July 6, 2026 • 12 mins
As we enter Disability Pride month, we check in with some stats about the intersection of women and disability in this classic.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie Anne Smitha and all the stuff
I ever told you productive Ihearted you, And today we
are bringing back a shorter episode we did. It was
Monday Menu back when we were doing those as well
(00:27):
about disability pride and women specifically, and we were talking
about the statistics and how it looks the picture that
it paints. And since we are a year removed from this,
I do think we're going to come back and do
what does it look like right now? But because we
(00:51):
are in Disability Pride months and a lot of times
some of these episodes are like, we could bring this
back over and over again because it just feels like
it's still so relevant. So here we are. Please enjoy
this classic episode. Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome
(01:14):
to staff. I'll Never told you production, I Heart You.
And as this comes out, it will be July first,
twenty twenty four, which is the first day of Disability
(01:36):
Pride months, So we wanted to kick that off with
just some statistics. I'm sure we'll have more topics to discuss,
but I just wanted to look into it because I
don't know that we've ever we've done episodes on disability
Pride and disability obviously, but I wasn't sure with the
current state of statistics were so I wanted to talk
(02:01):
about that. With that content warning for domestic violence, rape,
sexual assaults, and eugenics, we're not going to get two
in depth into any of those things, but that is
a part of the statistics unfortunately. So here we go
from you and women. It is estimated that one in
(02:21):
five women live with a disability. Women with disabilities experience
various types of impairments, including physical, psychological, intellectual, and sensory
conditions that may or may not come with functional limitations.
In addition, the diversity of women with disabilities includes those
with multiple and intersecting identities across all contexts such as ethnic, religious,
(02:42):
and racial backgrounds. Their status has refugee, migrant, asylum seeking
and internally displaced women, LGBTQ plus identity, age, marital status,
and living with or being affected by HIV. From the
CDC quote, about thirty six million women in the US
have disabilities and the number is growing. About forty four
(03:05):
percent of those age sixty five years or older are
living with disability. The most common cause of disability for
women is arthritis are rheumatism, so I think something to
keep in mind with a lot of these statistics is
we have talked a lot about just in general, how
women and marginalized people are not always taken seriously as
(03:30):
patients when they come in with things, and that has
led to really long delays in getting something diagnosed. It's
also led to potentially death. But also on top of that,
unfortunately we're seeing in a lot of countries, not just
the US, kind of slashing of healthcare, and a lot
(03:54):
of that centers around disability. So from now quote, women
with disabilities are particularly disadvantaged when it comes to wage equality.
In twenty twenty two, women who are disabled made seventy
two cents for every dollar paid to a man who
is disabled. Compared to the non disabled community, women with
disabilities made sixty eight cents to every dollar earned to
(04:16):
able bodied men. If an individual from this community is
seeking employment, the current hiring rate of women with disabilities
between the ages of sixteen to sixty four stands at
thirty seven percent. Throughout the employment process, women can face
challenges ranging from organizational readiness and inclusivity to accessible employment
processes and workplace inclusivity provisions. And here's another one from
(04:44):
American progress. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the CDC, disability affects one four black people in the
United States. However, getting a clear picture of what it's
like to live with a disability or as a person
of color can be difficult, due in large part to
the fact that data collection on these issues is limited
and inconsistent. The data that are available show African Americans
(05:07):
are more likely to have a disability than white people,
as well as that the disability appears to have greater
impacts on them. Both black people and disabled people face
barriers to education and employment that limit their earning potential.
