Violence against women and girls with disabilities is a prevalent, serious and preventable violation of human rights.

Changing the landscape: A national resource to prevent violence against women and girls with disabilities is Our Watch and Women with Disabilities Victoria’s national, evidence-based resource to guide the prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities. 

Changing the landscape complements, expands on and extends the evidence contained in Change the story: A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women in Australia. It does so by:  

• building and deepening the understanding of violence against women and girls with disabilities and its dynamics and impacts 
• offering a conceptual model that explains the underlying and intersecting drivers of this violence 
• providing a set of essential actions that address the underlying drivers of violence against women and girls with disabilities at all levels of society 
• providing supporting actions to address the reinforcing factors of violence against women and girls with disabilities 
• offering principles for prevention that guide the way in which the essential and supporting actions should be implemented. 

This resource names ableism and gender inequality as the two consistent, intersecting drivers of violence against women and girls with disabilities. It sets out the actions that must be taken to address these drivers and stop this violence before it starts. It points to the many stakeholders that need to take action – from individuals to communities, schools and workplaces, to disability and health services, and governments. It makes clear that we all have a role to play in preventing this violence. 

This resource is relevant to anyone involved in policy development or program funding, design, planning or implementation, and those working ‘on the ground’ in numerous fields – including disability-specific and violence-specific roles, as well as other more general contexts.