Disability

The DisAbled Women's Network is a feminist not-for-profit organization initiated in 1985 whose purpose has been to bring attention to the range of issues including physical accessibility, facing women with disabilities.

This section contains material on activism related to and by disabled women. Within the broader disability rights movement that emerged in the 1970s, women with disabilities organized around issues that were distinct from those of men with disabilities, while also forging a space for themselves and challenging ableism within the feminist movement.

More about Disability

Key themes include:

  • Challenging the institutionalization of women with physical and intellectual disabilities
  • Legal advocacy surrounding disabled women’s rights and equality
  • Campaigns to educate and change attitudes about women with disabilities with respect to issues such as employment, education, healthcare, relationships, sexuality, violence, and parenting
  • Calling out ableism within the feminist movement and making the feminist movement more accessible to all

Archival Materials

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The DisAbled Women's Network is a feminist not-for-profit organization initiated in 1985 whose purpose has been to bring attention to the range of issues including physical accessibility, facing women with disabilities.
DAWN DisAbled Women’s Network

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English

Documents

thumbnail of Beating the Odds: Violence against Women with Disabilities
Beating the Odds: Violence against Women with Disabilities

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Author(s):

    Jillian Ridington

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Courage Above All: Sexual Assault Against Women With Disabilities

  • Year created:

    1991

  • Author(s):

    Liz Stimpson, Margaret C. Best

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of DAWN Ontario Information Pamphlet
DAWN Ontario Information Pamphlet

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
DAWN Open Letter to Women’s Movements – 1986

  • Year created:

    1986

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of DAWN Toronto Information Pamphlet
DAWN Toronto Information Pamphlet

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of DAWN TORONTO PAPER ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES
DAWN Toronto: Violence Against Women With Disabilities

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of DAWN-violenceagainstwomenfacts
DAWN Toronto: Violence Against Women with Disabilities Fact Sheet

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of Violent Acts Against Disabled Women
DAWN Toronto: Violent Acts Against Disabled Women

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Author(s):

    Joanne Doucette

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of DAWN: Health and Disabled Women Project
DAWN: Health and Disabled Women Project

  • Year created:

    --

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of Different Therefore Unequal: Employment and Women with Disabilities
Different Therefore Unequal: Employment and Women with Disabilities

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Toronto (1994)

  • Year created:

    1994

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Disabled? Sexually Assaulted? Need Help?

  • Year created:

    1981

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of National Organizing Meeting of the Disabled Women’s Network
National Organizing Meeting of the Disabled Women’s Network

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of Open Letter from DAWN about accessibility issues
Open Letter from DAWN about accessibility issues

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of Open Letter from DAWN Lesbian Caucus
Open Letter from DAWN Lesbian Caucus

  • Year created:

    1986

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of Open Letter to Disabled Consumer Movement
Open Letter to Disabled Consumer Movement

  • Year created:

    1986

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of The Only Parent in the Neighbourhood: Mothering and Women with Disabilities
The Only Parent in the Neighbourhood: Mothering and Women with Disabilities

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Author(s):

    Jillian Ridington

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Toronto Premiere of “Toward Intimacy”

  • Year created:

    1993

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Who Do We Think We Are? Self-Image & Women With Disabilities

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Author(s):

    Jillian Ridington

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Women and Poverty Revisited

  • Year created:

    1990

  • Author(s):

    Louise Dulude

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Women with Disabilities and Health (1994)

  • Year created:

    1994

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Women with Disabilities and Parenting (1994)

  • Year created:

    1994

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Women with Disabilities and Reproductive Rights

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Women with Disabilities: Physical and Sexual Assault (1994)

  • Year created:

    1994

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Women’s News/Bulletin Femmes (Ottawa) – May 1987

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English

Films

Film still from 'I'll Find a Way" of Nadia smiling at the camera with white sheer curtains behind her.
I’ll Find a Way

  • Year created:

    1977

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Beverly Shaffer

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
Still from the film "Toward Intimacy" featuring Amethya Weaver, one of the film's subjects, talking about her deaf and lesbian identity. She is a white woman with short brown hair wearing a purple shirt and earrings.
Toward Intimacy

  • Year created:

    1992

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Debbie McGee

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

Periodicals

The Dawning

The Dawning Newsletter – August 1991

  • Year created:

    1991

  • Author(s):

    Fran Odette, Liz Stimpson, Yvette, Pat Israel

  • Language:

    English

The Women's Health Rag

The Women’s Health Rag – Vol. 1, No. 2 – June 1992

  • Year created:

    1992

  • Publisher:

    Vancouver Women's Health Collective

  • Author(s):

    Kate McCandless, Ingrid Deringer, Alexa Berton, Valda Dohlen, Winnie Kwok

  • Language:

    English

Thriving

thumbnail of Thriving – Vol. 1, No. 1 – Fall 1988
Thriving – Vol. 1, No. 1 – Fall 1988

  • Year created:

    1988

  • Publisher:

    DisAbled Women's Network Canada

  • Author(s):

    Shirley Masuda, Joan Meister, Kristina Foulds, Maria Barile, Linda Evans, Jillian Ridington and Shirley Masuda, Jillian Ridington, Pat Israel, Cynthea Thopham, Miriam Ticoll

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English