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Post by Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams, Prevention Specialist at Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Help us bring your voice to the forefront!
Request for Submissions
The Indiana Disability Justice Task Force ( or “IDJ”) is looking for contributors for the online Disability Justice and Violence Prevention Resource Hub! We can compensate you for your participation. If you are selected to be published, you will receive $250! (Please be aware this could affect benefits and services for those who have them. Please seek out guidance.)
The IDJ Task Force is always looking for:
- Best practices, research, data and education posts,
- Book, media, or event reviews,
- Personal stories on disability, survivorship, and/or prevention,
- Any other ideas you might have to enhance wellness and prevent harm against people with disabilities!
Along with your submission as outlined below, please also include:
- The name you’d like associated with the publication.
- Any organization or agency affiliation that you’d like included with the publication.
- A brief bio that can be included with the publication.
- A photo with an image description that can be included with the publication (if submission is in written, not video format). If you’d like to learn about image descriptions and how to write them, please Read This.
- Additional information about where people can find you and support your work, such as social media handles, website, etc.
Please submit questions and publications to indjsubmissions@gmail.com. Submissions will be accepted year-round on a rolling basis. Please note that Online Hub coordinators are mostly volunteer-based, so please be patient as you wait for a response. Once submitted, a Task Force member will confirm receipt. Shortly after, you will receive edits or a confirmation that the submission is ready for publication along with an expected publication date. Please be sure to confirm you are prepared for publication. Once published, please share widely!
Credit
Publication Guidelines written by Skye Ashton Kantola, Assistant Director at Multicultural Efforts to End Sexual Assault, kantola@purdue.edu.
Risk Factors for Sexual Violence Among People with Cognitive and Developmental Disabilities
The Abuse Prevention Disability Task Force completed a literature review in 2018-2019 to identify risk factors associated with sexual violence and people with cognitive and developmental disabilities. Sexual violence (SV) primary prevention requires increasing protective factors and reducing/eliminating sexual violence perpetration risk factors; and though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified risk and protective factors for sexual violence perpetration, the research may not include people with cognitive and developmental disabilities. People with cognitive and developmental disabilities communicate using a variety of methods and some people do not use written or spoken “standardized” language. The result is hundreds of thousands of people are left out of scientifically designed SV data collection practices, such as NISVS and YRBSS. The task force literature review included science-based evidence (journal articles), practice-based evidence (toolkits), and practice wisdom (community resources) created after the year 2000.
These free and readily available resources reviewed (see citations below) generally associated risk factors with victimization and with disability increasing one’s risk for sexual violence victimization (as a result of structural inequities that place people with disabilities at greater risk). There were no clear findings to report beyond the CDC about risk and protective factors for perpetration. The task force organized the sexual violence risks for victimization across the social ecological model according to the level of their impact on people with disabilities, including cognitive and developmental disabilities. We are developing recommendations to pass along to those who are interested, so keep checking back.
References:
- Alriksson-Schmidt, A. I., Armour, B. S., & Thibadeau, J. K. (2010). Are Adolescent Girls With a Physical Disability at Increased Risk for Sexual Violence? Journal of School Health, 80, 361–367. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00514
- Basile, K. C., Breiding, M. J., & Smith, S. G. (2016). Disability and Risk of Recent Sexual Violence in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 106(5), 928–933. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.303004
- Cowley, Kelsey, Fellow, Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center. (2018). Starting the Conversation: A Toolkit for Self-Advocates to Talk About Sexual Violence in Their Community. Toolkit available online February 13, 2020 at: https://selfadvocacyinfo.org/resource/starting-the-conversation-a-toolkit-for-self-advocates-to-talk-about-sexual-violence-in-their-community/
- Davis, Leigh Ann, M.S.S.S.W., M.P.A., L.A.D. (2019). Resources, People with Intellectual Disability and Sexual Violence. The Arc. Retrieved online at May 20, 2019: https://www.thearc.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=2457
- Euser, S. , Alink, L. R., Tharner, A. , IJzendoorn, M. H. and Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J. (2016). The Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse in Out‐of‐home Care: Increased Risk for Children with a Mild Intellectual Disability. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 29: 83-92. doi:10.1111/jar.12160
- Fredriksen-Goldsen, Karen I., Hyun-Jun Kim, and Susan E. Barkan (2012). Disability Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults: Disparities in Prevalence and Risk. American Journal of Public Health 102, e16_e21. doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300379
- Hughes K, Bellis MA, Jones L, Wood S, Bates G, Eckley L, McCoy E, Mikton C, Shakespeare T, Officer A. (2012). Prevalence and risk of violence against adults with disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Lancet; doi:10.1016/S0410-6736(11)61851-5.
- Keilty, J & Connelly, G. (2001). Making a statement: An exploratory study of barriers facing women with an intellectual disability when making a statement about sexual assault to police. Disability & Society, 16 (2), 273-291.
