should look like is unrealistic

yet still pressures women everywhere to want to look a certain way. Disabled women have

struggles with body image, self-efficacy and self-esteem. If a disabled woman has these negative

thoughts and suffers through forms of abuse, she may not reach for her goals or think she is a

worthy part of society. Despite laws and services, these women are oppressed in many aspects of

their life.

Having a disability from birth and acquiring a disability are two very different ways of

life. If a woman is born with a disability, she learns to deal with it as she grows and knows no

other life. These women are more likely to be adjusted to a disability but also more likely to have

suffered emotional struggles from society. If a woman acquires a disability, she may see herself

as not whole or not herself and may have more problems accepting who she is now. One way of

acquiring a disability is through parental neglect. Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder and

Reactive Attachment Disorder are caused by the neglect of physical and emotional needs of a

child (Comer, 168). Children react differently to the neglect and develop one of the two above

disorders. Reactive Attachment is when a child avoids other children, adults and fun activities

(Comer, 168). They will not seek comfort from anyone when frightened. Disinhibited Social
Engagement is when a child is overly social with strangers. They will even make the adult

strangers feel uncomfortable with how much the children are attached to them (Comer, 169).

When they are frightened, they would go to a stranger for protection instead of their own parent.

These disorders are mostly seen in girls whose parents were either abusive or neglectful. These

girls then grow up and are unable to form normal relationships with others. They have trouble

finding or keeping jobs, making friends or any social relationships. These women are outcast and

feel they are alone and cannot rely on anyone.

Finding a job as a disabled woman is not a walk in the park. Depending on the disability,

there may be some jobs that are impossible for a person to do. This does not mean, however, that

a woman with a disability cannot be successful. It, like non-disabled people, depends on their

willingness to get an education and to do the hard work that getting a good career requires. There

are many disabled women that for them, finding a job in todays oppressive society seems

impossible and out of reach. Incapacity pensions, disability benefits, and certain services have

been criticized for promoting passiveness among recipients (Hanga, 34). Of course there will be

people that rely on government services but that is why they are provided. Some women, based

on their circumstance, are unable to find work or to find a job that will sustain them. Even today,

women still make 79 cents on the dollar in the same job as men (Hanga, 42). So people should

not scrutinize women with disabilities would do live off of government services. Everyones

situation is different and for some, being able to work to sustain themselves and contribute to

society is a dream that they cannot make come true. No matter how diligent and hardworking

they are.

When it comes to keeping a job, disabled women are often given false hope. Companies

hire them because they cannot legally discriminate against people with disabilities. people
should be offered services, but these services are fragmented, not available to everyone due to

problems such as long waiting lists, inefficient use of finances, and bureaucracy (Hanga, 35).

They try to find loopholes to not provide the services required of them and find reasons to let

disabled women go or pay them even less. Not that women with disabilities are unable to work

but the work they are most often able to get can be low wage and physically challenging for them

(Hanga, 40). Often the failure to perform duties prescribed by workplace norms has led to a pay

reduction and also resulted in negative self-esteem or stress (Hanga, 41). Because of all the

difficulties women with disabilities have with society pushing them out of their jobs, many find

it easier to just quit and rely on government services. This is not due to a lack of trying or lazy

characteristics. It is because companies do not want to comply with the laws that give equal

opportunity to those looking for employment. They give disabled women jobs so they can check

it off their list of good deeds for the day but make no effort to make the womens job reasonable

or to try to keep them as an employee when they are having trouble. As a result, lots of women

with disabilities are unemployed and discouraged from finding further work.

Life without a job is scary for anyone to go through. In general, men are hired more often

than women and when you add a disability, they are even less likely to be hired. For example, the

unemployment rate for female veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rose to 13.5%, above

the 8.4% for non-veteran adult women (Smith). 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return

home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 17.4% of those veterans with PTSD are women

(Comer, 201). PTSD is extreme levels of arousal with anxiety and depression after a traumatic

event. The symptoms include flashbacks, avoidance of trauma related stimuli, and reduced

responsiveness to the people around them, hyper-alertness, anger, and feelings of guilt. (Comer,

203). A person with PTSD can feel worthless and be irritable, making it harder to find a job.
Women with PTSD have trouble taking care of their children, their significant other and even

themselves. Often times, if a woman with PTSD can get a job and feel a sense of purpose, they

become more open to treatment and getting better (Comer, 204). Having a job is an important

aspect of adult life and having a job as a woman with a disability is important in feeling like an

equal addition to society.

