Leadership for Empowerment and Abuse Prevention (LEAP), Virginia Commonwealth University

Applied researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University have developed and are evaluating a healthy relationships program for people with intellectual and development disabilities called Leadership for Empowerment and Abuse Prevention (LEAP).  The four-session program (and a one-session abbreviated version) was developed using Universal Design Principles and is co-facilitated by a person with a disability and a support person without a disability.  Researchers have been developing and testing participant outcome measures with a pre-test, post-test, and a 3 month follow up. Evaluation was initially in a paper-pencil format but has been moved to video vignette format. Implementation fidelity procedures include an observer checklist (and comments) to ensure consistency of the delivery of the curriculum across the facilitators.  Over 600 people have participated in LEAP.  Researchers are continuing rigorous outcome evaluation of the program in part due to an OVW Research & Evaluation grant they received for the through 2022.

Read More About LEAP

Credit

Post written by Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams, Prevention Specialist at Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Sexual Health and Disability Education (SHADE), YWCA Metro St. Louis, Missouri

The YWCA of Metro St. Louis, has a full program focused on teaching sex education to folks with disabilities as a component of abuse prevention. The program, called Sexual Health and Disability Education (SHADE), now has 2 full-time staff dedicated to this service. Much of this program is based off of Dave Hingsburger’s work, specifically his Ring of Safety model (6 protective factors for reducing the likelihood of abuse against people with disabilities).

Check Out SHADE

Credit

Post written by Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams, Prevention Specialist at Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Utah Keynote: Kesley Cowley’s Keynote on SV Prevention with People with Cognitive & Developmental Disabilities

Kelsey starts the conversation about sexual violence prevention, Utah Keynote Presenter: Kelsey Cowley, Vice President Self-Advocates of Indiana Keynote Conference keynote: Disability Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, Date: May 17, 2019

Kelsey Cowley is the author of the Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC) toolkit “Starting the Conversation: Addressing Sexual Violence within the Disability Community through Advocacy, Education, and System Change” and she was invited to be the keynote speaker for a disability seminar in Salt Lake City, Utah. The organizers reached out to Kelsey after hearing about her internship with SARTAC in Michelle Fischer’s podcast “A View into Kelsey Cowley’s Fellowship on Sexual Abuse, Violence, and Prevention” (click to listen/watch the episode.) Kelsey is an activist survivor of childhood sexual violence and is passionate about working to gain equal rights for people with disabilities and to end sexual violence for people with disabilities.

Kelsey’s work offers inclusion to the field of violence prevention and intervention, which has largely been shaped by programs and services for neurotypical “able-bodied” people. The toolkit Kelsey worked for over a year on offers culturally competent sexual violence resources that are for AND BY people with disabilities. “Starting the Conversation” expands the availability of data currently available related to risk and protective factors for sexual violence perpetration and victimization for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. One additional new direction offered to the field of sexual violence prevention is Kelsey’s focus in solutions on community level change by offering ideas about how to advocate for systems change at the local and state levels.

Credit

Post written by Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams, Prevention Specialist at Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Kelsey Cowley, Disability Consultant, at Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Sexual Violence Toolkit by Self-Advocate

Kelsey Cowley (ICADV Disability Consultant) has written and had published a toolkit for self-advocates who want to learn how to prevent sexual violence in their communities. The toolkit called “Starting the Conversation: Addressing Sexual Violence within the Disability Community through Advocacy, Education, and System Change” was recently published by a national agency called Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC). This toolkit is so exciting for our field because this is what SVPP (sexual violence primary prevention) can look like when we move beyond consent to consider power. 

Read Toolkit

Post written by Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams, Prevention Specialist at Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence