WWILD Sexual Violence Prevention Association started as a small community-based self-advocacy group, the WILD (Women with Intellectual Learning Disabilities) Women’s Group which was supported by the Community Living Program, based in north Brisbane in 1991. CLP, now known as the Community Living Association, is a community-based disability organisation which supported people with intellectual disabilities and utilises a strong community development focus in its work.
The original WILD women’s group members came together because of their experiences of sexual violence, the lack of support from and inaccessibility of mainstream women’s services, and the lack of recognition and justice from the Queensland criminal justice system.
While all the women who took part had intellectual disability, some members preferred the term ‘learning disability’, so this was incorporated into the name. It was common during that period for Intellectual or Developmental disability to be referred to as ‘learning difficulties’ or ‘learning disability’.
In 1994, the group advocated for a 12-month pilot Sexual Violence Prevention (SVP) program from Queensland Government, which was funded for 1 full time position, to provide specific sexual violence counselling and groupwork for women with intellectual disability. This project was supervised by Zig Zag Young Women’s Resource Centre and managed and auspiced by the Community Living Program. This expanded into permanent funding from 1995 with a slight increase in funding allowing for 2 positions to provide this support.
The WILD group decided to change their name to WWILD – Working with Women with Intellectual and Learning Disabilities. On the 29th of May 1996, WWILD became independent when the WWILD Sexual Violence Prevention Association was incorporated, with the SVP program being managed by WWILD. WWILD rented the downstairs room of what is now WWILD’s current premises. Later WWILD took over the lease of the building when CLP moved to Nundah.
During the next few years CLP continued their ‘Voices’ campaign, with WWILD’s support, for a specialised support program for victims of crime who have intellectual disability. This strong advocacy led, in 2001, to the funding of the Disability Training Program – Victims of Crime program, with 1 position funded, to be managed by the WWILD SVP Association. This program provided support to women with intellectual disability who had been victims of sexual assault and other violent crime, and for training and building capacity of other mainstream services in the community to support them.
In 2014 WWILD started working with people of all genders. Reasons included the growing demand for services for men, the changes in funding requirements which WWILD fully supported, and the important recognition that men and non-binary people with intellectual disabilities are also likely to experience sexual violence and other forms of abuse and exploitation more than the mainstream population. We now work with People with intellectual disabilities. The name WWILD continues as it is a unique part of our history and valued by our members.
The organisation has grown and evolved. In 2014, the Queensland government increased the Victim of Crime program funding, providing an extra 2 positions, which led to WWILD offering outreach counselling locations and increase our casework and training capacity. From 2020, due to an increase to ongoing funding to WWILD from the Queensland and Australian governments, we were able to increase and improve our counselling, casework and groupwork support work, and resource development projects.
We currently have a counselling team, a victim of crime (VOC) casework team and a project team providing counselling, casework, groupwork support to Brisbane, Logan and Moreton Bay regions of south-east Queensland; and across Queensland we offer information, advice and referral options, some online/phone VOC support where possible, and capacity building through community education groups, training workshops, and developing and making available online training and resources.
Since 2020, the project team have been working with WWILD peer workers and consultants (WWILD women, men, folk), to create and make available a number of accessible information, education, counselling and casework resources to mainstream organisations. This has at times involved collaborating with other community organisations to create these resources.
These resources are either freely available or subsidised as WWILD believes in building the capacity of other mainstream government and community-based service providers in supporting people with intellectual or other disabilities who have been victims of crime. These projects have been funded by the Australian Commonwealth government, Queensland government and some philanthropic organisations.
WWILD has been an active member of Queensland Sexual Assault (QSAN) and Victim of Crime networks, and collaborates with government bodies, researchers, the violence prevention sector, and disability and advocacy organisations in order to improve the government, criminal justice and service system response in preventing and/or supporting survivors of sexual violence and other forms of abuse and exploitation.
This work follows the WWILD – Sexual Violence Prevention Association Inc. mission, which is to work to achieve social justice and systemic change that upholds the rights of people with intellectual and learning disabilities to live free from violence. The organization is underpinned by feminist and community development frameworks which:
- Recognises the gendered nature of violence
- Believes in working alongside people with intellectual and learning disabilities to enhance their power and choices in a safe environment
- Believes in their worth and capacity by actively encouraging their participation in personal and political change
- Believes in supporting people to achieve self-determination.
WWILD’s values include practicing integrity, collaboration, being client-centred and a focus on best practice and building organisational knowledge.
We honour the past and current work of WWILD women, men, and folk, staff, management committee, students and supports, which has led to many changes and improvements both in WWILD’s and mainstream services support of people with intellectual disabilities who have experienced violence and abuse.
WWILD values and appreciates the ongoing support of the Queensland Government, Brisbane City Council, the Queensland Gambling Community Benefit Fund, Australian Commonwealth government, other philanthropic organisations, and generous individual donors that have financially supported us; and also the Community Living Association, and the violence prevention sector, disability and advocacy organisations that have collaborated with us over the last 3 decades.