Unfortunately, abuse is common for women with disabilities. They are often unable to

fully defend themselves and so are preyed upon by others. The vulnerability, isolation, and

dependence which disabled women often experience are exacerbated when a paid personal

assistant or caretaker is the perpetrator (Gill, 120). Husbands are often the abusers and use both

physical and emotional abuse to belittle their wives. They do not care for them or see them as

someone to love. They take out their own emotional issues on their wife who depends on them

and who cannot defend herself. Hed insult me with all those names, you spassy and so on,

whod want to marry you, just look at you. Shouting insults, you cripple, all that sort of thing.

Once he threw me on the oor with my dinner and said thats where you eat your dinner, thats

where you belong. Of course I couldnt get up again. (Gill, 124). The woman who said that was

52 and sustained that kind of abuse for years from her husband. Abusers also isolate the women

from anyone else they could report the abuse to or who would care for them without abusing

them. The control of these poor women is absolute and causes emotional and self-esteem issues.

They are told they do not deserve to have any kind of relationship and that no one will ever love

them (Gill, 126). After this kind of abuse, the women will actually start to believe these lies

about themselves, especially if they are cut off from leaving their house or have no other contact

with people who do care about them.

 Women with disabilities not only face abuse from a spouse or caregiver. Parents are also

guilty of abusing or neglecting their disabled children or even causing the disabilities. Neglect

includes inadequate clothing, nutrition or shelter, no protection from harm or danger,

impassiveness towards emotional needs, and poor access to health care (Akehurst, 38). Parental

supervision may usually be very good but may falter for short periods during a family crisis

(Akehurst, 38). Sometimes, the abuse is unintentional but can be just as demoralizing and

hurtful. Parental abuse and neglect is easy to hide, especially if the daughter is young. This kind

of abuse and neglect from a parent, who children expect will always care for them and love

them, leads to mental disorders and later in life can cause substance abuse (Akehurst, 39).

Factitious Disorder by Proxy is a disorder where a parent causes or fakes symptoms on their

child. 75% of the children abused like this are young girls under the age of six (Comer, 195). The

parents claim the children have sleep apnea, feeding issues and diarrhea. The parent is the one

with the disorder and they do this to get the sympathy and attention from medical providers. The

mortality rate of children with parents with this is 30% (Comer, 195). The children that do

survive this abuse often develop Factitious Disorder when they grow up and 77% of the parental

abusers are women (Comer, 195). Another form of abuse on young women with disabilities is

rape. Rape is another cause of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 70% of rapes are committed by

close relatives and 71% of rape victims are under the age of 17 (Comer, 160). Women are twice

as likely to be raped as men and 94% of rape victims develop stress disorders (Comer, 160).

Sexual assault like this from a parent or relative to a disabled woman is incredibly

psychologically damaging. Your family is supposed to love you more than anyone else in your

life, most of all your parents. When that trust is violated, a woman can have extreme trust issues

for the rest of her life.

 Due to societies ever-thinning image of what makes a woman beautiful, eating disorders

are on the rise. The prevalence of eating disorders in the United States is 2-7% with 95% of those

people being women. The onset of disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia is as young as fourteen

(Comer, 312). These eating disorders cause brittle hair and nails, poor liver function, yellowing

of the skin, fine hair growth over the whole body, constipation, lethargy, amenorrhea, low body

temperature, low blood pressure, decreased bone density, and decreased heart rate (Comer, 314).

