About
The Disability Clothesline Project is a way of breaking the silence about domestic and all forms of violence and abuse experienced by disabled people, enabling victims to give creative expression to their experiences as they use clothing as a canvas.
Disabled people experience abuse and violence at extremely high levels, but this is in effect invisible because it is not acknowledged. The Disability Clothesline Project will gather our stories and experience; it will bring the invisible into the light.
How Clotheslines Began
Clotheslines began in Hyannis MA in the USA in 1990, when women who had experienced abuse and violence got together. They wanted to help to transform the experience into something positive and to educate people about abuse and violence.
They decided to use a clothesline as their "vehicle". It had three purposes:
- To educate society about violence and abuse and show what they were doing.
- To honour and remember victims.
- To help with the healing.
They used a clothesline because hanging the washing out to dry has been a traditional way that women have exchanged information. They made a clothesline from collected and decorated tee shirts and it was put on public display. Since then, the Hyannis women's initiative has been adopted for use all over the world.
About this Project and its aims
Like the women who began the clothesline project, disabled people need to break from invisibility and silence, having their experiences publicly acknowledged.
- As disabled people are able to tell their stories, using their own clothesline community awareness and understanding of the impact of violence on disabled people is raised.
- Disabled people can be encouraged to take action in their own lives to address the issue.
- Change to law, policy and practice can be generated so that there is effective protection and support for those impacted.
- A prevention message can be better promoted.
In New Zealand there are few abuse and violence services that have disability expertise. Most were set up before there was understanding of how disabled people experience violence and what their needs are. Our disability clothesline can help change that.
Colours on the clothesline
We have chosen a range of colours for the tee shirts. Each colour signifies a particular kind of abuse, rather than the type of victim.
The colours are:
white = death from violence
yellow/beige = assault
red/pink = sexual assault and incest - adults
blue = sexual assault and incest - children
green = psychological abuse
purple/lavender = hate violence, bullying
grey = financial abuse
orange = institutional abuse
These colours are a suggestion only. People are free to do something else or to use their own article of clothing. These are all welcome.
Who we are
The Disability Clothesline is a project run by DCAV, the Disability Coalition against Violence. The coalition began with DPA and the National Network of Stopping Violence Services, representing disabled people and organisations working to prevent violence. Since then other organisations have joined the informal coalition from both sectors.
The project is funded by a grant from the Community Assistance Fund.
