Strategies for Making Violence and Abuse a Priority in Disability Organizations

1. Strategies for Making Violence and Abuse a Priority in Disability Organizations

2. Presenter: Leslie Myers, MS, CRC, CDVC IndependenceFirst Milwaukee, Wisconsin • “Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.” • By Charles F. Kettering

3. Disability organizations may not realize but violence/abuse is already part of our work…unfortunately…not always in a positive way! History: Services and treatment of people with disabilities have not always been “pretty”….

4. Neglect Degradation Overcrowding

5. Freak Shows Uninhabitable Facilities

6. Restraints

7. Treatments

8. ECT

9. Segregation Isolation

10. Nothing to do No where to go

11. But that was a long time ago…right? Warning: The next 6 slides have not been edited for respectful language!

12. Ohio: A special education teacher is accused of slapping a disabled student. NY: A former employee of an agency that provides services for the disabled apologized in court Monday for stealing more than $4,000 from residents of a group home.

13. Wisconsin: A bus driver allegedly sexually assaulted one of his mentally disabled passengers in late 2006, when he was supposed to be driving him home from the Kenosha Achievement Center.

14. Colorado: A state health care worker has been fired and is facing a criminal charge after being accused of locking up helpless developmentally disabled patients in a state-run group home.

15. Texas: Police say the former caregiver of a disabled woman murdered her inside her apartment earlier this month. Connecticut: An 81-year-old man killed his wife and disabled adult children before fatally shooting himself because he was ill and worried the family might become a burden to others

16. Louisiana: The manager of a grocery store is facing charges over the alleged sexual assault of a disabled female employee Illinois: A 69-year-old far south suburban man has been sentenced to 104 years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.

17. Ohio: A disabled 3-year-old boy whose charred remains were found near a chimney might have lived had a domestic violence charge against a foster father been reported to children's services. FloridaMan charged with murder in the death of his disabled wife. In a 911 call, a Pompano Beach man told dispatchers that his wife choked while he was feeding her, and he later told paramedics that her neck was bruised and swollen because she had had a bad fall the night before

18. 30 % of the perpetrators of sexual abuse of people with disabilities are disability service providers. Wolbring, G. (1994). Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities http://www.bioethicsanddisability.org/violence.html Several studies confirm a high prevalence of disability-related abuse perpetrated by personal assistants who were either intimate partners or hired attendants. Violence Against Women with Disabilities--Vulnerability for Abuse http://www.bcm.edu/crowd/?pmid=2133

19. Half of all abuse of people with disabilities is perpetrated by service providers (e.g., paid or unpaid caregivers, healthcare workers, and providers of other community services, such as transportation). Breaking the Silence on Crime Victims with Disabilities in the United States (2007) National Council on Disability, Association of University Centers on http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=42933

20. We have an ugly history…and while we have learned more human treatments and have improved our services…violence and abuse is still happening…this is why we need to make violence/abuse a priority.

21. Barriers Staff have a lot to do already and often do not want another thing to add to their work load. Violence/Abuse is probably not on the priority list for your agency or your state plan. Staff may see it as something they need “expertise” in, so may feel unqualified to address violence/abuse.

22. Barriers-Continued Key stakeholders may not agree (i.e. an agency that you have a contract with, governing bodies/national associations, etc.) Directors/board members may not agree that violence/abuse should be integrated into the agency’s work. There may be a resistance to change on the part of some staff or departments-they like the status quo.

23. Barriers-Continued Agency values/beliefs may be seen by some as conflicting with the issues ofviolence/abuse: • Consent • Mandated reporting • Self-determination • Right to make choices • Consumer control, etc.

24. What things have you done to bring violence/abuse into the forefront at your agency? Policy/procedure changes? Questions on your intake forms? Talking about violence/abuse to the individuals you serve? Adding information on community violence/abuse agencies as referral sources? Adding information on community violence/abuse agencies to your website? Posters, information sheets, etc.? Other?

25. What are some of the barriers you have faced while trying to make these changes?

26. Example for Creating Change-Without Adding More Work 4 Core Services of Independent Living Centers • Peer Support • Independent Living Skills Training • Advocacy • Information and Referral

27. Peer Support • Peer Support provides the consumer with a safe place to disclose their experience of violence/abuse. • Peers need to be trained on the appropriate actions to take if they receive a disclosure of abuse; this can be added to your peer training curriculum. • Peer support in the form of support groups and individual support is an essential tool for victim service agencies. For a person with a disability, support being provided by someone they see as a peer is just as important as a victim receiving support from someone else who has been victimized.

