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DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

This week I became much more aware of the abuse millions of Americans with disabilities regularly face. The abuse can be emotional, verbal or sexual, physical assault or neglect, medical neglect, sexual or financial exploitation, or even murder.

"Children with disabilities are abused over three times more often than children that don't have any disabilities," said Dr. Nora Baladerian over the telephone from her Los Angeles office. "As for adults with disabilities, anywhere from 70 to 90 percent have experienced assaults of various types." Baladerian was a speaker at the Tenth National Conference on Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities recently held in Riverside, California. The conference raised awareness about abuse and worked toward solutions.

Why the abuse?

"For one, perpetrators know that people with mental retardation or other disabilities are less likely to be believed when they tell about abuse," Baladerian said. "Also, law enforcement and protective service agencies usually aren't trained in how to interview and interact with people with disabilities. So they do not receive equal justice. For instance, a police officer might look at a person with cerebral palsy and think they can't be interviewed. Without a witness, you don't have a case."

Baladerian offered three examples of abuse.

"I'm working with a man with autism right now," she said. "Throughout life in various placements, residential schools and licensed residential programs, he has been tied up and beaten, experienced sexual abuse, and been verbally and emotionally abused. The only abuse he hasn't experienced is financial abuse. But from age 8 on, his parents have always been told of his 'excellent' care. I also have worked with a woman with Down syndrome who was raped by the boyfriend of her care provider. She told me that on many occasions she was placed in a straight jacket as punishment for her behavior and even forced outside her northern state home in winter."

She also mentioned another woman with Down syndrome whose father had regularly sexually abused her and her disabled sibling. This last example first alerted Baladerian to the problem in 1986. Now she refers to herself as a "rabid advocate."

So what's the solution?

"Having improved attitudes toward people with disabilities would help greatly," she said. "It's 90 percent attitude. Also, there is a great deal yet we can do to reduce the risk (of people with disabilities being abused)."

For more, see www.danieljvance.com or www.disability-abuse.com