Women undergo all these horrid symptoms because they have distorted cognitions of what their

body looks like. They feel fat, ugly, and disgusting. They know they have an eating disorder but

feel powerless to stop the binging, purging and restricting of eating. When shown pictures of

themselves that have been altered to look overweight, obese, normal weight, underweight and

extremely skinny, they always choose an overweight picture as what they really look like. They

want to be thinner so they can feel beautiful the way that our society has told them is beautiful.

A major part of being an adult is self-esteem. It allows you to be confident in yourself and

feel worthy of things like love, respect and employment. Women are pressured more than men to

look and act a certain way (Meijas). To a woman with a disability whose body is physically

unable to achieve these ridiculous standards, society is not a friendly place. Long stares from

ignorant people do not go unnoticed and do more damage than people think. Some people are

comfortable if people stare at them. Some even prefer to be stared at. For disabled women with

low self-esteem, this can make them feel as if they are a spectacle, a show for others to gawk and

wonder at (Meijas). A woman with low self-esteem has been put down, laughed at, mocked, and

has endured others cruelties that will alter her life forever. Of course, many things are based off

of perspective. If a woman can use the horrible things that are thrown at her as stepping stones

up to a new future, she can do anything she puts her mind to. Getting through higher education,
having a job, a family and someone that loves her is all in reach for the strong-willed disabled

woman. Self-esteem is essential for women in this society where the ideal woman is

unachievable. If a disable woman is comfortable in her own skin, it will show and be an example

to others about loving all of who you are.

To conclude, there is so much more to being a woman than just her disability. She is an

autonomous adult. She is a person worth meeting and knowing. She is a person with value to her

community. She is a mother, a lover, a sister and a daughter. She is not someone to disregard

because of a physical or mental disability. Studies have shown that women with disabilities are

seen as weak, are not hired as often, are more likely to be ridiculed or abused and are more likely

to suffer from depression due to all of this. Her depression is not a mental status but has occurred

due to the societal effects on her emotions and feelings of self-worth.

Bibliography
Akehurst, Rachel. "Child Neglect: A health visitors role." Community Practitioner (2015): 38-
42. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
Bradbury-Jones, Carolina, Jenna P. Breckenridge, John Devaney, Thilo Kroll, and Anne
Lazenbatt. "Disabled Womens Experiences of Accessing and Utilizing Maternity
Services when they are affected by Domestic Abuse: a Critical Incident Technique
Study." BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2015): 1-11. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.
Bualar, Theeraphong. "Barriers to Employment: Voices of Physically Disabled Rural Women in
Thailand." Community, Work and Family 17.2 (2011): 181-99. Web. 3 Feb. 2016
Chouinard, Vera. "Women with disabilities Experiences of Government Employment Assistance
in Canada." Disability and Rehabilitation 32.2 (2010): 148-58. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.
Comer, Ronald J. Abnormal Psychology. 8th ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2013. 1-345.
Print.
Freeborn, D., and K. Knafl. "Growing up with Cerebral Palsy: Perceptions of the Inuence of
Family." Child: Care, Health and Development (2013): 671-79. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.
Gill, Hague, Ravi Thiara, and Audrey Mullender. "Disabled Women and Domestic Violence:
Making the Links." Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 18.1 (2011): 117-36. Web. 11 Feb.
2016.
Hanga, Karin, Diana M. Di Nitto, and Jean Pierre Wilken. "Promoting employment among
people with disabilities: Challenges and solutions." Social Work and Social Sciences
Review 18.1 (2016): 31-51. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
Mejias, Norma J., and Carol J. Gill. "Influence of a Support Group for Young Women with
Disabilities on Sense of Belonging." Journal of Counseling Psychology 16.2 (2014): 208-
20. Web. 1 Feb. 2016
Smith, Diane L. "The relationship between employment and veteran status, disability and gender
from 20042011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)." Department of
Occupational Therapy 49 (2013): 325-34. Web. 8 Feb. 2016.
Vaughn, Mya, and Quintin Boston. "Predicting Employment Outcomes among Women of Color
with Psychiatric Disabilities." Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation (2010): 27-37. Web. 2
Feb. 2016.