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People with disabilities experience health disparities arising from social, environmental, and system‐level factors. Evidence from a range of settings suggests women with disabilities have reduced access to health information and experience barriers to screening, prevention, and care services. This results in greater unmet health needs, particularly in relation to sexual and reproductive health. Women with disabilities are also more likely to experience physical and sexual violence than women without disabilities, further undermining their health. Community‐based participatory research (CBPR) can generate knowledge and underpin action to address such health disparities and promote health equity. However, the potential and challenges of disability inclusion in CBPR, particularly in contexts of poverty and structural inequality such as those found in low‐ and middle‐income countries, are not well documented. In this paper, we reflect on our experience of implementing and evaluating W‐DARE, a three‐year program of disability‐inclusive CBPR aiming to increase access to sexual and reproductive health and violence‐response services for women with disabilities in the Philippines. We discuss strategies for increasing disability inclusion in research and use a framework of reflexive solidarity to consider the uneven distribution of the benefits, costs, and responsibilities for action arising from the W‐DARE program.

Research background: Throughout the W-DARE project, women with disabilities and Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) were involved across research activities in a range of roles; including as decision-makers, co-researchers, disability experts, program facilitators and participants. There are a range of established benefits to actively engaging people with disabilities as researchers and research partners, and participatory research approaches that support and enable the participation of women with disabilities, are widely viewed as effective and appropriate ways of involving women with disabilities in research. However, actively engaging women with disabilities as decision-makers and members of the research team is a relatively unique approach in many places. This could be due to negative assumptions about the capacity of women with disabilities to conduct research, as well as a lack of knowledge and awareness amongst researchers and policy-makers about why they should engage women with disabilities in research, and how they can partner with women with disabilities and disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) to design and implement research projects. Research contribution: These guidelines aim to promote the active inclusion of women with disabilities in SRH research and programming in the Philippines and other similar settings. Research significance: These guidelines will have relevance for researchers, policymakers, service providers and practitioners who would like to engage women and men with disabilities in efforts to strengthen disability inclusive SRH research, services, policy and programming. The usefulness of these guidelines is not restricted to those conducting research about SRH. Much of the content of these guidelines will be of use to those wishing to involve women with disabilities in research, on any topic. These guidelines can be used in conjunction with other available guidelines on disability inclusion in research and programming, a list of whi

Women with disabilities experience a range of violations of their sexual and reproductive rights. The Philippines ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and have laws in place to promote the rights to sexual and reproductive health and protection from violence. However, limited resourcing, and opposition to such laws undermine access to these rights for all women. Inadequate disability inclusion within policy and programming, and limited disability awareness of services, further impedes women with disabilities from attaining these rights. The W-DARE project (Women with Disability taking Action on REproductive and sexual health) was a three-year participatory action research program designed to (1) understand the sexual and reproductive health experiences and needs of women with disabilities; and (2) improve access to quality sexual and reproductive health, including violence response services, for women with disabilities in the Philippines. In response to the highlighted need for more information about sexual and reproductive health and greater access to services, the W-DARE team developed and implemented a pilot intervention focused on peer-facilitated Participatory Action Groups (PAGs) for women with disabilities. This paper focuses on the qualitative findings from the evaluation of this PAG intervention.

The Philippines has developed a range of national laws, policies, and programmes in response to violence against women and girls (VAWG). However, as elsewhere, the needs and experiences of women with disabilities are rarely considered in government policies or development activities. Yet women with disabilities are more likely to experience violence than their peers without disability, and they experience a range of barriers that prevent them accessing violence prevention and response services. This article describes initiatives supported by the W-DARE programme to respond to this. These initiatives have involved disabled people’s organisations, local researchers, and activists in the women’s movement, and officials from multiple levels of government. They aspire to build the ability of national policymakers, programme staff, and local service providers to respond to the interests of women and girls with disabilities who face violence.

