Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) and People With Disability Australia (PWDA) have made a joint submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in response to its call for input on draft guidelines for addressing multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities.
Grounded in trans-inclusive, intersectional feminist framework, the submission centres the lived experiences, rights and leadership of women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities. It calls for stronger global and national action to eliminate compounded forms of discrimination that arise at the intersection of disability, gender, race, culture, age, sexuality, migration status and socio-economic background.
The submission identifies critical reforms needed in law, policy and practice, including:
- Recognising intersectional and systemic discrimination in anti-discrimination law.
- Embedding intersectionality as a core principle in national disability and gender equality frameworks.
- Collecting inclusive, disaggregated data that reflects diverse lived experiences.
- Ensuring accessible, trauma-informed and culturally safe justice and redress mechanisms.
- Resourcing representative organisations led by women and gender-diverse people with disability to lead co-design, monitoring and accountability.
WWDA and PWDA reaffirm that trans-inclusive feminism is integral to disability justice, and that meaningful equality can only be achieved when all women and girls with disabilities – including transgender, intersex, non-binary and gender-diverse people – are visible, valued and heard.
Read the full submission in Word (.docx) or PDF formats.