The Barcelona Circuit Against Gender Violence is an inter-institutional collaboration project that aims to help improve detection and help tackle gender violence that young women with intellectual disabilities may experience. The idea behind the new guide is to offer a practical and useful tool for professionals with the different municipal services in the city, to help deconstruct myths about people with intellectual disabilities and give visibility to forms of sexist violence, particularly sexual violence, in this collective.

The guide has three goals:

• To bring improvements to professional teams in detection and the provision of support in cases of sexual violence towards young women with intellectual and development disabilities.
• To strengthen networking so that different resources and services share the same goals and work together.
• A change of perspective towards people with disabilities and the sexist violence they may experience, broadening and transforming conceptions and focusing action within the context of human rights and the cross-sectional feminist perspective.

According to the European Parliament (2004), 80% of girls and women with disabilities experience or have experienced situations of sexual violence and are four times more at risk than women without disabilities. As for the aggressor, most cases of sexual violence occur among a trusted circle: on the part of men in the family sphere (29.3%) and friends or people who are familiar (55.7%).

The figures can be explained through various factors. Firstly, the conditions and factors of exclusion and discrimination that affect this collective, making them vulnerable, and the lack of affective and sexual education given to people with intellectual and development disabilities.