According to the National Disability Institute, people with disabilities are
twice as likely to live in poverty than people without disabilities,
(05:28):
and nearly forty percent of African Americans with disabilities live
in poverty. Even after adjusting for education levels, Disabled African
Americans are more likely to live in poverty than other
people with disabilities. So there's the economic impact. But then
there's something else we've also talked about before, which is
(05:50):
the sexual violence domestic violence impact that intersects with disability. So,
going back to nowt about one in four women have
experienced contact, sexual violence, physical violence, and or stalking by
an intimate partner during their lifetime. Research has shown that
women with disability are more likely to experience intimate partner
(06:11):
violence than those without disability. In fact, researchers found that
compared to women without a disability, women with a disability
were significantly more likely to report experiencing each form of
intimate partner violence measured, which includes rape, sexual violence other
than rape, physical violence, stocking, psychological aggression, and control of
reproductive or sexual health. And here's a quote from the WHO,
(06:36):
the World Health Organization. One systematic review of found greater
risk of intimate partner violence for women with disabilities compared
with those without, while another also found higher rates of
sexual violence. So that brings us to the intersection of
(07:03):
reproductive rights and disability. And obviously there's a lot of
turmoil around reproductive rights in the United States right now
and in a lot of countries right now. As always, listeners,
if you can write in what's going on in your area,
we would love to hear from you, because it is
(07:27):
a lot happening very quickly, it feels like. But here
is a quote from American Progress, Reproductive and disability justice
are both human rights based frameworks that at their core
share fundamental similarities. They both prioritize the right to bodily
autonomy and self determination, the right to raise children if
one chooses to have them with dignity and in a
(07:47):
safe environment, the right to access the healthcare one needs
free from political interference or stigmatization, and the right to
community care. Yet, even with such overlaps, the reproductive justice
and disability justice movement have rarely interacted due to misunderstanding
and miscommunication, particularly around abortion. Through the leadership of LGBTQ,
(08:08):
Black and Indigenous activists and visionaries, reproductive and disability justice
communities are reframing the conversation to be more inclusive of
multi marginalized individuals. Exploring the intersection of the disability and
reproductive justice communities is not only necessary to better understand
how current societal structures hinder or restrict people with disabilities
(08:28):
from making reproductive health decisions that are right for them,
but also what policy solutions must be crafted in order
to ensure reproductive justice is a reality for all. And
then now goes on to go into yes the fact
that abortion cares being restricted or banned in several states,
(08:49):
and that for women with a disability, pregnancy or the
ability to access abortions can be very life or death.
It's not necessarily a choice, but the only option. And
also that because there is this higher rate of sexual
(09:09):
assault that we discussed, that it could impact even further
this community, which is very, very important. But also remember
we've talked about this before, reproductive justice does not only
equal abortion, especially when we look at the history of
force sterilization that particularly impacted women and extra particularly women
(09:33):
of color with disabilities. So here's a quote from American Progress.
The reproductive rights movement has historically fought for the legal
right to abortion in connection to disability. This has occurred
in an environment dense with misinformation and stigma about pre
needle diagnoses of disability. Disability selective abortions, which are based
(09:53):
on a diagnosis of disability before birth, are fueled in
part by eugenics, with ablest assumptions about disability and lifespan,
quality of life, and the desirability of raising a disabled child,
among others. So I think when we talk about intersexual feminism,
(10:13):
this is so important and why this disability pride is
important and why we need to have these conversations and
why we need to talk about these intersections, because as
we discussed in past episodes and in our book People
with Disabilities, which by the way, there is an ongoing
(10:36):
conversation of how preferred terminology, So I just want to
acknowledge that, but that it is the largest marginalized community
in the world that can impact anybody, whether it's temporarily
or permanently. So I think this is so important to
(11:00):
keep in mind these intersectional numbers and keep in mind
this history, and not to involve people who should be
involved in conversations decision making conversations, because as we know,
this is a big election year, not just for the
US but for a lot of places, and with everything
(11:21):
that's going on, it's really important that we not leave
people out of conversations like this that should be the
ones leading. So yeah, just wanted to go over some
of those statistics because I was just curious and there
are a lot of resources out there for people who
(11:42):
want to look more into it, and I'm sure, as
I said, we'll be coming back and doing more episodes,
but for now, we just wanted to kickstart this month
with this short Monday many and if you have any
thoughts about this or any resources do you want to share.
