Association for Women with Disabilities (ENG-KAD)

ENG-KAD is a rights-based civil society organisation founded in 2011 with a gender equality perspective that works to provide disabled women and girls equal access to human rights and for them to lead a life away from all kinds of violence, exploitation, and discrimination, and to remove the obstacles preventing their full and efficient participation in society.

Means of countering all kinds of violation of rights disabled women experience are discussed together with disabled women, and efforts are made in support and solidarity to develop efficient means of resistance.

Since the day it was founded, our association has been working on gender awareness and violence against women, as well as the rights of disabled women and disabled individuals, in order to eliminate the violations they experience both as disabled individuals and women, as well as aiming to share experiences and develop tools for mutual empowerment.

ENG-KAD defines itself as a women’s organisation that adopts feminist principles and methods in its organisation and work.

As mechanisms to fight violence often leave out disabled women and disabled women who are unprotected against violence require different mechanisms and methods to fight violence, combating violence against women-disabled women is an important part of the work we do. Particularly in cases where the perpetrator cannot be identified (such as when victims are blind or mentally impaired women) a need for different methods to fight violence against women arises. To meet these needs and to raise awareness about violence against disabled women, during 2013-2014 the “Report on Violence Against Disabled Women in Turkey” was published, and opening an accessible counselling centre is one of our goals. As the report emphasises, there are almost no accessible counselling centres or shelters in our country.

We have decided to become an Assembly component thinking that disabled women’s taking part in the experiences and knowledge of women’s organisations which work to eliminate violence against women will create solidarity and strengthen our cause, seeing how disabled women are still overlooked by the Turkish feminist movement.