Men's Violence against Women with Disabilities

Disability Support Services
Indiana law addressing men’s battering of women with disabilities
24-Hour Hotline 1-800-787-3224 (TTY)

Probably the single biggest factor affecting the incidence of domestic violence against women with disabilities is the extent of these women's "families". Women with disabilities must often depend on a variety of people to provide them with assistance in carrying out their everyday lives. For this reason, their "family" is understood to include not only parents, husbands, boyfriends and other relatives, but also friends, neighbors and caregivers.

Caregivers can include attendants, interpreters, homemakers, drivers, doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, and workers in hospitals and other institutions. This large number of people and the intimate physical and emotional contact involved in the care they provide, greatly increase the risk of abuse to persons with disabilities.

Women who live in institutional settings, and women who are multiply or profoundly disabled, are most vulnerable to abuse because they are more dependent upon even larger numbers of people, and less able to get away. It is estimated that women with disabilities are 1.5 to 10 times as likely to be abused as non-disabled women, depending on whether they live in the community or in institutions.

While a disability can make it more difficult for a woman to escape or report abuse, social attitudes towards persons with disabilities are probably a bigger factor in her increased vulnerability to violence. The way in which society views persons with disabilities handicaps these women in many ways:

• they tend to be viewed and treated as children, as lacking intelligence;
• they may be trained to be compliant and are sometimes punished for assertiveness or for challenging authority figures. This is in direct contrast to the street-proofing taught to many children in schools;
• women with disabilities are considered to be non-sexual and are often not given sex education, which can result in an inability to distinguish between abusive behavior and normal or necessary forms of touching;
• they may be considered incompetent witnesses by police and the courts, particularly if they have difficulty or require assistance in communicating; and
• when they do report abuse, they may not be believed.
  

Women with disabilities are vulnerable at all stages of their lives because they are women and because they have a disability. Growing old increases the likelihood of becoming disabled, which can increase the likelihood of abuse.

It should be noted that abuse can result in disability. Physical abuse can cause permanent physical damage. "Disciplining" babies by shaking them is a major cause of brain injury and death in infants. Women have cited violence by husbands as causing loss of vision, and loss of mobility. All forms of abuse are emotionally traumatic and can leave psychological scars from which a victim never recovers.

BARRIERS TO OBTAINING HELP

It is extremely difficult for any abused woman to leave a situation of abuse. "A woman is hit by a husband or partner an average of 35 times before she calls the police." Battering undermines self-esteem and can make a woman feel she is somehow responsible for her own abuse. For a woman with a disability, this situation is even more difficult. She may be dependent on her abuser for affection, communication and financial, physical and medical support. If she reports the abuse, she may risk poverty and loss of housing. She may fear she will not be heard or believed if she speaks out. She may face further violence, institutionalization, or loss of her children if she seeks help. She may not have access to information about existing support services for victims of violence. Even if she has this information, many sources of support are not accessible. She may not be able to contact the police or women's shelters because they do not have communication devices such as Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf (TDDs). She may not be able to physically leave her situation because of a lack of accessible transportation. Her lack of options may leave her feeling so powerless and despairing that suicide seems the only viable choice. And if she seeks help in dealing with suicidal thoughts or attempts, she is unlikely to find counseling which takes account of her own reality. And so she is left isolated and possibly suicidal.

Source: Public Health Agency of Canada

For additional information please see:

• Crisis Connection Statistics
• NCADV Disabilities and Domestic Violence Fact Sheet
• Crisis Connection Domestic Violence
• Crisis Connection Sexual Assault
• Crisis Connection Home Page
• Study Reveal Unique Issues Facing Deaf Victims of Sexual Assault
• Serving Crime Victims with Disabilities
• Intimate & Caregiver Violence Against Women with Disabilities
• Violence and Disabled Women
• All Walks of Life
• World Institute on Disability
• Disabled Women’s Standpoint
• Deaf Power & Control Wheel
• Equality Wheel: People with Disabilities and their Caregivers
• Medical Power & Control Wheel
• Mental Health System Advocacy Wheel
• Mental Health System Power & Control
• Power & Control Wheel: Disabled People & their Caregivers
• Making a Difference…One Life at a Time
• Speakers Available