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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 W hat is missing? H ow do we begin to fill the gap? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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)
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