In 2019, we renamed ourselves Abuse Prevention Disability Task Force and we worked on approximately 6 objectives to positively impact the wellness of people with disabilities with a focus on those with developmental and cognitive disabilities and those who are experiencing institutionalization and/or those who do not have legal guardianship over themselves. We used the 3 subcommittees created in 2018 based on evaluating members’ interests: the Data Subcommittee, responsible for collecting research and information about disability in Indiana, the Policy Subcommittee, responsible for assessing state and institutional/agency policies around disability, and the Education Subcommittee, which will eventually assist with various educational goals we may develop through the other two subcommittees. We also launched our online resource hub on patreon.
Cierra Olivia Thomas-Williams (Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence), Skye Ashton Kantola (Multicultural Efforts to End Sexual Assault), Thammy Themel (AccessABILITY), and Jody Powers (Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence) served as the executive leadership team in 2019.
Our 6 goals in 2019 included:
- Developing and implementing a survey tool to assess safety, independence, and sexual wellness of people with disabilities in Indiana who have experienced sexual harm. Do people with disabilities feel successful in their own goals? Do they feel supported in having dreams and goals? Are they provided with accurate, comprehensive sexual education? Do they have access to supported decision making and the least restrictive living situation possible for their situation? From the perspective of survivors with disabilities, how can we better prevent sexual violence against people with disabilities?
- Review state statutes regarding disability. This is a goal so we may be better informed of the current state of protections and risks for harm against people with disabilities, and better advocate for legislative changes that reflect best practices for preventing sexual and other forms of interpersonal violence against people with disabilities.
- Developing and implementing a survey tool to identify what service provision agencies are doing to ensure wellness and independence of the people with disabilities who they serve and how they are preventing harm against people with disabilities. We want to understand from the perspective of service providers and administrators: What are there needs to provide better services? What do they feel they are doing well? What kinds of support could they use? What do they want to learn about and improve upon? What does reporting of harm against consumers look like and how do they support accountability?
- Developing an online hub for our efforts, which we are accomplishing with Patreon!
- Implementing at least 5 new webinars focused on disability justice and sexual violence prevention. We are always looking for input on what topics people would like us to cover, so please feel free to reach out and let us know!
- Developing and implementing creative, community-building evaluation strategies to assess our effectiveness. Because we want to know if we are doing things well, in survivor-centered and accessible ways and how we might continue to improve!