28. Independent Living Skills Training • Independent living skills training classes that focus on self-protection, safety planning and empowerment can be added to your existing curriculum. • Abuse awareness can be added into classes you already offer, for example a class on budgeting can include information on financial abuse and exploitation. A class on self-esteem could include a component that addresses how emotional/psychological abuse can cause someone to have a low self-esteem. You can add in a piece about safety in the community and on public transportation during classes on transportation. • There are a lot of opportunities for independent living center staff to include safety issues with their consumers.

29. Advocacy Advocating for an individual or on a greater systems level is the backbone of the independent living center’s role in the community. There are numerous advocacy issues that ILCs have focused on that can include a violence awareness component. For example: Waiting list-this issue effects many people with disabilities but when applied to someone in an abusive or violence relationship, this waiting list might be a real threat to the person’s health and welfare, since the person may have to stay in there current abusive environment until they receive the services they are waiting on. Lack of affordable/accessible housing-this issue is relevant to many people with disabilities but when someone needs to move from their current abusive/violence living environment this shortage becomes much more serious.

30. Advocacy Accessible transportation-while this is important to enable people with disabilities to get to work, shopping, medical appointments, etc. when a person is being abused and needs to flee to safety the lack of accessible transportation becomes even more important. • On an individual level, IL staff may need to advocate for the consumer to get accommodations within the victim service agency or in the courts. IL staff may also need to advocate for the consumer to be served at all by a victim service provider. • There are many system advocacy issues that ILCs can take up, for example: • The recent reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and other victim related legislation • When crimes are committed against people with disabilities in our community, it offers a great opportunity for ILCs to address the public’s perception of victims with disabilities.

31. Information and Referral • Having an awareness of community programs is paramount to providing effective information and referral services and victim service programs (i.e. sexual assault agencies, domestic violence shelters, District Attorneys, etc.) are part of your community. • Gather information on these programs so that you can make appropriate referrals. • Know whether the program is accessible, this will give you the opportunity to advocate for changes within these programs. • Develop a list of program to assist those answering information and referral calls identify where best to send the caller. Ask for brochures and information sheets from the local programs to give to consumers who are receiving information and referral in-person. Include links to local and national programs, as well as links to information on victimization, self-help strategies, safety planning, etc. on you website.

32. Integrating Violence and Abuse into Policies • My Examples: • DART Protocol on Violence and Abuse • WCILC Protocol on Violence and Abuse for Wisconsin CILs

33. Integrating Violence and Abuse into Policies-Continued Samples: ARC-Policy Statement on “Protection” NCIL-Resolution on Violence and Abuse AUCD- Statement of Principles-”Medical Interventions” AK Governors Council on Disability and Special Education-”Major Issues”

34. Integrating Violence and Abuse into Practice • Intake Forms/Screening/Consumer Contact • Ask questions, it can be as simple as “Do you feel safe?” (see Abuse Assessment Screen-Disability) • Include question about abuse on your intake forms • Include information about local domestic violence/sexual assault/protective services, etc. in your information/referral database.

35. Integrating Violence and Abuse For Staff • Create opportunities for formal and informal staff training. • Provide internal technical assistance for co-workers • Give co-workers information about local programs • Use staff meetings and other opportunities to have presentations by local DV/SA programs, APS, etc.

36. Integrating Violence and Abuse For Staff • Use different “awareness month” events to teach and inform staff • Use current events to open a dialogue about violence/abuse • Write articles for internal newsletters and external newsletters • Meet with staff from other departments to discuss their handling of cases of abuse

37. Small Group Activity Break into small groups and take about 15 minutes to come up with 5 things you can change in your agency that will help make violence/abuse a priority. Someone should be the recorder and someone should be the reporter.

38. Report from groups Anyone hear something from one of the other groups they think they could use? What are some of the barriers you might face trying to institute these changes?

39. The one thing I am excited about having this grant is having the chance to make changes in my program…for years I have worked on making changes on the other side…but have not had a good opportunity to look in the mirror. So as we move through the phases of this grant, identifying areas of change and then becoming the instruments of that change we can only grow as programs and as individuals….

40. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”~Charles Darwin~ The End