A/67/227 62. Women with disabilities may lack access to education, financial independence and information on how to report incidents of violence and on how to recognize and address violence, including sexual violence (see A/61/122/Add.1 and Corr.1). Also, police and law enforcement agencies may not take appropriate action to prevent or respond to such violence. Women with disabilities may be reluctant to report violence, so as to avoid discrimination, retribution, institutionalization or the loss of economic and other supports. Perpetrators may believe that such assaults will not be discovered or that the testimonies of the women with disabilities will not be credible in law enforcement and court systems. 63. Without accessible information about different programmes that provide legal aid or even basic information about the justice system, women with disabilities may not be able to claim their rights. 47 Even if women with disabilities are aware of their legal rights, the cost of legal assistance may be prohibitive for those who are economically disadvantaged. If they are able to secure the services of an attorney, the lawyer may be unaware of how to ensure that the lawyer-client relationship reaches its full potential. For example, lawyers may not always provide information in Braille or other accessible forms of communication, or provide adequate sign language interpreter services.47 Finally, few law schools require or provide training in working with clients with disabilities or even a course requirement for disability law in general. 48 Therefore, many lawyers will have little practical or academic experience that furthers their client’s interests, needs and challenges. 64. Women with disabilities may be more likely to have low self-esteem, a risk factor for domestic and other forms of violence. 49 Popular media images throughout the world contribute to the presumption that the bodies of women with disabilities are unattractive, asexual and outside the societal ascribed norms of “beauty”. It also describes the “normal” female body as the presence of high cheekbones, even skin tones, long legs, and the absence of fat, wrinkles, physical disabilities and deformities. 50 This contributes to the undervaluing of women with disabilities, as well as self-devaluation by women of their own bodies, whether they have disabilities or not. Many images only depict people with disabilities as deserving of pity, thus further stigmatizing them. 51 65. Armed conflict generates injuries and trauma that can result in disabilities and can also increase the severity of existing disabilities. For women incurring injuries, the situation is often exacerbated by delays in obtaining health care and longer-term rehabilitation. According to the 2011, World Report on Disability, humanitarian organizations in conflict situations do not always respond promptly and effectively, and the needs of families and caretakers are not always taken into account. __________________ 47 48 49 50 51 16 Stephanie Ortoleva, “Inaccessible justice” (see footnote 27, above). Frances Gibson, “Article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: a right to legal aid?”, Australian Journal of Human Rights, vol. 15, No. 2 (2010). Donna R. Walton, “What’s a leg got to do with it: black, female and disabled in America”, Disability Studies Quarterly, vol. 22, No. 1 (2002), p. 74. Jean Kilbourne, “Beauty and the beast of advertising”; Women in culture: a women’s studies anthology, L. J. Peach, ed. (Blackwell Publishing Inc., 1998); Killing us softly: advertising and the obsession with thinness, in Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders, P. Fallon, M. Katzman and S. Wooley, eds. (New York, Guilford Press). J. Nelson, “The invisible cultural group: images of disability”, in Images that Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media, P. M. Lester, ed. (Praeger, 1996), pp. 119-125. 12-45120