Disability, because we need more open data

Another type of problematic narrative, according to Riflesso, is the spectacularization: “Mostly in sport – explains the activist- athletes with disabilities are described as superheroes, but even this type of narrative stigmatizes all those who are not as performative“. Activism for the representation of disabled people also intersects with many other battles, including that for the rights of lgbtqia + community. Through some surveys, for one of its projects, Riflesso has created a mapping of the accessibility of Pride: “Sand one does not think in an accessible way, one excludes those who are already marginalized from the outset“.

Gender-based violence and disability

Gender also affects. “The women with disabilities have fewer opportunities precisely because being women and having a disability still today means being subjected to one discrimination multiple – denounces Simona Lancioni, sociologist and manager of the center Inform an H. -. There is no probabilistic data documenting the major disadvantages of these women. There is no habit of collecting data according to gender, which seems to become irrelevant ”.

Not only the data concerning gender, but also those on violence and disability: “The latest probabilistic data we have on gender violence with reference to women with disabilities are those published byIstat in 2014 – continues Lancioni -. Give us the data is the awareness campaign with which we asked for the data to be disaggregated by gender and disability in the three-year surveys, and with which we asked to carry out surveys of theaccessibility of anti-violence shelters: must also take into account women with disabilities. In fact, we often receive reports of architectural barriers in anti-violence centers. A deaf woman, for example, cannot communicate in the centers if there is no operator who knows her language- indicates Orange.

Since April, the proposed law on statistics on gender violence was definitively approved, and thanks to the agenda of Mrs Lisa Noja, the data will also be disrupted due to disability: “If we don’t have data we can’t fight the phenomenon of violence“, continues Lancioni -. S.and the collection is performed by a research institute, the data can be extended to the entire population, with the mechanism being used for election polls. This is the only way to describe the phenomenon “.

In addition to describing the magnitude of the phenomenon, the collection of data and their disruption by disability are fundamental elements for the organization of the reception of victims of violence and also to create the basis for interventions of prevention: “In proportion to the number of victims in a given region, it is possible to estimate how many centers serve in that area, or how many subjects trained for this type of user serve, and it is possible to estimate the number of services that can be activated if necessary: ​​if not provide these data, programming is not possible. Having data means having an objective element to go to schools and talk about prevention. This is the only way to create a culture which, in turn, creates awareness in women themselves. One of the investigations of the Vera 2020 report showed how to the direct question ‘Have you ever experienced violence?’, 36% of women (a non-probabilistic sample) answered yes. Only when the questions in the questionnaire began to be more specific about the forms of violence, almost double replied that they had suffered them“.