Module 6
Considerations for Advocacy on Behalf of Victims from Vulnerable Populations

Sexual Assault Victims with Disabilities’ Concerns About Navigating the Criminal Justice System

Victims with disabilities encounter many barriers to reporting sexual assault victimization and navigating the criminal justice system.

  • Like elder victims, victims with disabilities are often dependent on their abuser whether it be a caretaker (family member or professional) or an intimate partner and fear disclosing the abuse. Victims with disabilities may be isolated and unable to access phone or transportation on their own to contact law enforcement or victim services.
  • Often students with disabilities do not receive the sex education that students without disabilities receive. Persons with disabilities are often presumed unable to engage in consensual sexual relationships so information about healthy relationships, what it means to consent, and that we all have the right not to consent to sex, are often not discussed with people with disabilities at all, or in ways that they can apply to the real world. This can impact victims’ ability to identify that a crime has been committed or that they can seek help for this victimization.
  • Some persons with disabilities have limited ability to communicate or communicate differently than the criminal justice system is accustomed to. Often this leads to the presumption by criminal justice professionals that the victim cannot communicate at all, or lacks the capacity to participate in the criminal justice system.

 

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