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"Working with Victims with Disabilities

Myths About the Disability Community
One of the sections of the greater document: "Working with Victims with Disabilities, an OVC Bulletin", by Cheryl Guidry Tyiska, NOVA

The following three myths contribute to stereotyping which often results in discrimination against people with disabilities:

The first myth is the perception that people with disabilities are "suffering." Rather than extending legal rights and protections, as with other oppressed groups, a societal response prior to passage of the ADA typically was to extend "charity." Being kind to a person with a disability is not an acceptable substitute for the provision of civil rights protections.

The second myth is that people with disabilities lack the ability to make choices or determine for themselves what is best for them in all spheres of life (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, political, sexual, and financial). Although individuals with severe cognitive impairments may need greater support and advocacy services, this does not impede their ability or preclude their right to participate actively in decisions affecting their lives.

The third myth, according to crime victim advocates, is that many people in society fear contact with crime victims generally, as though their distresses are contagious. An even stronger stigma attaches to people with disabilities. Our society is not socialized to integrate differences in abilities as a part of our perception of "normality." The cultural norms for functioning include good hearing and vision, physical independence and mobility, mental alertness, the ability to communicate primarily through the written and spoken word, and physical attractiveness. Deviations from those norms tend to frighten those in the "able-bodied majority" who define the concept of normal abilities. When the two forces of stigma are joined, victimization and disability attitudinal barriers to providing healing and justice can seem even more formidable.

Until recently, the crime victims' movement has not worked systematically to identify issues and challenges involved in responding more effectively to victims with disabilities. Improving service delivery to people with disabilities must become a priority because the crime victims' rights movement is founded on the premise that every crime victim deserves fundamental justice and comprehensive, quality services.

Background
Since the early days of the victims' rights movement, the effort has been animated by a two-fold desire to address the trauma of victimization and to move crime victims from outside of the criminal justice system, looking in, to the center of the process. Fostering full participation of crime victims has been at the heart of what the victims' rights movement has sought to achieve. Victim advocates, in particular, provide the tools that allow crime victims to reconstruct their lives and regain the control that was taken from them by the criminal. This healing process enables victims to perceive themselves as survivors and in most instances, to seek and achieve full engagement with society once again.

Inclusion and participation have been at the heart of a parallel civil rights movement. The disability rights movement has worked diligently to ensure that people with disabilities are able to contribute their considerable talents to society.

A primary difference for a person with a disability who becomes a crime victim, however, is that the criminal victimization frequently compounds existing problems caused by a lack of accessibility to basic social services, poverty, institutionalization, and other barriers to equal rights. A crime that would be damaging to an able-bodied person is frequently a devastating blow to a person with a disability. Indeed, for many, it is the criminal assault itself that results in a disability, when major life functions the ability to move, to communicate, to understand care disrupted temporarily or permanently.

Many people with disabling conditions are especially vulnerable to victimization because of their real or perceived inability to fight or flee, or to notify others and testify about the victimization. Frequently, because a person with a disability may be more physically frail, the victimization may exacerbate existing health or mental health problems. For those who hope that their disability may "protect" them from criminal victimization, it is shocking to learn that many criminals do not act upon a perceived "desirability" of the intended victim. Indeed, many perpetrators may be unaware that their victims have a disability. Here, the victim is truly random another one of us in the wrong place at the wrong time; although that victim's ability to frustrate the criminal's intent may be less than a person's without a disability.

Another reality is that many offenders are motivated by a desire to obtain control over the victim and measure their potential prey for vulnerabilities. Many people with disabilities, because they are perceived as unable to physically defend themselves, or identify the attacker, or call for help, are perfect targets for such offenders. People with disabilities are also vulnerable to abuse by the very professionals and other caregivers who provide them with services. Just as many pedophiles gravitate to youth-serving occupations, so do many other predators seek work as caregivers to people with disabilities. Indeed, in one survey, virtually half 48.1 percent of the perpetrators of sexual abuse against people with disabilities had gained access to their victims through disability services.¹

People who are victimized are vulnerable to exacerbated suffering. Most victims will experience a sense of shock, disbelief, or denial that the crime occurred, often followed by cataclysmic emotions: fear, anger, confusion, guilt, humiliation and grief, among others. But people with disabilities may have intensified reactions because they may already feel stigmatized and often have low self-esteem due to societal attitudes. The sense of self-blame, confusion, vulnerability, and loss of trust may be exaggerated, as may be an ambivalence or negativity related to their perception of their bodies. Denial and avoidance of the need to cope with the aftermath may complicate the identification of crime victims with a disability. Some victims, particularly elderly and those with developmental disabilities, will need services designed to enhance a feeling of safety and security regarding future victimization.

Unlike most in this series of OVC Bulletins focusing on special categories of victims, this one offers no authoritative "census" describing the numbers and characteristics of the victim population under review. The implementation of such a census is very high on the agenda of those working in both the victim rights and disability rights arenas so that, at last, the nation will have reliable data on who among the population with disabilities is hurt by crime, in what way, and how frequently. Despite the absence of an authoritative census, there are a number of studies that indicate that the risk of criminal victimization is much higher for an individual with a disability than for someone without a physical or cognitive disability.

The following are statistics revealed by some studies. For example, research has found that 68 percent to 83 percent of women with developmental disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, which represents a 50 percent higher rate than the rest of the population.² People with developmental disabilities are more likely to be re-victimized by the same person and more than half never seek assistance from legal or treatment services (Pease & Frantz, 1994). It is not just individuals with developmental disabilities who suffer very high rates of victimization. A study of psychiatric inpatients found that 81 per-cent had been physically or sexually assaulted.³ The Colorado Department of Health estimates that upward of 85 percent of women with disabilities are victims of domestic abuse, in comparison with, on average, 25 to 50 percent of the general population.⁴

About 54 million Americans live with a wide array of physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities. Some disabilities will be more easily discernable than others. People who use wheelchairs, service animals, or walkers are easy to identify. Less obvious will be those with intellectual or mental disabilities (such as people who have learning disabilities or schizophrenia) and those with chronic illnesses (such as people with chronic fatigue syndrome, seizure disorders, arthritis, alcoholism and drug addiction, and HIV disease). As with any crime victim, people with disabilities may be victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, homicide, fraud and other types of crimes. They are victimized by family members, acquaintances, strangers, institutional personnel, and caregivers. Many are victimized multiple times.

In addition to people who have been disabled since birth, some people are disabled as a result of violent assaults. Catastrophic physical injuries may result in loss of abilities to see, hear, touch, taste, feel, move, and think in the usual ways. Although statistics on crime-related physical injuries are imperfect, it has been estimated that at least 6 million serious injuries occur each year due to crime, resulting in either temporary or permanent disability. The National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) has estimated that a large percentage-- perhaps as many as 50 percent--of patients who are long-term residents of hospitals and specialized rehabilitation centers are there due to crime-related injuries. Those patients seldom receive outreach from a crime victim assistance or compensation program.

Pending a more comprehensive portrait of crime victims within the disability community, it is important for the victim assistance field to gain a better understanding of that community as a whole.

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