Disability abuse

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Disability abuse is when a person with a disability is abused physically, financially, sexually and/or psychologically due to the person having a disability. Disability abuse has also been considered a hate crime.^[1] The abuse is not limited to those who are visibly disabled such as wheelchair-users or physically deformed such as those with a cleft lip but also those with learning disabilities or difficulties such as dyslexia and dysgraphia, major depressive disorder and other disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome^[2][3] and developmental coordination disorder.^[4][5] Abuse of the disabled is not limited to schools. There are many known cases in which the disabled have been abused by staff of a care institution, such as the case revealed in a BBC Panorama programme on a Castlebeck care home (Winterbourne View) near Bristol which led to its closure and the suspension or dismissal of some of the staff.^[6]

Risk factors for abuse[]

Since many disabilities are not visible (for example, asthma, mental illness, or learning disabilities) some abusers cannot rationalise the invisible disability with a need for understanding, support, and so on. Since some disabled people are in need of additional support from others throughout their lives, they are also vulnerable to neglect.

Those with learning disabilities are often not able to communicate clearly or explain details in a way others understand and are therefore less likely to be believed if they do report.^[7]

Forms of abuse[]

Bullying[]

Bullying is an aggressive behavior or attitude towards a person that is unwanted that is usually repeated more than once. There is more than just one type of bullying; bullying can be verbal, social, and/or physical. Verbal bullying consists of name-calling a person, teasing, and threatening to cause harm to the person. Social abuse is intentionally leaving a person out while in a social setting or gathering, or taunting the person. Physical abuse consists of actions such as hitting or pushing someone, pulling their hair, tripping them, or breaking their belongings intentionally. Bullying happens usually before or after school hours, and it is usually done on campus or in the playground of the school. However, it can also happen while on the schoolbus or going to and from the schoolbus. Bullying can also happen through the Internet or through the phone as well, which is known as cyberbullying.^[8]

A 2012 survey by the Interactive Autism Network found that 63% of children with autism are bullied in the United States.^[9] Over a third of autistic adults said they had been bullied at work in a survey by the UK's National Autistic Society.^[10]

82% of children with a learning disability in the UK are bullied, according to Mencap, and 79% are scared to go out in case they are bullied.^[11]

A survey that was done shows that roughly seven out of ten people with disabilities have been abused, and that it is an ongoing problem.^[12] It was also found that bullying people with disabilities is a problem that is going on in different countries as well, and that problem is not always surfaced and given attention to.^[12]

A very common issue found for the non visible disabilities is in education but performed not by students but staff. Often many tutors will start telling the person before the first class stating they will fail before even witnessing a single range of capabilities instead just going by what they have heard about the disability. Some may be told so before starting their HNC yet succeed up to PHD. Many tutors misinterpret some actions made such as an autistic will ask many questions but they try learning more than what the course contains instead are believed to be struggling.

Bullying is also a cause of disability and exacerbates existing disabilities.

Bullying can occur in a variety of forms. They are not always physical. Verbal bullying and non-verbal bullying occur often. Catherine Thornberry and Karin Olson claim that carers often dehumanize disabled people, taking away their abilities and qualities that make them a person and lowering them to the level of just an object or a thing. They found that the caregivers or assistants are often the ones who are unintentionally bullying the disabled individuals. The caregivers look at the individuals at lower standard than they do other people, leading to Thornberry and Olson labeling of disabled individuals as a hate crime.^[13]

Bullying a child with a disability is considered to be harassment.^[14]

Sexual abuse[]

Disabled people are more vulnerable to sexual abuse than the general population for numerous reasons. As they are less likely to report what has happened to them, their rapists are able to get away with the abuse. Victims are often not taken seriously due to ableism which intersects with societal myths about sexual violence, for example, that 'ugly' people are not raped, since society's beauty standard devalues disability.

According to Valenti-Hein & Schwartz, only 3% of sexual abuse cases involving developmentally disabled people are ever reported, more than 90% of developmentally disabled people will experience sexual abuse at some point in their lives, and 49% will experience 10 or more abusive incidents.^[15]

A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry by Sequeira, Howlin, & Hollins found that sexual abuse is associated with a higher incidence of psychiatric and behavioural disorder in people with learning disabilities in a case-control study. Sexual abuse was associated with increased rates of mental illness and behavioural problems, and with symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Psychological reactions to abuse were similar to those observed in the general population, but with the addition of stereotypical behavior. The more serious the abuse, the more severe the symptoms that were reported.^[16]

Sexual abuse is less likely to be reported by individuals with disabilities. The people that surround these individuals are often found to be less likely to report these cases of abuse. Society sees the disabled as weak and vulnerable targets, making it easy for the abuser to not feel guilty or to blame themselves. More often than not people figure they can trust their physicians or doctors who provide care for these individuals. In a clinical study it was found that the physicians would provide poor quality of care to individuals with disabilities. They would suppress the problems instead of addressing them by giving them drugs to make them be quiet. It was also found that physicians were less likely to report sexual abuse or any abuse that they found present on these individuals. They justified these actions by believing that in society that disabled people matter less than any other person.^[17]

Murder[]

Extreme disability abuse can lead directly or indirectly to death. In Tanzania, people with albinism are hunted by witchcraft practitioners for their organs.^[18]

There have been numerous cases of parents of children with disabilities who have murdered their children because of their disabilities. Sometimes the parents kill themselves alongside their child. It was even advocated by Aristotle in the case of congenital deformity—"As to the exposure of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live."^[19] and is documented in various indigenous societies. Disabled girls and women are particularly vulnerable to abuse.^[20]

In England and Wales over 1700 disability hate crimes were recorded by police in 2011 and 2012, but a review by the Crown Prosecution Service said that they are 'overlooked' and 'under-reported'.^[21][22]

Impacts of abuse[]

There was one study done that shows 60 percent of the children with disabilities come forth about being bullied regularly, versus 25 percent of the students who are being bullied with no disabilities.^[23] This can also affect their learning and school and education. Their grades are more at risk in dropping, they have a more difficult time concentrating, and there is no interest in school and the learning material. All of this can lead to the child dropping out of school.^[24]

See also[]

• Ableism
• Developmental disability abuse and vulnerability
• Disability Flag
• Disability hate crime
• Institutional abuse
• National Network of Learning Disability Nursing
• Sexual abuse of people with developmental disabilities

References[]

Further reading[]

• Baumhoefner, Arlen Financial Abuse of the Deaf And Hard of Hearing Exposed (2006)
• Fitzsimons, Nancy M. & Sobsey, Dick Combating Violence & Abuse of People With Disabilities: A Call to Action (2009)