Disability Rights Florida Blog

Disability and Sexual Violence Awareness

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Content warning: discussion of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and caregiver violence against people with disabilities.

Also, both 'disabled person' and 'person with disability' are used throughout this blog to refer to people with disabilities. The author of this blog is disabled and uses both terms.

Introduction 

People with disabilities are often left out of discussions regarding sexual violence and bodily autonomy. In this blog, we discuss the prevalence of this type of violence committed against people with disabilities and some of the societal factors that contribute to the perpetuation of this violence and the silencing of disabled victims and survivors. We end the blog with a call to action for service providers to engage in discussions on this topic like we are.

Terms 

Although you may have heard of this topic prior to reading this blog, there are misconceptions about what sexual violence is. RAINN (the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) has many definitions on this topic provided on their website. We’ve utilized their definitions for a few important terms below. 

  • Sexual assault 
    • The term sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim.  
    • Some forms of sexual assault include: 
      • Attempted rape 
      • Fondling or unwanted sexual touching 
      • Forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body 
      • Penetration of the victim’s body, also known as rape 
  • Intimate partner violence 
    • Sexual violence most often is perpetrated by someone a survivor knows, and this includes intimate partner relationships. There are many different terms to refer to sexual violence that occurs within intimate partnerships, including: intimate partner sexual violence, domestic violence, intimate partner rape, marital rape, and spousal rape.  
    • No matter what term is used or how the relationship is defined, it is never okay to engage in sexual activity without someone’s consent. 
  • Survivor 
    • We often use “survivor” to refer to someone who has gone through the recovery process, or when discussing the short- or long-term effects of sexual violence. 
    • Some people identify as a victim, while others prefer the term survivor. The best way to be respectful is to ask for their preference. 

Statistics  

To inform the conversations below, let’s review some facts about sexual health and disability. These statistics come from the Department of Justice’s Crime Against Persons with Disabilities, 2009–2019 – Statistical Tables 

  • People with disabilities experience assault (sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault) at more than three times the rate as their non-disabled counterparts. 
  • Kids with either intellectual disabilities or mental health disabilities are almost five times more likely to experience sexual abuse than their non-disabled peers.
  • Additionally, an article from NPR found that unpublished Justice Department federal crime data noted that people with intellectual disabilities are sexually assaulted at a rate seven times higher than those without disabilities.
  • 19% of rapes or sexual assaults against persons with disabilities were reported to police, which was lower than the percentage of 36% for victims without disabilities. 
  • People with disabilities are more likely to get abused by those they know rather than strangers.  
    • Other relatives (including parents, children, and other relatives) accounted for a higher percentage of violent victimizations against persons with disabilities (14%) than against persons without disabilities (7%). 
    • The percentage of violent victimizations committed by a non-relative the victim knew was similar for victims with (33%) and without (30%) disabilities. 

These numbers are even higher among people with disabilities who hold additional marginalized identities. We see increased violence against Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, incarcerated folks, people who from lower income backgrounds, and non-US citizens. Overlapping marginalized identities lead to an increase in exposure to institutional and interpersonal violence due to how marginalized people are treated by society. 

These statistics and facts are heavy. However, it is important to name and acknowledge how people with disabilities are treated before further engaging in discussion about how and why this continues today.   

Comprehensive Sexual Education for Disabled Youth 

At its core, sexual education is about autonomy, safety, dignity, and access. Despite these core values, many disabled people report that they were not included or represented in sexual education classes. Sex ed focuses primarily on non-disabled bodies, and it often does little to educate disabled people on how they may navigate conversations and situations about sex.  

As noted in the previous section, statistics clearly show that people with disabilities experience higher rates of sexual and intimate partner violence. Yet, traditional education and socially taught sex ed don't do enough to discuss how people with disabilities can be safe and informed. There is often little to no creativity or discussion with young disabled people about how their bodies function and respond, and about relationships with others. If educators bridge this gap in education, it could greatly benefit the disability community. 

However, there are disability-informed resources to combat this disparity. Projects like I Protect Myself teach children with and without disabilities that their bodies are theirs and should be respected. Other groups, such as University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, produce educational work and resources for people with disabilities. For example, Temple University’s UCEDD offers disability sex education trainings and has a resource library on their website.   When you look for resources, try to find ones that are created by or in partnership with disabled people. 

Stereotypes about Disabled people and a Lack of Disabled Relationships and Sex Representation 

There are many inaccurate stereotypes about people with disabilities, and there are plenty of them regarding the sexuality of disabled folks. Some stereotypes include:  

  • All disabled people are asexual 
  • Disabled people can’t physically have sex 
  • People with intellectual disabilities can’t have sex or relationships because they can’t make a good choice for themselves 
  • Disabled people are infertile 
  • Non-disabled people who date disabled people just feel bad for the disabled person, they don’t like them deep down  
  • Non-disabled people who date disabled people have ulterior motives (after the disabled person’s money, things, etc.) 
  • Disabled people only date each other 
  • Disabled people should just be happy to be in an unhealthy relationship, because they are lucky to be in a relationship at all 
  • People with disabilities are burdens in relationships and ultimately cause too much stress on a relationship or the other person 

Phew. That was a lot to list out. Take a moment to pause reading to reflect if you’ve upheld some of these stereotypes yourself and consider how you can undo those biases.  

It is important to note that ALL of these examples are far from the truth. It is society’s barriers and stigma against disabled people that perpetuate this myth. Research proves that people with disabilities experience the same level of romantic and physical attraction as their non-disabled counterparts. People with disabilities can be fantastic partners, just like non-disabled people can be fantastic partners. In our two-part podcast ‘Disabled Marriage and Parenting,’ guests Heather Watkins and Dom Evans talk about how their disability has positively shaped their worldview and has helped them be good partners and parents. 

