A Doll Helps Disabled Women Find Their Voices

NEWCASTLE, England â€" Josephine, a life-size doll, sat on a chair in the middle of a community center in this city in northeast England.

Jackie Hudson, a facilitator in the Josephine Project, a sex education program for women that uses theater to deliver its messages, put her hands on the shoulders of the doll. “How do we know when Josephine can trust someone” she asked a group of women, all with learning disabilities.

“They’re nice to you,” replied Joan, a participant in the program.

“That’s good. But Josephine cannot always trust people who are nice to her,” said Ms. Hudson, who began putting pictures on the blue walls: a woman crying, two people holding hands and a man hitting a woman. Pointing to one picture of a man touching a woman’s chest, Ms. Hudson askéd the group: “Do we think Josephine can trust someone who touches her like this”

This time the response was mixed.

“There are times when Josephine may want to be touched and there times when she won’t. Josephine needs to know that she decides this,’’ Ms. Hudson said.

Josephine’s message, that sex is wrong when it is forced upon them, was news to many of the women in the class.

Women with learning disabilities are especially vulnerable to sex abuse, and there is little support available for disabled people on issues concerning relationships, abuse and sexual health.

A 2012 report ‘Behind closed doors’ carried out by Mencap, a British advocacy group for the disabled, found that a mentally disabled woman is four times more likely to be abused than someone without those challenges. They rarely tell anyone what has happened, let alone report the incident to the police.

The Josephine Project was founded in 2004 by a Newcastle arts organization called Them Wifies, after their work showed how unaware the women were of their own bodies. The series of workshops has since been adopted by a range of other organizations in other parts of Britain.

The group learned that acting out emotions and experiences through Josephine can help women with even profound learning disabilities communicate something they may not have the words to say.

“Often individuals with serious disabilities will completely turn off when a question is directed at them as they may find it intrusive or intimidating,” Ms. Hudson said. “We have found the women are able to connect to Josephine and learn more about themselves from seeing experiences through her.”

Sometimes the class may be asked what they feel about an experience and will use Josephine to voice this by rubbing her cloth hands together to show she is nervous or put her head down to show she is upset. According to the workshop facilitator, this rare opportunity of expression has exposed that many of the women have already experienced abuse.

One woman in the class said she had a new boyfriend, who visits her, has sex with her and leaves immediately afterward. “How does that make you feel” Ms. Hudson asked. The woman shrugged her shoulders. Ms. Hudson put her ear next to Josephine’s mouth. “Josephine tells me she is having the same problem. She says sometimes being treated like that makes her upset. What should Josephine do about this”

The lack of availability of such counseling for disabled people was brought to public attention in Britain in 1975, when the Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation published a report that said that it is not the impairment that is the problem but society’s failure to take into account the special needs of the disabled population.

Almost 40 years later the issue is still a problem worldwide. Audrey Simpson, chief executive of the Family Planning Association in Britain, remembers taking a recent class for disabled women over 70 who believed that menopause only happened to women with disabilities. “Overwhelming evidence shows that society is still failing to meet their sexual health needs,” Dr. Simpson said.

According to Dr. Simpson, many women die or become ill needlessly because illnesses such as sexually transmitted diseases and cervical and breast cancer have not been diagnosed, contributing to a recent statistic claiming early deaths. Disabled people die on average 16 years earlier than they should, a Mencap report said.

Health education is one aspect of the program; besides learning how to use protection and go for regular checkups, the classes learn that there are circumstances when behavior is not appropriate.

A corollary to understanding consent is being able to pursue and enjoy intimacy. According to Claire Morgan, a leader of the project, many caregivers and parents often prevent disabled people from having intimate partners, thinking they are protecting them. But that prevention can lead to depression and loneliness, making them more vulnerable to abuse.

“Having a disability is not a reason to assume that an individual does not possess the same emotional and physical needs as any other human being,” said Ms. Morgan. She added that it is also essential to consider the wide spectrum of learning disabilities and people with profound learning disabilities will have very different needs to those with moderate disabilities.

When Joan was asked what she thought of Josephine, she put her arms around the cloth woman and stroked her wool head. “She’s like a really good friend I can trust,” she said.

The Josephine Project’s success has led Them Wifies to set up workshops in London, Milton Keynes and Glasgow. The group has recently begun classes for girls under 16. The group has also started the Jack Project, a similar concept aimed at helping men with disabilities.

In recent months the city of Newcastle has been threatened with cuts of 100 percent of funding for the arts, but the Josephine Project has secured funding through a number of sources including charities, trusts, foundations and the local council.

“The women in this class are all over 30, and a lot of what they learn in our class is new to them,” Ms. Hudson said. “What we’re teaching now needs to be a compulsory stage of education for everyone from the very beginning. But at present it is far from that,”