If you're from other places in the world and you
(12:03):
have thoughts or experiences, please let us know. You can
email us at stuff at Media, mom Stuff at iHeartMedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom
Stuff Podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok and stuff Never
Told You for us on YouTube. We have a tea
public store, and we have a book you can get
wherever you get your books. Thanks, it's always to your
super ducer Christine, our executive producer Maa Andwercontruder Joey. Thank
you and nice to you for listening. Stuff I Never
(12:25):
Told You is production by Heart Radio. For more podcast
from my Heart Radio, you can check out the heart
Radio Apple podcast or where you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie Anne Smitha and all the stuff
I ever told you productive Ihearted you, And today we
are bringing back a shorter episode we did. It was
Monday Menu back when we were doing those as well
(00:27):
about disability pride and women specifically, and we were talking
about the statistics and how it looks the picture that
it paints. And since we are a year removed from this,
I do think we're going to come back and do
what does it look like right now? But because we
(00:51):
are in Disability Pride months and a lot of times
some of these episodes are like, we could bring this
back over and over again because it just feels like
it's still so relevant. So here we are. Please enjoy
this classic episode. Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome
(01:14):
to staff. I'll Never told you production, I Heart You.
And as this comes out, it will be July first,
twenty twenty four, which is the first day of Disability
(01:36):
Pride months, So we wanted to kick that off with
just some statistics. I'm sure we'll have more topics to discuss,
but I just wanted to look into it because I
don't know that we've ever we've done episodes on disability
Pride and disability obviously, but I wasn't sure with the
current state of statistics were so I wanted to talk
(02:01):
about that. With that content warning for domestic violence, rape,
sexual assaults, and eugenics, we're not going to get two
in depth into any of those things, but that is
a part of the statistics unfortunately. So here we go
from you and women. It is estimated that one in
(02:21):
five women live with a disability. Women with disabilities experience
various types of impairments, including physical, psychological, intellectual, and sensory
conditions that may or may not come with functional limitations.
In addition, the diversity of women with disabilities includes those
with multiple and intersecting identities across all contexts such as ethnic, religious,
(02:42):
and racial backgrounds. Their status has refugee, migrant, asylum seeking
and internally displaced women, LGBTQ plus identity, age, marital status,
and living with or being affected by HIV. From the
CDC quote, about thirty six million women in the US
have disabilities and the number is growing. About forty four
(03:05):
percent of those age sixty five years or older are
living with disability. The most common cause of disability for
women is arthritis are rheumatism, so I think something to
keep in mind with a lot of these statistics is
we have talked a lot about just in general, how
women and marginalized people are not always taken seriously as
(03:30):
patients when they come in with things, and that has
led to really long delays in getting something diagnosed. It's
also led to potentially death. But also on top of that,
unfortunately we're seeing in a lot of countries, not just
the US, kind of slashing of healthcare, and a lot
(03:54):
of that centers around disability. So from now quote, women
with disabilities are particularly disadvantaged when it comes to wage equality.
In twenty twenty two, women who are disabled made seventy
two cents for every dollar paid to a man who
is disabled. Compared to the non disabled community, women with
disabilities made sixty eight cents to every dollar earned to
(04:16):
able bodied men. If an individual from this community is
seeking employment, the current hiring rate of women with disabilities
between the ages of sixteen to sixty four stands at
thirty seven percent. Throughout the employment process, women can face
challenges ranging from organizational readiness and inclusivity to accessible employment
processes and workplace inclusivity provisions. And here's another one from
(04:44):
American progress. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the CDC, disability affects one four black people in the
United States. However, getting a clear picture of what it's
like to live with a disability or as a person
of color can be difficult, due in large part to
the fact that data collection on these issues is limited
and inconsistent. The data that are available show African Americans
(05:07):
are more likely to have a disability than white people,
as well as that the disability appears to have greater
impacts on them. Both black people and disabled people face
barriers to education and employment that limit their earning potential.
