Susie Balderston, MSc. Ph.D. Applied Social Science (Law)/ Lancaster University Surviving Disabiist Hate Rape: Barriers, Intersectionalities and Collective Interventions with Disabled Women in the North of England April 2014 I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in substantially the same form fo r the award of a higher degree elsewhere. ( 2 7 MAY 2015 ) ProQuest Number: 11003578 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003578 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Sections from the following publications have been used within this doctoral thesis: Balderston, S. (2013) Victimised again? Intersectionality and Injustice in disabled women's lives after hate crime and rape'. Gendered Perspectives on Conflict and Violence: Advances In Gender Research, 18a, pp. 17-51. Balderston, S. (2012) 'After Disablist Hate Crime: Which Interventions Really Work to Resist Victimhood and Build Resilience with Survivors?', in Roulstone, A., Mason-Bish, H. (eds) Disability, Hate Crime and Violence, London: Routledge. Ch.14, pp. 177-192. Roulstone, A., Thomas, P., Balderston, S. (2011) 'Between hate and vulnerability: unpacking the British Criminal Justice System's construction of disablist hate crime', Disability and Society, 26 (3) pp351-364. Balderston, S. & Roebuck, E. (2010) Empowering Victims to Tackle Hate Crime, Manchester: Equality and Human Rights Commission. Online version available from: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/key-projects/good-relations/empowering- people-to-tackle-hate-crime/ [Accessed 18 August 2010] Susie Balderston, MSc. Surviving Disablist Hate Rape: Barriers, Intersectionalities and Collective Interventions with Disabled Women in the North of England. Thesis submitted for PhD Applied Social Science (Law School), Lancaster University, March 2014. i. Abstract This thesis investigates the aftermath of hate crimes involving rape, perpetrated against disabled women in the North of England. Disabled women are much more likely to experience sexual violence than non-disabled women or disabled men; they experience higher rates of re-victimisation and substantial harms after hate crime. Yet to date, voices of disabled victims and Survivors are largely invisible in the scholarly literatures of hate crime or violence against women. This sociological research therefore set out to investigate barriers in current provision and explore how disabled women might best access support, justice and interventions after disablist hate rape. The research utilized standpoint feminist methodology, underpinned by the social model of disability. Nine focus groups with eighty-two victims and Survivors after disablist hate rape were conducted between 2010 and 2013. The intersectional nature of violence against disabled women emerged as a key theme and findings indicated how disablist hate rapes are distinct compared with rapes of non-disabled women, particularly in terms of sexual extortion. These data problematize the use of homogenizing mainstream interventions; findings indicate how collective and community interventions have key roles to play in resisting harms after disablist hate rape. Significantly, this is the first UK research 3 concerning disablist hate crime involving rape to be inclusive of women with many physical, sensory, mental health and intellectual impairment labels, women in institutions and women who rely on the perpetrators of sexual violence to access personal support. It is the first study to unpack audist hate crime against Deaf women. The thesis demonstrates how feminist reciprocal and participative methods are adapted for use in research and interventions with diverse disabled or Deaf Survivors. Recommendations are made to improve the constructions of vulnerability, safety and hate crime against disabled people in criminal justice, health, social care and refuges in England and Wales. Keywords Hate crime, disability, disabled women, rape, focus groups, feminisms, criminology. 4 Table of Contents A b stra ct......................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................7 1. Introduction: No Care, No Crime, No Consent ..........................................................11 1.1 Prevalence of disablist hate crime and rape in England and Wales ............................18 1.2 The importance of hate crime against disabled women .............................................. 23 1.3 Emerging hate crime recognition and legislation in England & Wales ........................25 1.4 The emerging area of disablist hate crime research .....................................................38 1.5 Reflexive discussion - background and pilot study ...................................................... 46 2. Hate Crime, Violence And Rape Of Disabled People: A Literature Review 53 2.1 The shape of violence against disabled people ............................................................. 55 2.2 Sexual assault against disabled people .......................................................................... 64 2.3 Do disabled women experience more violence? ....... 67 2.4 Why should the invisibility of rape be addressed in the study? .................................73 2.5 Situating the study on the path of hate crime literature ..............................................82 2.6 Obscuring disablist hate crime as a concept ................................................................. 84 2.7 Why not study mainstream interventions? ..................................................................91 2.8 Why focus on collective interventions? .........................................................................97 3. Conducting Research in Disablist Hate Rape ........................................................... 101 3.1 Feminisms and the Social Model: Resisting Power and Control in Research 102 3.2 The struggle for more equal research?....................................................................... 113 3.3 Reflexivity in the research process .............................................................................. 118 3.4 Research Methodology .................................................................................................. 123 3.5 Focus group research.................................................................................................... 127 3.6 Mobilising the research methods .................................................................................130 3.7 Ethics ............................................................................................................................... 134 3.8 Spatial fram e .................................................................................................................. 135 3.9 Participant sampling strategy ...................................................................................... 136 3.10 Accessibility and cultural competency in focus group method .............................. 139 3.11 Deaf women's participation .........................................................................................144 3.12 W orking through my white privilege.........................................................................146 3.13 Primary data collection through focus groups ..........................................................148 3.14 Research questions ....................................................................................................... 149 3.15 Transcription, coding and analysis .............................................................................152 3.16 Dissemination ................................................................................................................154 3.17 Conclusion: Epistemology, methodology & method ................................................. 156 4. Findings: Disabled by Situational Risks & B a rrie rs ................................................. 158 4.1 Situational risk for disablist hate rape: Institutions ................................................... 161 4.2 Situational risk in disablist hate rape: Family members ......................................... 173 4.3 Situational risk in disablist hate rape: Stranger danger? ..........................................176 4.4 Barriers after disablist hate rape: criminal justice system .......................................180 4.5 Barriers in social care: the construction of vulnerability ......................................... 193 4.6 Situating Disablist Hate Rape: The Continuum of Violence......................................202 4.7 Chapter Conclusion: A Continuum of Risks and B arriers ......................................... 205 5. Surviving Disablist Hate Rape: Intersectionalities .................................................. 207 5.1 Intersectionalities with disablist