Flipping the Story on Disability and Violence
People with Intellectual Disability and Allies Leading the Change
Patsie Frawley author Nancy Fitzsimons author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:6th Oct '25
£39.99
This title is due to be published on 6th October, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Internationally there is a growing awareness that domestic, family, and sexual violence is a social issue that results from social structures and relational contexts that have positioned women as ‘less than’ men. Alongside this growing awareness has come social action by women and their allies that aim to change these social and relational structures using an intersectional framing of oppression.
People with disabilities, especially people with intellectual disability, have been largely excluded from this social action. However, for decades they have been challenging the oppressive social and relational structures that frame them as ‘of less value’ than ‘non-disabled’ people. Aligned with this self-advocacy are social ecological models that look systemically to understand why interpersonal violence occurs, and to prevent violence. This book introduces a unique ‘flipped’ social ecological model and applies it to approaches from across the world that are working from the societal, community, relationship and individual levels to challenge the ‘vulnerable victim’ discourse through positioning people with intellectual and other disabilities as social change agents shaping their safer lives.
Divided into six chapters and providing case-examples from Australia, the United States, New Zealand, the UK, Norway, Sweden and the Global South, this book profiles work done by people with intellectual disability and their allies in the government and community-based anti-violence service sector, women’s and sexual health and disability advocacy that is contributing to the social effort to prevent interpersonal violence.
It is a must-read resource for anyone doing interpersonal violence prevention research and work and can be used as primary or supplemental reading for students doing coursework and research in disability studies, gender studies, community psychology, sociology, public health, and social work.
Patsie and Nancy’s book is a collective celebration of what is possible when people with disability take their place at the centre of their own lives and raise their voice; and what happens when their voices are listened to and a community shares accountability to act together.
Sheridan Kerr, PhD, Safer Me Safer You, SHFPACT, Australia
“Flipping the Story on Disability and Violence” is a must-read for anyone in the violence prevention field who supports the "Nothing About Us Without Us" motto and aims to address the societal root causes of violence against people with developmental disabilities.
Katherine McLaughlin, M.Ed, CSE, Elevatus Training
Globally, people with disabilities experience inequitable and unacceptable levels of violence. This contemporary text explains instructive theory, outlines new and existing evidence, and showcases effective initiatives and approaches to preventing and responding to violence against people with a disability. In doing so, it provides critical guidance to support sustained change.
Brigit Mirfin-Veitch, PhD, Associate Professor and Director Donald Beasley Institute, Aotearoa New Zealand
Nancy Fitzsimons & Patsie Frawley shine a light on prioritizing self-advocacy and person-centered approaches to violence prevention for individuals with intellectual disability. I encourage stakeholders to read their thought provoking approaches.
Tara Ahern, IL Self Advocacy Alliance, USA
The account is an insight into the important contribution that is made by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities. We encourage others to use this resource as a tool to consider how lived experience, whether that be people of with intellectual and cognitive disabilities, victim-survivors of sexual harm, or both can inform their work.
Rachael Walters, Peer Educator; Jane Barr, CEO; Alisha Gilliland, Program Manager, Gippsland Centre Against Sexual Assault, Victoria, Australia
"Flipping the Story on Disability and Violence” by Fitzsimons and Frawley offers a groundbreaking shift in abuse prevention, centering people with intellectual disabilities. It challenges traditional models by prioritizing inclusion and empowerment. A must-read for moving upstream in prevention!
Aafke Scharloo, Clinical Psychologist specializing in intellectual disability, abuse, and trauma, Netherlands.
ISBN: 9781032911496
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 453g
208 pages