Presented by Project SAFE A local Collaboration between VIBS Family Violence & Rape Crisis Center

1. LIFE AT THE CROSSROADS:Understanding Disability and Its Intersection with Domestic/ Sexual Violence Presented by Project SAFE A local Collaboration between VIBS Family Violence & Rape Crisis Center & United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Suffolk Inc.

2. OVERALL OBJECTIVES • Gain a better understanding of the history of the disabilities rights movement • Gain a better understanding of various types of disabilities • Achieve a working knowledge of accommodations • Become conversant about the conditions involved in informed consent • Gain an understanding of the intersection of disabilities and domestic / sexual violence

3. OVERALL OBJECTIVES • Understand the unique dynamics for individuals with disabilities who have experienced domestic / sexual violence • Become more comfortable with communicating with individuals who have developmental disabilities

4. “Ground Rules” • Use respectful language and tone • Be respectful of everyone’s different experiences • Create a safe place to: • Ask questions • Make mistakes • Learn from each other

5. DISABILITY RIGHTS MOVEMENT “101”

6. SPECIFIC GOALS AND DEMANDS • Accessibility and Safety: Transportation Architecture Physical environment • Equal Opportunities: Independent living Education Housing • Freedom: From abuse From neglect From violations of patient’s rights

7. KEY LEGISLATION • 1973:Rehabilitation Act – prohibited discrimination based on disability in federal programs and services. • 1975:Willowbrook Consent Decree – compelled NYS to provide for better community placements for residents. • 1990:Americans with Disabilities Act – most sweeping legislation in American history.

8. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) • Modeled on Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Enforced through court action • Protects “qualified individuals” • Does not cover temporary injuries or non-chronic conditions

9. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) • Includes Six Titles: • Employment • State and Local Services • Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities • Telecommunications • Transportation • Miscellaneous

10. KEY MOVEMENTS • Independent living:Works against ableism and society’s medical view of disability as sick, defective, deviant, burdensome, charity cases. Works towards self-determination and equal opportunity. • Self-determination:Works against external compulsion and a “father knows best” orientation. Works toward the freedom to make one’s own life choices.

11. KEY MOVEMENTS • Self-advocacy:Works toward individuals securing and protecting their own rights, accepting the responsibilities related to these and helping their peers do the same. • Inclusion: Works against Isolation, separation and segregation. Works toward full citizenship, full community participation, and equal status with everyone else, mainstreaming experience.

12. KEY MOVEMENTS • Universal design:A framework for the design of places, things, information, communications, services and policy that focuses on the user, on the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design.

13. DISABILITY ETIQUETTE • Person First attitude and language • See the person, not the disability • “Nothing about us without us” • Watch your language! • Service animals • Don’t over help – ask first

14. DISABILITY ETIQUETTE • Be sensitive about physical contact, both body and equipment • Don’t make assumptions • Don’t infantilize • Don’t shout – disability, not deafness

15. DISABILITIES “101”

16. NATIONAL STATISTICS ON DISABILITY According to the U.S. Government Census Bureau: • U.S. population at 291.1 million • 54.4 million (18.7%) people have a disability • Slightly more females than males • 3 million more than in previous census • Increase in disability severity • As age increases so does the prevalence of disability

17. NATIONAL STATISTICS ON DISABILITY According to the Accessing Safety Initiative: • Most common disabilities for adults are 1. Arthritis 2. Back problems 3. Heart disease 4. Respiratory disease

18. NATIONAL STATISTICS ON DISABILITY According to the Accessing Safety Initiative: • Most prevalent causes of disability in children under 18 years old in the United States 1. Specific learning disabilities (44.4%) 2. Speech or language impairments (16.9%) 3. Intellectual disability (9.2%) 4. Emotional disturbance (7.4)

19. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT DISABILITIES Myth:People with disabilities are fragile and unhealthy. Fact:They must maintain a high level of health like everyone else. Myth: Persons with disabilities are emotionally fragile and need protection from the harsh realities of life. Fact: Persons with disabilities are constantly adjusting, on a daily basis to difficulties that most people face only in a crisis. The point is - they make the adjustments.

20. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT DISABILITIES Myth:People with disabilities are intrinsically different from the ‘normal’ population. Fact: What is normal? Myth: Persons with disabilities are exemplary human beings who always show marvelous strength of character. They are heroic and paragons of virtue. Fact: They’re just people like anybody else.

21. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT DISABILITIES Myth: Persons with disabilities are taken care of quite comfortably by government social services. Fact: The majority of people with disabilities live on fixed incomes that are well below poverty lines. Myth: People with disabilities are all well educated. Fact: People with disabilities experience a shortfall in education.

22. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT DISABILITIES Myth: People with disabilities have acquired the same access to the job market as every one else. Fact: Employment equity programs have been successful for only a fraction of people with disabilities. (Source: www.reach.ca)

23. DEFINITIONS OF DISABILITY ADA definition:a person with a disability is an individual who: • Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; or • Has a record or history of such an impairment; or • Is perceived or regarded as having such an impairment

24. DEFINITIONS OF DISABILITY WHO definition: A complex phenomenon reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s bodyand features of the society in which he or she lives.

25. NYS OPWDD DEFINITION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES • Originates before person is 22 years of age • Originates in the central nervous system • Can be expected to continue indefinitely and to need long term supports for maximum functioning • Limits one or more areas of life activity and adaptive functioning, including cognitive ability

26. DEFINITION OF ACQUIRED DISABILITIES • Occur after an otherwise normal developmental period • Impact one or more areas of life activity and adaptive functioning • Can be physical, cognitive, or both

27. EXPERIENCES COMMON TO ALL PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES • Ableism: is a form of discrimination in which preference is shown to people who appear able-bodied. • Societal resistance to: • Seeing the person, not the disability. • Providing universally designed environments. • Considering people as differently abled. • Embracing diversity.

28. EXPERIENCES COMMON TO ALL PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES • Societal persistence in viewing disability as a disease model. • Having to share life with a society that considers them to be “less than” • Lack of equal opportunity in education, employment, social interaction, and other civil rights. • Frequent crisis mode functioning.

29. INTERSECTION OF DISABILITIES AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE

30. STATISTICS ON DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE • 92% of women with disabilities ranked violence and abuse as the top priority of topics that affected their lives(Source: Berkley Planning Associates (1996). Priorities for Future Research: Results of BPA’s Delphi Survey of Disabled Women. Oakland, CA: Author). • Women with disabilities and women who are deaf are at least one and one half to two times more likely than women without disabilities to experience abuse (Source: Stimpson, L., and Best, E. Courage Above All: Sexual Assault and Women with Disabilities. Prepared for Disabled Women’s Network Ontario, 1991)

31. STATISTICS ON DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE • The risk of being physically or sexually assaulted for adults with developmental disabilities is likely 4 to 10 times as high as it is for other adults (Accessing Safety Initiative Website, Sobsey 1994) • In one study, the rate of sexual abuse among people with developmental disabilities was found to be at more than 70% (Accessing Safety Initiative Website, Sobsey and Doe 1994?)

32. STATISTICS ON DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE • Researcher suggests that 97% to 99% of abusers are known and trusted by the survivor who has an intellectual disability. Of those, 32% were family members or acquaintances and 44% had a relationship with the survivor specifically related to the person’s disability (i.e. residential care staff, transportation provider, personal care attendant,) (Accessing Safety Initiative Website: Baladerian, N. Sexual Abuse of People with Developmental Disabilities, Sexuality and Disability 1991)

33. STATISTICS ON DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE • Over 50% of abuse is generally perpetrated by someone who is known to the victim – a family member, spouse or caregiver. Accordingly, 49% of sexual abuse perpetrators access their victims through their work in a disability service (Sobsey, 1994). • Persons with disabilities who are survivors of rape and sexual assault knew their attacker in 90% of these assaults (Valenti-Hein and Schwartz 1995as reported in A Call to Action: Ending Crimes of Violence Against Children and Adults with Disabilities. A report to the nation 2003.)

34. MYTHS ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT AND DISABILITIES Myth: People with disabilities are asexual, do not have sexual feelings, do not have sexual relationships and are not capable of understanding (or determining) their own sexuality. Fact: People with disabilities are sexual beings with the same needs, desires, and dreams as anyone living without a disability.

35. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT AND DISABILITIES Myth: People with disabilities are oversexed or promiscuous and need to be punished for acting on sexual needs or urges. Fact:People with disabilities are no more promiscuous than people without disabilities.

36. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT AND DISABILITIES Myth: Most of the abuse and violence perpetrated against people with disabilities is done by strangers. Fact:Of all reported sexual assaults, 91% of the perpetrators are known to the victim (Sobsey, 1988)

37. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE Myth: People with cognitive disabilities are not affected by sexual abuse. Fact:ALL people are affected by sexual abuse, regardless of a disability or not.

38. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE Myth: People with disabilities are not credible witnesses and can not be believed without some extra burden of evidence or excessive questions and testing of competence(disability equals non-credibility). Fact:People with disabilities can be very credible witnesses with the same support any other victim of a crime receives. (Source: Stop the Violence, Break the Silence: A training guide, By: Disability Services ASAP (A Safety Awareness Program) of SafePlace, Austin, Texas)

39. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE Myth:No one would hurt or commit an act of violence against a woman with a disability Fact: Women with disabilities are just as likely as women without disabilities to be victims of domestic violence. In addition, for women with disabilities the abuse tended to last longer and involve more than one perpetrator.

40. MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF DISABILITY AND DOMESTIC / SEXUAL VIOLENCE Myth:Caring for a person with a disability is stressful; therefore, abuse in those situations is understandable, expected, or justified by the circumstances. Fact:While it can be stressful to care for someone else, stress is, in this and most cases, used as an excuse for abusive behavior. Most people experience stress, as a caregiver or in general, but do not respond by abusing other people. (Source: Accessing Safety Initiative)

41. CAREGIVER STRESS MODEL VS. POWER AND CONTROL MODEL • Stress Model: Abuse to an individual with a disability is caused by stress experienced in response to the demanding responsibilities of being a caregiver. Interventions seek support for both the caregiver and person being abused. • Power and Control Model: Person makes a purposeful decision to be abusive with the goal of gaining control over another. Based on a belief of entitlement. Interventions seek safety of person being abused and accountability of the abuser.

42. CAREGIVER STRESS MODEL VS. POWER AND CONTROL MODEL Flaws of the Stress Model • Ignores needs of person being abused • May increase potential danger • Excuses abusers action, reduces accountability • Encourages victim self-blame and shared responsibility • Discourages person from seeking help • May enable excuse making for actual cases of abuse

43. CAREGIVER STRESS MODEL VS POWER AND CONTROL MODEL POINTS TO REMEMBER: • Safety Primary focus of any intervention should be the safety of the person who is abused.

44. CAREGIVER STRESS MODEL VS POWER AND CONTROL MODEL • Accountability All forms of abuse are unacceptable. Abuser has sole responsibility for abuse. • No Excuses Everyone experiences stress; it is not an excuse for abusive behaviors

45. USE OF POWER AND CONTROL WHEEL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES:

46. VULNERABILITY FACTORS • Inaccurate societal views of people with disabilities. • Insufficient education about safety and domestic / sexual violence, personal rights, appropriate sexual relationships and proper responses to victimization. • Dependence on service providers, primary caretaker, family member or intimate partner for a range of living skills and personal assistance.

47. VULNERABILITY FACTORS • Lack of education about perpetrator motives. • Lack of credibility in the eyes of the criminal justice system. • They are viewed as easy targets.

48. TACTICS OF ABUSE:PHYSICAL • Forcing mobility without assistive device • Causing injuries by taking advantage of disability • Withholding food, personal care, medications • Overmedicating or misusing medication to cause pain

49. TACTICS OF ABUSE:PHYSICAL • Refusing to comply with safety or medical recommendations • Ignoring symptoms of illness • Unnecessary use of restraints

50. TACTICS OF ABUSE:SEXUAL • Threatening to leave or deny care if she doesn’t consent to sexual activity • Abusing intimate body parts; grabbing genitals while providing care • Taking advantage of lack of understanding about sex • Forcing sterilization