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

Reporting & Restorative Justice in Indiana

Sexual Violence Reporting for People with Disabilities in Indiana

Sexual violence interventions of today (SV advocates, criminal legal centered aftermath, crisis shelters, SART teams) may need to be revised or altered to include supports and services for people with disabilities in general, and almost all services need specifically to be tailored to work for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their loved ones. Part of the process of ensuring that all people thrive is modifying current systems, like sexual violence intervention and prevention systems, locally and statewide to incorporate restorative services, support and opportunities for all people.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in the state of Indiana who are receiving support for independent living or residential services or people with I/DD who attend day or vocational rehabilitation programs (including nursing homes) are subject to follow state guidelines for reporting any abuse, including sexual assault. The reporting process is complicated and because it is an institutional process, rather than a healing endeavor, the process can leave those who caused harm and those who were harmed unsupported.

The Indiana Disability Justice Task Force in collaboration with People with Disabilities seeks to create a supportive and restorative infrastructure for people with disabilities and their families. To that end, this post represents what we know about the current abuse reporting structure in the state of Indiana for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The education subcommittee is working on providing additional information, such as agency specific abuse reporting protocols and what happens when APS or CPS is notified (green shape in chart)?

Sexual Violence (or abuse) Reporting Flow Chart, Bureau of Quality and Support Services Task force members who created the flow charts:

  • Micca Stewart, Bureau of Quality and Improvement Services (BQIS), Indiana Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA), micca.stewart@fssa.in.gov Heather Dane, Bureau of Developmental Disability Services (BDDS), Indiana Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA),
  • Heather.Dane@fssa.IN.gov, Cell: 317-460-6484, Office: 317-233-7420
  • Haleigh Rigger, Statewide Rape Crisis Coordinator, Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking (ICESAHT), created the disability services provider flow chart.

Reporting by Disability Services Providers

Download Chart PDF.

Reporting to Adult Protective Services

Download Chart PDF.

Reporting to the Division of Child Services

Download Hotline Chart PDF and CPS Intake Chart PDF.

The reporting systems as they currently exist in Indiana are still often fractured, focused on legal and state-involved solutions to violence, and often lack communication across agencies. For Indiana to shift towards transformative justice and restorative justice for survivors, and a more effective prevention practice, agencies must redouble their efforts to listen to and incorporate knowledge from survivors with disabilities. We hope that IDJ can help to begin this process.

Credit

This post represents the collective work of the Indiana Disability Justice Task Force. This post is written by Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams, Prevention Specialist at Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV) and edited by Skye Ashton Kantola, Assistant Director at the Multicultural Efforts to End Sexual Assault (MESA).

Webinar 5: Preventing Violence Against People with Disabilities

Description

This webinar will address what is needed for large-scale prevention of violence against communities with disabilities. In phase 1, will discuss the importance of dismantling internalized ableism – What does this look like? How do you do this? How does this contribute to prevention? In phase 2, we will address how your organizations might understand agency and consent, and what model policies and implementation strategies may look like. In phase 3, we will examine the connections between food security, healthcare, fatphobia, employment and income. Finally, we will look forward to explore the large-scale changes we can strive for in order to prevent violence against people with disabilities.

Presenters
  • Skylar Kantola (she and they), MESA Program Coordinator, Multicultural Efforts to End Sexual Assault, kantola@purdue.edu.
  • Jody Powers (she/her), Consultant with Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
  • Haley Sumner (she/her), Disability Advocate and Indiana University Student
  • Andrea Mann (she/her), Parent of children with Disabilities
  • Cierra Olivia Thomas-Williams (she/her), Prevention Specialist, Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV), cwilliams@icadvinc.org.
  • Kirat Sandhu (she/her, Tech Moderator), Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking

Closed Captions & Transcript created by Skye Ashton Kantola, MESA Program Coordinator with support from Reshma Sunil Rawlani, MESA Graduate Student Worker

Co-Sponsors