Women with disabilities have special difficulties and needs, both relative to women without disabilities, and relative to men with disabilities. However, service systems are not sufficiently aware of or responsive to their special needs. Similarly, little professional literature has been devoted to the study of the special needs of this population. The principal goal of this study was to provide information about women with disabilities in Israel, through a secondary analysis of data from studies previously conducted by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, which included an examination of the background and health and functional characteristics of women with disabilities. The study also examined the use of health and social services, unmet needs, and violence again women with disabilities. This report also includes a brief survey of the literature on women with disabilities.
The findings presented in this study were derived from a secondary analysis of two studies: a national survey of the health and welfare of women in Israel (Gross and Brammli-Greenberg, 2000), which provided a basis for the comparison of women with and without disabilities; and a national study, conducted in cooperation with the National Insurance Institute, of recipients of the National Insurance Institute’s disability benefit (Strosberg et al., 2004), which provided a basis for the comparison of women and men who receive this benefit. Among the findings:
? The employment rate of women with disabilities is lower than that of women without disabilities (50%, compared to 70%), and their economic situation is worse (70% have difficulty or a great deal of difficulty meeting basic expenses, compared to 53% of women without disabilities).
? Health services are less accessible to women with disabilities (41% reported encountering difficulty receiving medical treatments, compared to 23% of women without disabilities), and a smaller proportion of women with disabilities visit a gynecologist (65%, compared to 80% of women without disabilities).
? Women with disabilities suffer from violence more often than do women without disabilities (17% versus 9%, respectively).
? The comparison between female and male recipients of the National Insurance Institute’s disability benefit revealed that fewer women than men are employed in sheltered frameworks, and that fewer women than men receive vocational rehabilitation services. Women who are recipients receive more medical, paramedical and support services for activities of daily living than do men. However, a larger proportion of women than men reported having unmet needs in these areas.
Various organizations that promote women with disabilities in Israel are already using the findings of this study to increase awareness of their unique difficulties, and to promote the development of appropriate responses to their special needs.
This study was funded with the assistance of the Unit for Disabilities and Rehabilitation, JDC-Israel.