WWDACT is seeking to provide through this submission a summary of the research and anecdotal evidence we have gathered from the ACT community to provide perspective on the major issues occurring within Group Homes. We do not name people or organisations, and our evidence is focused on systemic issues. We are particularly concerned about the deprivation of human rights endemic to the group home model, which maintains institutionalised violence against women, girls,
non-binary and feminine identifying people with disabilities. Data collection on violence against women* with disabilities is limited, despite the known prevalence of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation against them.
The most recent United Nations Outcomes Report on Australia’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities indicated that the Committee was “concerned about: a) The fact that the specialist disability accommodation (SDA) framework facilitates and encourages the establishment of residential institutions and will result in persons with disabilities having to live in particular living arrangements to access NDIS supports;” and recommends that “that [Australia] … Develop a national framework for the closure of all disability-specific residential institutions”. This
feedback alone makes it clear that Group Homes violate Australia’s human rights obligations.
The term Group Home, is in itself a misnomer. A ‘home’ is a place where a woman* lives, with which she identifies and where she feels a sense of belonging. This is not the environment created in many group living configurations. A Group House refers, instead, to the bricks and mortar, to the building in which the woman* lives. This absence of a feeling that she is part of a ‘family’ is reflected in the fact that most domestic and family violence legislation does not regard the group home as a family
or domestic setting. For many women* with disabilities the institutional feel of their
accommodations is such that the term Group House is used.
You can read our full submission below.