BACKGROUND: International recognition that people with disabilities were excluded from the Millennium Development Goals has led to better inclusion of people with disabilities in the recently agreed Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs) 2015-2030. Given the current global agenda for disability inclusion, it is crucial to increase the understanding of the situation of people with disabilities in the Philippines. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of disability and compare the well-being and access to the community between people with and without disabilities. METHODS: A population-based survey was undertaken in District 2 of Quezon City and in Ligao City. 60 clusters of 50 people aged 18 years and older were selected with probability proportion to size sampling from both locations. The Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD) survey was used to identify people with disabilities based on their responses to activity limitations. The levels of well-being and access to the community for people with disabilities were compared with controls matched by age, gender, and cluster. Information on barriers to accessing the community was also collected. RESULTS: The prevalence of disability was 6.8 (95 % CI: 5.9, 7.9) and 13.6 % (95 % CI: 11.4, 16.2) in Quezon City and Ligao City respectively. Psychological distress was the most commonly reported condition in both locations, although it was often reported with a co-morbid condition related to sensory, physical, cognitive, and communication difficulties. The prevalence of disability was associated with age and no schooling, but not associated with poverty. People with disabilities had significantly lower well-being scores and reduced access to health services, work, rehabilitation, education, government social welfare, and disaster management than people without disability. Having a disability and negative family attitudes were reported as barriers for people with disabilities participating in work, communi

BACKGROUND: The Philippines has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and recently passed domestic legislation protecting the sexual and reproductive rights of people with disability. However women in the Philippines continue to report barriers to sexual and reproductive health services, and there is limited empirical evidence available to inform policy makers' efforts to respond. This study aims to contribute to the available evidence by examining service providers' perceptions of disability and their experiences providing sexual and reproductive health services to women with disability. METHODS: The study was conducted as part of a larger three-year program of participatory action research that aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health of women with disabilities in the Philippines. Fourteen in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions were conducted with a total of thirty-two sexual and reproductive health service providers in Quezon City and Ligao. Qualitative data were analysed to identify key themes in participants' discussion of service provision to women with disability. RESULTS: Analysis of service providers' accounts suggests a range of factors undermine provision of high quality sexual and reproductive health services to women with disability. Service providers often have limited awareness of the sexual and reproductive health needs of women with disability and inadequate understanding of their rights. Service providers have had very little training in relation to disability, and limited access to the resources that would enable them to provide a disability inclusive service. Some service providers hold prejudiced attitudes towards women with disability seeking sexual and reproductive health services, resulting in disability-based discrimination. Service providers are also often unaware of specific factors undermining the health of women with disability, such as violence and abuse. CONCLUSION: Rec

BACKGROUND: In many contexts, women with disability have less access to sexual and reproductive health information, screening, prevention, and care services than women without disability. Women with disability are also known to be more likely to experience physical and sexual violence than women without disability. In the Philippines, health service providers often have little awareness of the sexual and reproductive experiences of women with disability and limited capacity to provide services in response to their needs. Very limited data are available to inform development of disability-inclusive sexual and reproductive health, and violence prevention and response, services in the country. This paper presents the protocol for W-DARE (Women with Disability taking Action on REproductive and sexual health), a three-year program of participatory action research that aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health of women with disability in the Philippines. DESIGN: W-DARE is a disability-inclusive program that will use mixed methods to 1) increase understanding of factors influencing the sexual and reproductive health of women with disability, and 2) develop, implement and evaluate local interventions to increase supply of and demand for services. W-DARE will generate data on the prevalence of disability in two districts; the wellbeing and community participation of people with and without disability, and identify barriers to community; and describe the sexual and reproductive health needs and experiences, and service-related experiences of women with disability. These data will inform the development and evaluation of interventions aiming to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services, and violence prevention and response services, for women with disability. Local women with disabilities, their representative organisations, and SRH service providers will be involved as members of the research team across all stages of the research. DISCUSSION: This th