Bytes and Barriers: Addressing Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence for Women and Girls with Disabilities - Roadmap

The Bytes and Barriers Symposium was a one-day event, focused on technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) against women and girls with disabilities, bringing together experts, practitioners, and stakeholders to discuss emerging trends, share research and insights, and foster collaboration amongst diverse attendees. The Symposium took place on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, hosted by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing (CERC HECW) Research Program at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Bytes and Barriers aimed to critically explore the rising and urgent issue of TFGBV against women and girls with disabilities, highlighting its intersectional nature and distinct manifestations from mainstream experiences of TFGBV. Rooted in systemic and structural gender inequities and compounded by ableist stereotypes, TFGBV is a growing form of violence that often goes unrecognized or inadequately addressed in policy, advocacy, and service provision. During Bytes and Barriers, attendees and presenters unpacked the specific risks faced by women and girls with disabilities– ranging from digital illiteracy, economic precarity, social isolation, and caregiver dependence– to examine how these factors contribute to heightened vulnerability and reduce access to support and justice. In addition to exploring and raising awareness about these risk factors, the Symposium aimed to provide a forum to discuss: “What’s next?” As the facilitators of TFGBV begin to be unveiled, we must establish and begin translating this knowledge into actionable practice, in the roles and responsibilities which we take on as researchers, civil society members, leaders, practitioners, policy influencers, and advocates to support, uplift, and protect systemically vulnerable women– especially women with disabilities– to prevent TFGBV.