People with various disabilities have sexual relationships, and may use tools or assistance to have sex, but have sex all the same. A lot of these myths and stereotypes come from misinformation about what disabled bodies are capable of. It also comes from a lack of representation of disabled relationships and sex in the media, TV shows, movies, and social media. In TV shows, you rarely see the disabled character (if there is one) engaging in an emotional or sexual relationship. Most often, they are the side or background characters that don't have any real romantic or sexual character development. However, with the rise of social media, namely YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, disabled content creators are telling their own stories and bringing awareness to mainstream media about what disability, sex, and relationships mean to them.   

Disability Media organizations like FilmDis and GADIM are also doing great work in this area. FilmDis monitors media for authentic disability representation and advocates for disability representation in front of and behind the lens. GADIM leverages all media, culture, and entertainment to promote the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities in mass media. 

Caregiver Violence 

Caregivers perpetrate violence against people with disabilities at high rates. As the statistics at the beginning of the blog stated, people with disabilities experience more violence from people they know than from strangers.  

People with disabilities often utilize the services of a variety of different support workers. Some examples include personal care attendants, doctors, therapists, parents who are also caregivers, nursing staff, hospital staff, and more. Although these professionals are supposed to support them, they can take also advantage of them.  

It may seem simple to think that a disabled person should just fire that care worker and get a new one, but it is not that simple. These caregivers are sometimes the only thing between a person with a disability living in the community versus a more restrictive institutional setting. This makes survivors' ability to disclose their experiences much more difficult. It can sometimes be a choice between independence and institutionalization. The Department of Justice’s Crime Against Persons with Disabilities, 2009–2019 research data supports this experience. Survivors with disabilities report abuse at a lower rate than their non-disabled counterparts, at 36% versus 19%. The onus is on service providers and the survivor movement broadly to build safeguards that protect our most vulnerable survivors from experiencing further harm. We must fully fund home and community-based services so that disabled people can seek help without fearing their independence will be taken away. 

Violence Creates Disability 

Another crucial thing to recognize is that sexual violence creates disability. In the same way if you experience a violent car crash that injures or disables a part of your body, sexual violence can have the same impact. Sexual violence can cause physical, emotional, and psychological damage to someone. This can be through things like bruises or permanent injuries, to things like post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety.  

It is crucial that we make the connection between sexual violence initiatives and disability initiatives to ensure that disabled survivors have the supports and resources they need to feel supported and believed. When we treat these movements as separate, we fail disabled survivors. 

Victim Service Programs and Survivor Movement Inclusion  

The world isn’t constructed with people with disabilities in mind, and that applies to violence shelters as well. Victim service programs are not fully accessible, and many are not presently equipped to support the needs of survivors with disabilities. Programs must engage in discussions on disability and accessibility and improvements. Every survivor should get what they need, and when that does not happen due to a lack of knowledge on disability, negative biases about disabled people, or inaccessibility, shelters may turn away people who really need help. Victim service programs’ understanding of how disability impacts someone’s domestic or sexual violence experience could make a huge difference for this underserved population. 

In the same way victim service providers must engage in dialogue on disability, so does the broader survivor movement. The movement and its goals must interrogate how people with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by violence and do intersectional work to address the needs of survivors with disabilities. This includes advocating for change and implementing practices that would uplift disabled survivors. This could include advocating for home and community-based services, focusing on disabled body autonomy and agency, ensuring that movement work and spaces are disability-informed, having digitally and physically accessible materials and events, adopting disability inclusion policies, having disabled survivors in leadership, and much more.  

Service Organizations’ Responsibility to This Work 

In the same way that the survivor movement needs to engage with the disability movement, disability service providers must engage in sexual violence work. Survivors navigate many different services and talk to various providers to get care and support. This can include doctors, social workers, lawyers, housing support coordinators, food assistance workers, and more. Navigating life during or after violence can be debilitating and incredibly difficult. If service providers have a deeper understanding of survivors with disabilities’ experiences, then these survivors may feel less alone and more supported in their healing and life moving forward. 

Disability Rights Florida (DRF) is included in these service organizations. How we discuss sexual violence and engage with our clients, colleagues, partner organizations, and systems has an impact. We are striving to be accountable to survivors by engaging in an ongoing project called ‘Today Not Tomorrow’ with the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence. DRF is taking stock of our own internal practices and policies and taking a close look at how survivors with disabilities are impacted in the state. 

The ‘Today Not Tomorrow’ project is an opportunity to bridge service gaps and build trust between programmatic services and survivors with disabilities.  The project will examine the knowledge, culture, and environment as well as policies and procedures of each individual partner agency and the service delivery system as a whole to promote accessibility, safety, dignity, and autonomy. We eagerly engage in this work and are dedicated to a future where survivors with disabilities feel supported.  

Although we are investing more in this space, this project is not meant to provide direct services to clients. This work is more about investigating our own agencies and the systems currently in place to improve them. However, we are able to serve survivors with disabilities under other projects and grants if their issue is within the scope of the services we provide. We encourage you to reach out to our intake department for assistance. If we are unable to assist with your issue, we will provide information and referral services. 

View the resources below for more information and available supports for you. You are not alone. 

Resources 

Sexual Violence

Domestic and Dating Violence 

Other Victims of Crime 

Additional Resources 

More reading:  

Blog written by Maddie Crowley

Maddie is Disability Rights Florida's Social Media and Content Specialist. They are a multiply disabled person who cares deeply for disabled issues and believes in the power of advocacy and awareness.

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