Women with disabilities continue to face discrimination and barriers in many areas of life. At the same time, they are leading change in their communities, organisations, and advocacy movements across Europe.
To support this work, the European Disability Forum launched a funding stream in September 2025 under the project “Nothing without us: Women with disabilities leading the change”. The initiative aimed to empower our member organisations and their members to develop projects focused on women’s rights and the leadership of women with disabilities.
Out of 22 applications, 11 projects were selected. Together, they addressed issues ranging from reproductive health, violence against women, and safeguarding, to political participation, leadership development, community action, and the rights of autistic mothers and women with deafblindness. The projects also helped create new committees, research, advocacy tools, and opportunities for women with disabilities to influence decisions that affect their lives.
Discover the selected projects
by the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability Malta
1. Creating Space for Change: Establishing the Women with Disabilities Committee in Malta
The project aimed at creating a Women’s Committee within CRPD. This was done through an outreach and communications stand, two accessible seminars for women with disabilities, a public call and selection process, and the establishment and first meeting of the Women with Disabilities Committee.
by the Romanian National Disability Council (CNDR)
2. Access to reproductive health services and correlation with domestic violence in Romania
The project had the objective of developing a survey on women with disabilities’ access to reproductive health services, sex education, family planning, and their relationship to domestic violence and abuse. It was conducted by the National Council on Disability and took place between February and May 2026. A total of 186 responses were recorded. The report was published on CNDR website.
by the Disability Rights Agenda (DRA)
3. Building Safe OPDs in Armenia: Preventing and Responding to Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment
The project aimed at strengthening the capacity of organisations of persons with disabilities to prevent, identify and respond to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment through a disability-inclusive, survivor-centred and human-rights-based approach. The project combined an accessible one-day training with practical organisational safeguarding tools, accessible posters and follow-up dissemination to disability organisations across Armenia. The project reached 22 participants at the in-person training and engaged a diverse cross-disability group. The project also produced a detailed safeguarding policy package and office posters designed for adaptation by small Armenian NGOs.
by the European Council of Autistic People (EUCAP)
4. Empowering autistic mothers
The overarching mission of the project was to increase understanding of the experiences of autistic mothers and support changes that improve their wellbeing, rights and participation in society. The project was aimed at making autistic mothers visible, identifying barriers they face, including obstacles in autism diagnostic services, healthcare, social and disability services, etc. This was done through developing accessible information and providing support to autistic mothers. The outputs have been collected on the project’s web page.
by Ieder(in)
5. Amplifying Voices: Ensuring Women with Disabilities in CEDAW Review
The project supported Ieder(in)’s policy advisors to participate in the review of The Netherlands by CEDAW in February 2026. The objective was to ensure that the perspectives of women and girls with disabilities were included in the review process and ultimately in the concluding observations by the Committee. It was also crucial to raise awareness among Ieder(in) members, network and the general public about the specific discrimination and exclusion that women and girls with disabilities face.
by the Kosovo Disability Forum
6. Strength in Inclusion: Exploring the Rights of Women with Disabilities
The project supported the development of the research “Exploring the Rights of Women with Disabilities” aimed to document and analyse the rights, experiences, and challenges faced by women and girls with disabilities in Kosovo, while highlighting examples of empowerment, resilience, and leadership. The project was designed to generate evidence that can support advocacy efforts, inform policy discussions, and increase public awareness about the rights and contributions of women with disabilities. The research report is available online.
by Lebenshilfe Berlin e.V
7. The Politics Women invite you to the International Women’s Day discussion
In this project, women with intellectual disabilities developed and presented their demands and the problems they face. During an event for International Women’s Day, they invited other women with intellectual disabilities to join them. Together, they empowered and supported each other. At the event, the women were informed about their rights. Female politicians were also invited. They listened to the women’s concerns and were available for discussion and exchange.
by the Information centre for persons with disability “Lotos”
8. Women Leaders Changing Communities
The project aimed at strengthening the leadership capacities, visibility, and community engagement of women with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main objective of the project was to empower women with disabilities to design and implement local initiatives addressing gender equality, accessibility, and inclusion, while increasing their participation in decision-making processes at the local level. Through mentoring, peer support, and small-scale community actions, the project supported women with disabilities in strengthening their role as visible leaders and advocates for change in their local communities.
by the National Council of Disability Organizations of Slovenia (NSIOS)
9. Women with disabilities leading the change
The project aimed at strengthening the leadership role of women with disabilities in promoting gender equality and increasing their participation in decision-making processes. The project established a permanent Working Group of Women with Disabilities within NSIOS, created a platform for dialogue between women with disabilities and decision-makers, organised a national conference focused on accessibility of healthcare services for women with disabilities, and implemented an awareness-raising campaign through social media, newsletters and national media.
by SUSTENTO – The Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Rights Organisations
10. Empowering women with disabilities through local actions in Latvian DPOs
SUSTENTO created an internal micro-grant scheme and awarded five grants of EUR 500 to member and partner organisations for women-led local initiatives. The projects combined information on rights and self-advocacy with peer support, psychological wellbeing, practical skills and social participation. SUSTENTO supported the grantees with accessible application documents, selection, mentoring, monitoring, joint learning and dissemination. The work was aligned with Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and EDF priorities on women and girls with disabilities.
by the World Federation of the Deafblind (WFDB)
11. Women with Deafblindness Leading Change
The project aimed to strengthen the leadership, participation, and advocacy capacity of women with deafblindness, with a particular focus on Europe and on the newly established WFDB Women’s Committee.
The project supported the first steps of the Committee by enabling coordination, exchange of experiences, identification of priorities, and initial work towards future advocacy activities on gender equality and the rights of women with deafblindness. It also contributed to increasing the visibility of women with deafblindness within WFDB’s wider advocacy work and networks.