CHAPTER 9:

Victimization of Persons with Disabilities

Reported by: Jessie Q Jurial Jr
  Who is Disabled?

These are the persons with mental retardation and persons with
developmental disabilities.

 Types of disabilities

-A physical ability is present when a person is unable to perform daily

activities such as walking, climbing stairs, bathing, getting dressed, and taking
care of himself.

-An intellectual disability falls under the broader category of developmental

disability.

-Developmental disabilities include such things as cerebral palsy, epilepsy,

severe learning disabilities, mental retardation and autism.

 Description of common Developmental Disabilities

Cerebral palsy- A condition that involved the brain and nervous system functions.
Persons with cerebral palsy have damage to the area of the brain responsible for
muscle tone, resulting in difficulty in movement, balance and posture.

Epilepsy- A disorder in the brain that typically causes various spontaneous

seizures.

Mental retardation- Intellectual is significantly below average; person lacks basic

skills for everyday living.

Autism- within the first 3 years of a child’s life, this developmental disorder
appears and affect brain development (usually disrupting the child’s social and
communication skills)

Severe learning or intellectual disability- limited ability to perform daily functions

(i.e. communication, self-care, and getting through basic and often very simple
learning/educational courses) and below-average score on mental ability or
intelligence.

 Violence Against Women with Disabilities

Special attention has been given to studying women with disabilities.
In study of physically disabled women who used personal assistants,
Powers, Curry, Oschwald and Maley in 2002.
 Violence Against youth with disabilities
Children with disability may be especially vulnerable to victimization. Young
people in general are at risk of victimization because they may be unable to
defend themselves, thus being attractive targets.

A study of children with disabilities compared to other children found that

they were more likely than other children to be bullied at school.

Bullying, is considered a criminal offense.

It is a harmful behavior directed at a youth that occurs more than once and
is characterized by a power imbalance.

Violent victimization against persons with disabilities most commonly do

not involve a weapon (20%), and about one fourth of victims with
disabilities suffer injury as a result.

About half of violent crime victims with disabilities reported their

experiences to the police. However, more likely the victims seek assistance
from victim advocacy agencies.

 Risk Factors for Victimization for Persons with Disabilities

Persons with disabilities are likely seen as vulnerable, especially if they rely
on others.

People with intellectual or developmental disabilities may not be able to

recognize and process risk.

Persons with disability are more likely to live in poverty than people
without disabilities.
Victimization of persons with disabilities has been linked to a dependency-
stress model, especially for victimization of younger persons with
disabilities.