Neve is a safe, accessible space for women, girls, and gender-diverse people with disabilities. Here, we explore our shared experiences. Some experiences are hard, like discrimination, violence and sexual harm. Some experiences are empowering, like getting the most out of life and becoming stronger after hard experiences.
Neve offers a place to learn and get ideas. Its purpose is to support women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities to be safe and to live full and pleasurable lives. It addresses the fact that many people in our community experience violence and abuse. It also focuses on wellbeing, like learning to love yourself and saying no and setting boundaries.
Neve is an inclusive website. It has information and advice for women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities, as well as families, supporters and professionals.
People in our community told us that they didn’t want the name of the website to mention violence. They wanted a name that would keep them safe and make them feel safe at the same time.
To help us write the website, we invented a character with these goals in mind. We called the character “Neve,” a name that means “bright”.
The character we imagined is a wise and kind person with disabilities. Neve has experienced violence and tough times. Now, Neve has great boundaries, which means being clear about what’s okay and what’s not okay. Neve shares knowledge to help our community become safer.
Neve never judges but encourages you to live your best life. You could think of Neve as a wise older friend.
When we wrote the website, we imagined it was Neve talking. But really, Neve is not just one person. Neve brings together the lived experiences of our community to support us all.
Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) received funding from the Department of Social Services' Family and Safety Program in April 2022. This funding was to provide accessible information about sex, relationships and violence and abuse.
WWDA sponsors the Our Site website (external link), a website by and for women, girls, feminine identifying and non-binary people with disabilities. The focus of Our Site is leadership, rights, life choices, sex and our bodies, and safety from violence. The funding WWDA received in 2022 was initially to expand Our Site. Through thorough co-design, it quickly became clear that what women with disability wanted was a new website to cover the range of topics chosen in co-design.
The new website is the Neve website. This website was co-design, co-produced, written and reviewed by and for women with disabilities. Here you can explore the topics under the headings Wellbeing, Support, Staying safe, Families and For professionals (all internal links).
No matter what your situation, you deserve to be free from violence and able to live a good life.
The Neve website was created by:
You can find out more about us on the Neve page Team (internal link).
With special thanks to: