Module 4: Sexual Violence

So before we begin, we would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting.

I am meeting on the lands of the Quandamooka people. And I am coming to you from Ngunnawal and Ngambri country. We would like to pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge their connection to land, sea, and community. So today, we will be talking about sexual violence, so for some people listening, this may be distressing.

Please look after yourself and take a break if you need to. Please reach out to someone who you trust and can support you if you’d like to debrief, but you can also call 1-800-RESPECT on 1-800-737-732. They are open twenty-four hours, and you can remain anonymous if you’d like to as well. So throughout the training today, we will be prompting you to use your workbook.

This can be downloaded from our website, and you can place your responses to the questions within the workbook and save it to your computer. we have designed this so you can apply the knowledge that you’ve learnt within the training but also use it as a reflection tool. So we really encourage you to use the workbook, and we’ll let you know when it’s time to bring it out.

So what will we talk about in module four? So we’ll be looking at what is sexual violence. We’ll be defining it. We’ll be talking about consent, defining the affirmative consent laws in the ACT, we’ll be looking at when a person is unable to consent, and then we’ll put it all together in our takeaway slide at the end.

And a quick note on language, you will hear us using person first language sometimes, so person with a disability, and you will hear us using identity first language, things like disabled person. you might have learnt a particular way was correct or incorrect in the past. but at this point in time, there is discussion and debate and personal preference, at play in the disability community.

both are okay, and it depends on what the individual person would like to use. But, yeah, so make sure you know how your- how each client likes to describe themselves and other people to describe them. and if you’d like to hear more about it, head on back to module one. Okay. So we’re gonna be looking at sexual violence, as we’ve said.

and we’ve got a quote here from one of the lived experience, stakeholders, so a person with disability. and something they shared was around, how to support the disabled person in, the moment when, they have perhaps disclosed to you or you have identified something that you are concerned about and you raise it with them.

and this person said, “Ask, What, do you need right now? And if what they need is to not do anything, that is okay. That’s their choice. Always make it their choice. Don’t put pressure on them to do anything.” So I think it can be hard sometimes to meet a person where they’re at and not rush off and do all the things that you think need to be done or should happen right away or whatever it is.

Obviously, if there’s, immediate threat, then that’s a different situation. But in, in that moment, it’s about not letting your own, preconceived ideas take over, and really listening to the individual and what they need to feel okay in that moment, and supporting them in that. So when we were developing this training, as I said, I met with a range of different people, who have disability, workers from the different sectors.

And overwhelmingly, what we heard from everybody who participated in the development of this training is the importance of believing the person who discloses their experience. Believe, That’s the first step and should always be something that we’re doing when we’re supporting people who’ve experienced violence.

We will talk a little bit more about that in the next module when we look at responding and identifying violence, as we know that there can be really long-term impacts for a person who has a disability who isn’t believed, and it may also mean that the violence continues and the risk escalates. So first step is always believing people when they tell you that they’ve experienced sexual violence

what is sexual violence? What are we talking about? sexual violence occurs when a sexual act is committed against a person without their consent. the consent part is really important here, and we will be looking into that in a little more, bit more depth in the next few slides. So we know that people can experience sexual violence from anyone, from strangers, from people they meet.

However, the research here is pretty strong in that it tells us that people are more likely to experience violence by somebody they know, so somebody who is in their life. Women experience very high rates of sexual violence, as sexual violence is a gendered act, meaning that occurs because of gender inequality.

And if you’re interested in learning more about this, we talk about it more in module two. But we also know women with an intellectual disability experience incredibly high rates of sexual violence, and people who have a disability who identify, belong to another mar- marginalized group. So Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, people from the LGBTQA+ community, culturally and linguistically, diverse people, elder people also experience particularly high rates of violence.

And again, if you’d like to learn more about that, we delve into it a little bit more in module two

So from here, we’d like you to pause the video. We’d like you to turn to your workbook and consider question number one. So question number one is: What are some of the reasons you think people with a disability aren’t believed when they disclose sexual violence? So what are the reasons people don’t believe?

