Post on 14-Dec-2015
Rural Disability Awareness Project (RDAP)Webinar
Supported by Verizon Foundation
Overview of Webinar Topics• Overview of literature
• Brief history
• Current domestic violence responses
• Services
• Policy
• Education
• What is missing?
• How do we begin to fill the gap?
• Rethink categorical responses
• Create responses to victim harm and need
• Broaden independence thinking and action to include economics and self care
Key Findings from Literature
Disabled victims and those at risk are
effected by:
- Overlooked and underserved needs
- Negative impact on health and well-being
- Misunderstood differences in abuse
experiences
Literature con’tUnmet Needs
- Policy revision
- Changes in social attitudes and context for
disabled victims
- Improvements in on-line safety
- Research to inform understanding and new rural
approaches
Abuse Unique to DisabilityLiterature Continued
• Threats of institutionalization
• Withholding items necessary for health and survival
• Neglect• Perpetrator may be a
health care provider
• Limited accessibility of DV services and supports
• Communication barriers (e.g. no sign language interpreter)
• Physical dependence limits safety options
Literature on recommendations to inform action
We would suggest that the literature does not yet contain creative, rural-relevant responses
Key Points Of Domestic Violence History
• Primarily restricted to sanctioned male dominance over females until
contemporary times
• Emergence of industrial revolution brought economic subordination of
women as men worked in remunerative contexts and women did not
• 1829 domestic violence outlawed in UK but convictions were rare
• 1871 wife beating outlawed in 2 states in the US
• Not until the 1960s was domestic violence acknowledged as a gendered
problem of male power over females
Today
• Expansion of harm consequences beyond women is in it's infancy, but is critical for thinking about the relationship among dependence, cultural sanction and abuse
Disability History Key Points
• In ancient contexts, disability as a category did not exist
but atypical people were met with primarily negative
responses
• Religious thinking of the middle ages influenced
responses to atypical individuals in diverse ways: pity,
charity, exclusion, attribution of sin
• Enlightenment thinking brought scientism to analysis of
the body and creation of standards and norms
Disability: 20th and 21st Century
• Medical dominance over the body rendered disability a medical deficit to
be treated by professionals
• In the 1980s, theorists proposed the social model of disability which
suggested that negative stereotypes, attitudes and barriers were the
seat of disability, not the body
• Current models view disability as a complex interaction of bodies and
contexts: disjuncture
• Responses informed by disjuncture can be complex and powerful in
creating positive social change
Domestic Violence And Disability Key Points
• Myths and negative stereotypes left disabled individuals
out of domestic violence services
• Limited access to standard environments exclude
disabled bodies from shelters, services and other
responses
• Expanding the understanding of domestic violence as
perpetrated against dependent individuals is nascent and
powerful in helping us to think and act broadly
The Rural Challenge
• Limited resources
• Large distances
• Weapons
• Myth of lower crime rates
• Limited transportation
• Limited connectivity
• Close knit communities (e. g. underreporting)
• Economic challenges: scarcity of jobs etc.
• Limited self care resources
Current Responses:Services
• Identify harm activity as the basis for victim
response: causes typically follow the power and
control framework
• Harm consequences: trauma treatment, removal
and criminal justice
• Disabled victims are left out of typical services,
sent to rehabilitation, or not recognized as victims
Current Responses: Policy
• Specialized Legislation
Current Responses: Education
• Public awareness
• Pre-service education
• Social networking for innovation
What is Missing
• Recognition of disabled victims
• Full access
• Responses that rethink independence
to include self care
• Attention to rural geographies
From the Service PerspectiveWhat Can Be Done Now?
Rethink assessment: responsive to disabled victims
– Expand to consider rurality and functional limitations
Treatment and intervention for individual victims
– Begin with harm as the basis for all intervention
– Focus on economic and self care independence, and safety
– Connect individuals with appropriate resources
From a broader community perspective
– Evaluate current community resources and limitations- and collaborate on new
approaches
– Create solutions that consider the unique needs of rural areas
Reporting Abuse
• Mandated Reporting in Maine, New Hampshire,
& Vermont for certain professionals
• Become informed about legal and moral
reporting responsibilities
– Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN)
Now What?
• Identify harm. Consider the areas of vulnerability created by the disabling
circumstance in rural contexts before dismissing consequences which do not
fit within typical conceptualizations of harm
• If the explanations fit with legitimate victimization, seek a relevant response.
If none exists, it is timely and critical to develop informed approaches to
protect the safety and liberty of all citizens including rural disabled individuals
• Respond through establishing independence opportunities: economic and
self care
• Collaborate: dialog leads to innovation!!!! (http://rdap.astos.org)