Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

There are 375,000 women with learning disabilities in England, yet their predicament is hardly mentioned in the wider debates around disability and feminism. As a feminist myself, I am constantly frustrated by the inability of the movement to tackle disability issues. Recently an ethnic minority member of Powerhouse was facing a forced marriage. We called the relevant authorities who provided her with an alternative that she took. It is often assumed that our women do not have the capacity to make their own choices.

Research has shown that women with disabilities are twice as likely to face domestic violence as the general population, because they are extremely dependant on their carers. Some of our members have been attacked and raped in their own homes. A few have had their children taken away from them because of the violence. One woman told me that her favourite times are spent with her children. I wept when she then said that they had been taken away from her many years ago. She still speaks of them in the present tense.

• Panorama: The Great Disability Scam? featured a woman with learning disabilities called Ruth, who had wrongly been deemed fit to work. The rampant ignorance shown towards her situation, mirrors the experiences of many of Powerhouse's women who need constant care and find it harder to access information and services that will help them.

Work is something our members want because of the financial independence it brings. My charity is desperately trying to set up a social enterprise programme because Mainstream workplaces are, in our view, not designed to cope with people who have learning disabilities.

We had hoped that last summer's Paralympics, held in the borough of Newham where we are situated, would do wonders for our cause. Sadly, we did not derive a single benefit from the Games. It did seem like a wasted opportunity not to have been included. Still, we bought our own tickets and spent a fantastic day showing the women that it is possible for disabled people to be admired and respected.

• the , for people with learning disabilities, is happening at the moment in South Korea. It has hardly attracted any publicity, which leads me to wonder whether any sustainable legacy can come from London 2012.

In our own small way, we celebrate sport as an enabler of self-empowerment, by organising activities like badminton, tennis, Zumba classes and walking for our women.

Many suffer social isolation that deprives them of leading physically active lives. Powerhouse is only open for two days a week due to funding difficulties and we pack these days with a varied timetable of physical and other capacity-building sessions like literacy and motivational talks. But unfortunately, some of our women are stuck at home when we are closed. They do not want to go out for fear of being victims of disability hate crime.

One of our members had her beautiful long hair cut while walking down the highstreet. A group of teenagers thought it would be fun to sneak up to her with a pair of scissors in hand.

• The met at Davos last week. They discussed the inclusion of women in high level economic decision making on issues such as education, health and maternal care. Laudable as their aims might be, the World Economic Forum reminded me again that the gender dividend never seems to include women with learning disabilities. It falls to charities to chip away at the yawning gap between our disabled members and wider society.

Nobel Economics prize winner Amartya Sen called development a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy - this is what we aspire to.

You can follow Ouch! on and on .