We Matter Too! is a project that addresses the needs of disabled young people facing domestic abuse.
The project was funded by the Lloyds Bank Foundation as part of a series of projects looking at domestic violence.
It explored gaps in domestic abuse service provisions and awareness of practitioners working with disabled young people, as identified by SafeLives and Women’s Aid. ACT, in partnership with Anita Franklin at Coventry University, carried out work that specifically addresses the needs of young disabled people.
We Matter Too – Key Findings From the Report
The young people we spoke to said they need:
- To be asked.
- To be treated like they matter.
- To have professionals who check if they have understood.
- For professionals to understand that ‘asking for help is hard; it is scary’.
- For professionals to understand that it is difficult to make sense of what happens – we may not have understood that what we are witnessing and experiencing is abuse.
- For professionals, and especially the police, to understand that we are scared.
- To have people who try to understand our behaviour – we don’t always use words, we don’t always have the words.
- To have help to understand healthy relationships and choices.
You can read an executive summary of the report here.
You can read the full report here.