According to the National Disability Institute, people with disabilities are
twice as likely to live in poverty than people without disabilities,
(05:28):
and nearly forty percent of African Americans with disabilities live
in poverty. Even after adjusting for education levels, Disabled African
Americans are more likely to live in poverty than other
people with disabilities. So there's the economic impact. But then
there's something else we've also talked about before, which is
(05:50):
the sexual violence domestic violence impact that intersects with disability. So,
going back to nowt about one in four women have
experienced contact, sexual violence, physical violence, and or stalking by
an intimate partner during their lifetime. Research has shown that
women with disability are more likely to experience intimate partner
(06:11):
violence than those without disability. In fact, researchers found that
compared to women without a disability, women with a disability
were significantly more likely to report experiencing each form of
intimate partner violence measured, which includes rape, sexual violence other
than rape, physical violence, stocking, psychological aggression, and control of
reproductive or sexual health. And here's a quote from the WHO,
(06:36):
the World Health Organization. One systematic review of found greater
risk of intimate partner violence for women with disabilities compared
with those without, while another also found higher rates of
sexual violence. So that brings us to the intersection of
(07:03):
reproductive rights and disability. And obviously there's a lot of
turmoil around reproductive rights in the United States right now
and in a lot of countries right now. As always, listeners,
if you can write in what's going on in your area,
we would love to hear from you, because it is
(07:27):
a lot happening very quickly, it feels like. But here
is a quote from American Progress, Reproductive and disability justice
are both human rights based frameworks that at their core
share fundamental similarities. They both prioritize the right to bodily
autonomy and self determination, the right to raise children if
one chooses to have them with dignity and in a
(07:47):
safe environment, the right to access the healthcare one needs
free from political interference or stigmatization, and the right to
community care. Yet, even with such overlaps, the reproductive justice
and disability justice movement have rarely interacted due to misunderstanding
and miscommunication, particularly around abortion. Through the leadership of LGBTQ,
(08:08):
Black and Indigenous activists and visionaries, reproductive and disability justice
communities are reframing the conversation to be more inclusive of
multi marginalized individuals. Exploring the intersection of the disability and
reproductive justice communities is not only necessary to better understand
how current societal structures hinder or restrict people with disabilities
(08:28):
from making reproductive health decisions that are right for them,
but also what policy solutions must be crafted in order
to ensure reproductive justice is a reality for all. And
then now goes on to go into yes the fact
that abortion cares being restricted or banned in several states,
(08:49):
and that for women with a disability, pregnancy or the
ability to access abortions can be very life or death.
It's not necessarily a choice, but the only option. And
also that because there is this higher rate of sexual
(09:09):
assault that we discussed, that it could impact even further
this community, which is very, very important. But also remember
we've talked about this before, reproductive justice does not only
equal abortion, especially when we look at the history of
force sterilization that particularly impacted women and extra particularly women
(09:33):
of color with disabilities. So here's a quote from American Progress.
The reproductive rights movement has historically fought for the legal
right to abortion in connection to disability. This has occurred
in an environment dense with misinformation and stigma about pre
needle diagnoses of disability. Disability selective abortions, which are based
(09:53):
on a diagnosis of disability before birth, are fueled in
part by eugenics, with ablest assumptions about disability and lifespan,
quality of life, and the desirability of raising a disabled child,
among others. So I think when we talk about intersexual feminism,
(10:13):
this is so important and why this disability pride is
important and why we need to have these conversations and
why we need to talk about these intersections, because as
we discussed in past episodes and in our book People
with Disabilities, which by the way, there is an ongoing
(10:36):
conversation of how preferred terminology, So I just want to
acknowledge that, but that it is the largest marginalized community
in the world that can impact anybody, whether it's temporarily
or permanently. So I think this is so important to
(11:00):
keep in mind these intersectional numbers and keep in mind
this history, and not to involve people who should be
involved in conversations decision making conversations, because as we know,
this is a big election year, not just for the
US but for a lot of places, and with everything
(11:21):
that's going on, it's really important that we not leave
people out of conversations like this that should be the
ones leading. So yeah, just wanted to go over some
of those statistics because I was just curious and there
are a lot of resources out there for people who
(11:42):
want to look more into it, and I'm sure, as
I said, we'll be coming back and doing more episodes,
but for now, we just wanted to kickstart this month
with this short Monday many and if you have any
thoughts about this or any resources do you want to share.
If you're from other places in the world and you
(12:03):
have thoughts or experiences, please let us know. You can
email us at stuff at Media, mom Stuff at iHeartMedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom
Stuff Podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok and stuff Never
Told You for us on YouTube. We have a tea
public store, and we have a book you can get
wherever you get your books. Thanks, it's always to your
super ducer Christine, our executive producer Maa Andwercontruder Joey. Thank
you and nice to you for listening. Stuff I Never
(12:25):
Told You is production by Heart Radio. For more podcast
from my Heart Radio, you can check out the heart
Radio Apple podcast or where you listen to your favorite shows.
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