Give you a few moments to, complete your response, and we’ll move on to the rest of the module

Okay, so we’re going to spend a bit of time unpacking consent and the laws around consent, particularly in the ACT. and basically back in 2022, the ACT government made changes to the law to update our understanding of what consent is and what it isn’t, in order to provide more protection to people. at its simplest, consent is an agreement between two people or more that they want to do something. It’s permission for something to happen and a clear legal definition of consent was added to our existing sexual assault laws in 2022.

That update was that consenting to a sexual act means informed agreement to the sexual act that is freely and voluntarily given, and it’s communicated by saying or doing something. And this is a really significant change because the idea of no means no is, is no longer enough. We actually need a signal, preferably verbal, but it can also be non-verbal.

But something is actually done to show the other person that consent has been given. So a sexual act can mean sexual intercourse, penetrative intercourse, but it means any sexual activity. This includes oral sex, touching the breasts or genital area, or sharing sexual images. and this change to affirmative consent, so needing someone to actually say yes, is a big change from how we used to think about consent and how the law in particular used to think about consent.

Because before this, if you didn’t actually tell the other person no, the law said that, the other person couldn’t have been expected to know that you didn’t really wanna do it. Yeah. So the change now, the law now says unless the person has actually said yes, or they have clearly shown yes with their words or actions, the other person can’t just assume that they wanna do it.

So this is the big difference. It’s not enough to say- Yeah … “Oh, she didn’t tell me she didn’t want to.” Yeah. It’s now, if she didn’t say, “Yes, I want to,” then there was no consent. I think that’s my, yeah, my understanding, I think, of the, change as well. It is now there is more, responsibility and accountability on the person to make sure they were asking and checking – Yes. Yeah … and this can be at the start when, to ensure that the person wants to start the sexual act.

But as things change within the sexual act, as things become different and, there needs to be ongoing communication about different things. so it can’t always, it’s not because they said yes at the start, that means that they’re consenting to everything. There needs to be ongoing communication throughout the sexual act, and there’s more onus of, on the person to be seeking out, that affirmative, that enthusiastic yes, rather than presuming because they’re not saying no.

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So when we are talking about affirmative consent, so checking with the other person that they want to, and them saying, “Yes, I want to,” there are five things that we are looking for it to be affirmative consent. all five of these need to be present, and everyone involved needs to give consent that is, first of all, free and not forced.

So the person must want to say yes. It’s not consent if they are forced into saying it or tricked into saying it or feeling too scared, so they say it, or they just feel like they have no choice, so they say yes. That’s not consent. that’s not affirmative consent. Someone who, and this is really important in terms of working with, disabled people. Someone who has power over another person may not be able to get affirmative consent for sex. So this is people like carers, bosses, teachers. When there is that power difference in play and that person, has power over them, has responsibility for them, that kind of thing, that relationship means that the, the- Person with less power in that situation, in this case the disabled person, they can’t really give their full equal affirmative consent.

Affirmative consent, secondly, also needs to be clear about what will happen. Saying yes to one thing, as Jane was saying, doesn’t mean yes to everything. Everyone needs to know what they’re agreeing to. So what will happen, how will it happen, such as using protection, contraception, and what might happen as a result.

So being really clear about what you’re consenting to. Thirdly, it needs to be shown in words or actions. So everyone involved must say or do something to show that they agree that they want this to happen. You cannot assume that someone agrees just because they stay quiet, or they freeze up, or go still, or if they just don’t say no, or they, don’t try to stop it.

Okay? So that’s that affirmative consent at play. The, they, need to show it clearly that this is what they want to happen, and they’re agreeing that it should happen. Fourth is affirmative consent needs to be ongoing and shared, and this is what Jane was just mentioning before. Consent isn’t a one-time thing.

So agreeing to sex in the past doesn’t mean someone agrees today, or next week, or next year. Anyone can change their mind or say stop, even partway through. If two people are kissing, there needs to be consent there. If, things escalate, then there needs to be consent to this new thing that’s happening.

