Reflecting on Responses to Women With Disabilities’ Experiences of Gender-Based Violence in South Africa

South Africa is renowned for its most progressive constitution. One that upholds the rights and protection of all its citizens, yet the country is one of the most violent communities for women to live in, and more so if they have a disability. Gender-based violence is a concern, and women in South Africa live in perpetual fear of attack. Gender-based violence advocacy on a global and national scale rarely includes women with disabilities, yet higher numbers of women with disabilities are affected by violence than women and girls without. In this article, I draw on work done with women with disabilities in some South African communities to reflect on how the experiences of women with disabilities who have experienced gender-based violence are made invisible. This reflection problematises this “invisibilisation”, arguing that leaving women with disabilities out of work on gender-based violence, threatens efforts to respond to their experiences of violence.