« John Daniel Ahern - Convicted Pedophile - Child Molestion - Wanted | Main | Police Officer Ordered To Register As Sex Offender »
October 09, 2005
Disturbing statistics: Majority of the disabled will be sexually abused
Hubert Humphrey once said, "A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens."
Recent statistics from the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice regarding sexual assault show that rape is the only violent crime that occurs more often in Utah than the national average. The following facts are cause for alarm: One in three women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime; one in eight will be raped; 90 percent of female sexual assault victims experience their first assault before age 18; and more than 90 percent of sexual assaults are committed by a family member or acquaintance.
Largely unknown to the majority of Utahns are the tragic sexual assault statistics for people with developmental disabilities. According to the Arc of the United States, the majority of people with a developmental disability such as mental retardation, autism or cerebral palsy, will experience some form of sexual assault or abuse.
A 1994 study found that 39 to 68 percent of girls and 16 to 30 percent of boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. In 1995, the research group Valenti-Hein & Schwartz reported that more than 90 percent of people with developmental disabilities will experience sexual abuse at some point in their lives and that 49 percent will experience 10 or more abusive incidents.
Despite the availability of such research this issue remains under the radar of serious issues in Utah and across the United States.
As an advocate and friend of people with disabilities, I have heard hundreds of disclosures. A teenager reported a sexual assault to her school counselor. The counselor told the girl that she did not believe her story and sent her back to her class without ever reporting the issue as mandated by Utah law. A woman dancing at a club was sexually assaulted by several men who targeted her because she had a disability. The stories are hard to hear and impossible to ignore.
Individuals with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities are vulnerable to sexual abuse for a variety of reasons that include lack of physical ability to defend themselves, communication problems, lack of skills to report abuse, lack of knowledge about what constitutes abuse, impaired cognitive functioning, learned compliance and dependency on others.
The legal outcomes are not promising. Estimates indicate that only 14 percent of these crimes are ever reported to law enforcement. Of those crimes reported, only 25 percent are investigated by police. Only 6 percent of alleged perpetrators are prosecuted and only 1 percent of these prosecutions end up with a conviction. A study of 171 individual confirmed cases of abuse of women with disabilities revealed that friends, family members, group home staff and personal assistants were the abusers in 71 percent of cases.
Much can be done to stop the abuse of our most vulnerable citizens. Training and educational materials on recognizing, preventing and reporting abuse are widely available. Parents need to be aware of the increased vulnerability of their young and adult children and be taught to look for behavior that signals abuse.
Law enforcement officers need education in specialized interviewing methods and disability sensitivity. Schools need to treat such incidents as important, make any type of assault clearly against the rules and teach children the skills to protect themselves. All community members need to be aware of laws that mandate reporting of suspected abuse to Child or Adult Protective Services.
Children and adults with disabilities need safety skills training. Skills learned in training need to be practiced regularly. In Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Advocacy and Community Training offers free prevention training to individuals with disabilities, their caregivers and family members. The Utah Coalition against Sexual Assault and the Rape Recovery Center are actively involved in the fight against abuse of people with disabilities.
A comprehensive Web site of resources that includes information, training manuals, videos and online discussions is available through the University of Wyoming at http://wind.uwyo.edu/resourceguide/. The Office of Victims of Crime has free materials serving victims with disabilities and is completing a videotape demonstrating interview techniques for crime victims with disabilities.
Education is the first step, action is the second and justice can be the result.
Posted by Nealus at October 9, 2005 02:41 PM