- Krahn, Gloria L. PhD, MPH, Deborah Klein Walker, EdD, and Rosaly Correa-De-Araujo, MD, PhD (2015). Persons with Disabilities as an Unrecognized Health Disparity Population. American Journal of Public Health, Supplement 2, 2015, Vol. 105, No. S2., p. S198. Retrieved November 1, 2018 from: https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302182
- National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention (2020). Risk and Protective Factors. Accessed online May 20, 2019 at https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html
- Normand, C.L. and Sallafranque‐St‐Louis, F. (2016), Cybervictimization of Young People With an Intellectual or Developmental Disability: Risks Specific to Sexual Solicitation. Journal ofApplied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 29:99-110. doi:10.1111/jar.12163
- Plummer, S.-B., & Findley, P. (2012). Women With Disabilities’ Experience With Physical and Sexual Abuse: Review of the Literature and Implications for the Field. Trauma Violence Abuse 2012 13: 15. Accessed online May 21, 2019 at:
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Patricia_Findley/publication/51787909_Women_With_Disabilities’_Experience_With_Physical_and_Sexual_Abuse/links/0deec5304c5a1c79d8000000.pdf
- Taggart, L. & R. McMillan (2009). Listening to women with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems: a focus on risk and resilient factors. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 2009, vol 13(4) 321‒340. doi: 10.1177⁄1744629509353239
- West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services (2019). West Virginia S.A.F.E. Training and Collaboration Toolkit, Serving Sexual Violence Victims with Disabilities, B1.1 Sexual Violence 101. Sexual Victimization of Persons with Disabilities: Prevalence and Risk Factors Sexual Victimization of Persons with Disabilities: Prevalence and Risk Factors. West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services. Accessed online May 20, 2019 at:
- https://www.arcnj.org/file_download/eeead953-679c-4937-9f6e-596248f9261e
Credit
Research conducted and post written by Cierra Olivia Thomas-Williams, Prevention Specialist, Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV), cwilliams@icadvinc.org. Infographics created by Kat Chappell, Outreach and Operations Manager, Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities, kchappell@gcpd.in.gov. Post edited by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they), Assistant Director at Multicultural Efforts to End Sexual Assault, kantola@purdue.edu.
Gaps & Opportunities for Prevention Infrastructure
The Indiana Abuse Prevention Disability Task Force (IDJ) conducted interviews with disability serving and governmental agencies in order to understand the processes by which people with disabilities can report abuse including sexual assault (SA). There are three state divisions, Bureau of Developmental and Disability Services (BDDS), Division of Aging, and the Department of Child Services (DCS) that have processes in place for reporting, following up after incidents, and to provide for or “cover” medical and legal care. After the Task Force identified mandatory state reporting procedures, they created flow charts depicting these practices to encourage transparency across sectors.
During this collaborative effort, these three common gaps in holistic care emerged following the official reporting of the incident:
In reviewing the flow charts, IDJ learned disability service providers follow the reporting requirements set by state agencies and offer support where they can with little to no interagency collaboration. Each state division, BDDS, Division of Aging & DCS, collects incident data and enforces mandated safety standards and when sexual abuse incidents are substantiated, a criminal legal process may begin. The safety of the person receiving services is paramount as is protecting provider organizations from liability for harm that may come to the person while receiving services. Advocacy or support for a person with ID/DD through the criminal legal system and/or healing process is not guaranteed. Additionally, organizations that provide rape crisis services do not typically house people with ID/DD, especially when there are caregivers in the person’s life.
The IDJ makes the following recommendations to increase safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments in the state of Indiana:
Education of disability service providers, victim service providers, and the community is needed to ensure survivors with disabilities are connected to the healing services they need following an incident of violence. Education on bodily autonomy, sexual literacy, and inappropriate touch is needed for people with disabilities so they can communicate their desires and report positive or harmful experiences.
Mandated processes ensure reports are made to the appropriate authorities to ensure safety of the survivor as well as other consumers. However, these processes can feel sterile, and confusing and sometimes made against the will of the victim or person harmed.
Advocates remind survivors of their rights, empower survivors to choose what is right for them, and provide emotional support to survivors in challenging situations. For survivors with disabilities to benefit from advocacy, disability organizations must be informed of this role and contact them when needed, and victim service providers must be educated on the unique needs and ways to communicate with survivors with disabilities.
The gaps discussed in this document demonstrate a lack of communication and understanding between the disability justice movement and the anti-violence movement, which we believe is the outcome of the siloing of social problems and constructing one size fits all solutions through state systems. While legal justice is attempted and pursued, prosecution and conviction rates remain low, and restorative and healing practices are ignored when they involve people with ID/DD. Instead, restorative justice is personal and responsive to the needs of the individual survivor or person harmed; it is both survivor-centered and person-first, empowering the individual who was harmed to drive the investigative and reparative processes.
The IDJ is connecting people with and without disabilities across disciplines to identify and address the existing gaps in service provision, education, and communication across sectors and levels of prevention. We are joining the concepts of survivor-centered services from the anti-violence movement with person-first services from the disability justice movement so that survivors with disabilities are empowered to lead self-directed lives, which includes what happens following an incident of violence.
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Analysis and info-graphic was created by Haleigh Rigger and Micca Stewart. Haleigh Rigger is the statewide Rape Crisis Coordinator with Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking (ICESAHT), haleigh@indianacesa.org and Micca Stewart, Bureau of Quality and Improvement Services (BQIS), Indiana Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA), micca.stewart@fssa.in.gov. Post written by Cierra Olivia Thomas-Williams, Prevention Specialist, Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV), cwilliams@icadvinc.org.