So it’s, ongoing. You need consent at each point, and everyone is allowed to say, “Actually, no, I don’t want to do this anymore,” at any point. And lastly, the fifth core concept of affirmative consent is it needs to be someone who is able to say yes. So some people are unable to legally give consent.

and a person can’t give their consent if they’re too young, if they have drunk too much or taken drugs, or if they’re asleep or unconscious. So some people just fundamentally can’t consent, which means that the behavior from the other person cannot proceed. Yeah, Tess, the, thing that I would add there as well is somebody is unable to consent if they don’t know what they’re consenting to.

Yes. So even if somebody says, “Do you want to have sex?” And the other person says, “Yep. Yes, I absolutely want to have sex,” but has no idea what sex is, what it entails, that is not consent. So the person needs to have an understanding of what they’re consenting to, be able to consent. Yeah. And I think that’s a really good, link back as well to our second core concept, being clear about what will happen.

Do you wanna have sex? Yes. Yeah, sure, but what does that mean to each individual? Yeah. as we said, sexual acts can be all different kinds of things. So just agreeing- do you wanna have sex, that’s not really clear about what’s gonna happen. So it’s unlikely that person is really, can have the opportunity to give their full enthusiastic, affirmative consent- in that situation. Looking at question two in our workbook now. In 2022, consent laws were updated to include the concept of affirmative consent. How would you explain affirmative consent to your client? And how does this change to the law help people who have experienced sexual violence? So pause the video here, have a little bit of a think, and record your thoughts in your workbook, and we will see you back in a tick.

So we’re gonna start the next section with a quick quiz before we look at the statistics of sexual violence. So what percentage of women with intellectual disability have experienced sexual abuse? Is it 33%, 46%, 15%, or 25%?

So the Disability Royal Commission found that 46% of women who had an intellectual disability had shared an experience of sexual violence within hearings or with submission throughout the course of the Disability Royal Commission. if you’ve, been through our other modules, you will know how, Tess and I feel about these statistics, in that it’s actually likely to be a lot higher than what is represented, because we know that violence against women with a disability often goes undisclosed or underreported.

So unfortunately, these statistics are likely to be a lot higher than what is represented here So what does the research say? So again, this is also from, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse and Neglect of People with Disability. So in the last 12 months of the Royal Commission, people with a disability were 2.2 times more at, likely to experience sexual violence in comparison with people without a disability.

Young women experience particularly high rates of violence between 18 and 29 years old, and are twice as likely to report experienced sexual violence over their lifetime than young women without a disability. We also know that men with a disability experience particularly high rates of sexual violence compared to men without a disability.

So men experience, are 2.6 times as likely to report sexual violence within their lifetime. So we know that sexual violence is gendered violence, so women are more likely to experience violence than men. And women with a disability are more likely to experience, sexual violence than men who have a disability.

But men also experience particularly high rates of, sexual violence. men with intellectual disability are at a high risk of experienced sexual violence. So we have a another quote here from a lived experience stakeholder, and they said, “For survivors of sexual violence or any violence, always ask for consent.

It is so powerful. For example, is it okay if I put your bag over here?” For disabled people, and particularly people who have high support needs, around personal care in particular, this idea of consent is not something that we have necessarily had many experiences of or good experiences of. and this, module is about sexual violence, and we’re talking about consent in, terms of sexual activity.

But we actually seek, give, and refuse consent all the time in our daily lives. So you know, things like, “Can I sit here? Do you mind if I look in your bag for your keys? Can I borrow your green top for the party? Is it okay if I tell Dad about this?” This is all the little ways that we give, seek, and give or don’t give consent every day.

And for some people with disabilities, we may have had fewer opportunities to give consent in our daily lives. People like doctors- Physios, our support workers, our family, and even strangers may have touched or moved our bodies, our clothing, our wheelchairs, our pos- possessions, and more, without warning or explanation, or checking in about how we feel.

And as well, for women and, LGBTQIA+ people, in particular, living in a patriarchal society, we also, disabled and not disabled, may have internalized problematic ideas around consent and what it means to, to perform our gender correctly. ideas like being a good girl, putting other people’s needs or wants, especially men, before our own.

doing what is expected of us. Saying yes, not disagreeing, don’t rock the boat. All of these kind of, kinds of ideas we’ve learnt by just being part of society. And between these experiences of, being touched without anyone checking in first because they’re, you’re at physio or someone’s helping you have a shower or whatever, plus these messages that we internalize, we might not have had much practice at giving and receiving consent.

Or we just haven’t had many positive experiences around consent. So it can also feel extra difficult or uncomfortable to say no. And sometimes we’ve spent so little time really focusing on our own values and desires, that it’s hard to even know what they are. Like, what it is we actually want. So yeah, so all of this is to say that for the people that you work with, consent is not something that has traditionally been prioritized in our lives.

And this also comes back to ableism and that idea that, we’re, not quite as… We’re not on equal footing. We’re not as important. We’re not as valued. All of these kinds of ideas. So sure, we’ll push this person’s in their wheelchair out of the way or whatever. so this comment here is why it’s so, powerful for a person with disability if you are checking in for consent around everything, before you touch them, before you move their property, all of these kinds of things.

it’s establishing safety

psychological safety for that person. And they, know that you are a trustworthy person because you let them know what’s gonna happen in advance, you check they’re okay with it. and it also models for them, what they should expect from other people in their life who perhaps don’t have these good practices around consent.

So the key takeaways today are that people with a disability experience incredibly high rates of sexual violence. People with an intellectual disability experiencing very high rates of violence, and people who also belong to another marginalized community experiencing high rates of violence. Always, believe someone if they tell you that they have been sexually assaulted.

This is the first place to start, always. Sexual violence is often perpetrated by someone who is known to that person. Violence can be perpetrated by strangers, but more likely than not will be a person that is known, who is close to that person. As Tess explained earlier, support workers play such a key important role in supporting people to understand what consent is, to role model what consent is, to help people practice giving their consent, not giving their consent.

I think support workers play such an incredible, can play such an incredible role in people’s lives, in those really intimate places in their home, in the community, personal care. It’s a space that not a lot of other workers, go. so a domestic and family violence worker isn’t going to be and playing that really important role in people’s lives.

So I think for people to have understanding of what affirmative consent is, and then can share that knowledge with the people that they’re working with and utilize it in all aspects, of, the support you’re providing. And- Sorry, jump in on your- No, of course … in the middle of the takeaways, but

I was just thinking then, another way that you can support your clients, is helping them find information around this. And if your client requires easy English or easy read resources around sexual consent, they are available. Yes. If you Google sexual consent easy English or easy read, things will pop up that are from government and also specific to the ACT, as well as australia specific. So that’s another way that you can be supporting your clients to better understand consent, is finding resources about it that work for them. Absolutely. It’s, actually wild. So where I work, you’re here, you’re on the website.

if you go to our resources page, we have Easy Read, lots of Easy Read resources that have been designed with people who have an intellectual disability about consent, about domestic and family violence, about sex. these are, these have been developed in Queensland, but a lot of them will still be useful within an ACT context.

So if you haven’t been there, I really encourage you to go and have a look around the wild website because there’s a lot of resources, that a lot of them are free and can be downloaded and printed. and finally, support workers should always be asking for the person’s ongoing. So again, it’s that ongoing consent within their work.

particularly in this example is when someone is receiving personal care. within our meetings, we had quite a big discussion around how important this can be when showering, when in those really intimate places, when we know that people with disability experience such high rates of sexual violence and may find it very unnerving to be touched or, to be, and not, have that discussion around what they want.

so really, important to make sure that you’re practicing ongoing consent when you’re in people’s homes and when you’re providing personal care. So thank you very much for joining us for the module today, and we hope to see you on the next one where we’ll start looking at identifying violence and res- helping people by responding to violence.

Thank you.