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Women with Learning Disabilities: Equal & Healthy Lives
Women with learning disabilities
Introduction
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Clare from Zero Tolerance went to the SCLD Equal and Healthy Lives Event in Glasgow. There were more than 60 women with learning disabilities there. There were also women from organisations that work for or with women. The day was a chance for all these different women to talk to each other. Clare went to listen to the women with learning disabilities. Zero Tolerance wants to learn more about how to prevent violence against women with disabilities. Clare learned a lot at the event. |
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Some of the most important things Clare learned are written like this! |
The first part of the day was about Healthy Relationships.
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Lisa from Police Scotland spoke first about the different types of abuse that happen to women. Lisa talked about how partners abuse woman. This can include physical abuse like hitting or punching It can be sexual abuse or rape. Rape is forcing someone to have sex when she does not want to. Abuse can also be mental or emotional abuse like name-calling. |
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Women with disabilities are TWICE as likely to experience abuse. |
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Lisa explained how women could report abuse to the police. |
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If you are scared and need help right away call 999. If a woman reports abuse, the police will always speak to her face to face without her partner. |
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Next Bianca Wood from People First gave a really great talk about healthy relationships. Bianca said some very important things such as: |
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Healthy relationships should make us feel good about ourselves. It is a never a woman's fault if we're treated badly. |
Next we talked about Health and Wellbeing.
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Isla, a nurse, gave a talk about women’s health. Isla explained many important things such as: |
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Woman have the right to ask for a female doctor or worker. Health workers should regularly ask you if anyone is hurting you. |
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Fiona gave a Wellbeing Session. It was very relaxing. |
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Then everyone had a nice lunch together. |
The last part of the day was called "Have your say".
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We started with belly dancing! Clare joined in the belly dancing. It was really good to have some fun between talking about so many serious issues. |
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Women with learning disabilities want to go out and have fun too. They want chances to meet new people. They may want to have sex with their partners. But sometimes other people don't let them. |
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Then everyone got in small groups to talk about important questions. Clare's group talked about their experiences with sex and relationships. We need to listen to women with learning disabilities about what they need! Some things they might need are:
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Changing public attitudes is one of the biggest things that could make women with learning disabilities safer and happier. |
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At the end of the day, four women sat in the front of the room. They were:
It was a very good discussion. |
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Clare answered a question about the way that newspapers talk about women with learning disabilities. It is important that newspapers use respectful language. |
Conclusion
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It was a really busy and valuable day. It was good for Clare to learn more about the unique experiences of women with learning disabilities. Clare has shared the things she learned with the other workers at Zero Tolerance. It is very important to everyone at Zero Tolerance that every woman in Scotland has a chance for an Equal and Healthy Life. |
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To read more about the day and the other SCLD Learning Disability Week events, click here. |
| THANK YOU!!!! |
Big Thanks to SCLD for organising this important day! |
*All images in this blog are from the graphic facilitation at the Equal and Healthy Lives Event.
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