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)