Category: Sexual Assault Prevention and Response

After a year of hard work, we have published Sexual Assault Prevention and Response for People with IDD: A Gap Analysis Framework. This publication describes challenges and opportunities related to:

-Risk Factors
-Awareness
-Prevention
-Reporting
-First Response
-Adjudication
-Recovery

People with IDD are at a far greater risk of sexual assault than others. We hope our work will help those in the field begin to make a difference. Check out this and other publications on the new Our Resources page.

Special thanks to our amazing research team!

We are proud to share a new white paper. It describes the needs of people who communicate without speech. Their needs are different for sexual assault prevention and response. Many therapists want to work with people who communicate without speech. They may not know how. We hope this paper will help.

We learned:

– It is hard to know when people who communicate without speech have been assaulted. The people around them must watch for signs.
– Behavior might change. The person might avoid others. They might have new fears.
– Sometimes these behaviors are misunderstood. People might miss the real cause.
– Supporting people who communicate without speech is hard.
– Therapists must help the person trust them. They must believe the person.
– Therapies must be person-centered. Some that might work well are art therapies and EMDR.

We hope this white paper will help therapists work better with clients who communicate without speech. Please share this information!

Our team will be holding listening sessions to learn more about important issues and concerns related to sexual assault of people with IDD. What we learn will help us develop resources and tools to prevent sexual assault and to support people if it does happen to them. We’ll have five groups:

Each group will have four people. They will meet two times over Zoom for 1.5 hours each time. Participants will receive $75/session. The first session will be in late June/early July. The second session will be in August.

We want diversity within these groups, including people with differing races and ethnicities, languages, disabilities, gender, gender identification, and sexual orientation.

All participants must be at least 18 years old and willing to discuss these sometimes-difficult topics. We are working with SAFE Austin to ensure all participants have control and choice within the sessions. We will also include a therapist with trauma-informed training in the sessions.

If you or anyone you know is interested in participating, please contact Alisa Miller no later than May 21. Let her know in which one of the five groups you want to join. Alisa will follow up to get more information.

Your help can make a huge difference!

We are hard at work in this first year of our project. We’re already learning so much about this important topic. We want to share some of our early findings with you.

Prevention Focuses on Sexuality Education

Sexuality Education is used most often to prevent sexual assault of people with IDD. These programs might focus on healthy sexuality, understanding boundaries, and learning how to keep our bodies safe. These programs are important and can be very helpful. But they don’t focus on the perpetrators–the people doing the assaults. And often, people shy away from sexuality issues. This puts people with IDD more at risk.

Group Housing Is a Big Risk Factor

Group housing can include anything from a state supported living center (SSLC) to an informal home where roommates share space. Sexual assault happens at higher rates in group housing. But assaults are less likely to be reported. When they are reported, staff are less likely to involve police. This often leads to a cycle that keeps the perpetrators safe and continuing to commit assaults/abuse.

Adjudication and Survivor Support Get Little Attention

Most studies, programs, and resources focus on prevention and reporting. Yet, adjudication (making sure perpetrators are tried and convicted) is very important too. Abusers who do not receive consequences usually continue to assault/abuse.

Also, little is being done to support sexual assault survivors with IDD. We know that healing trauma is difficult but critical. More needs to be done to provide survivors with a clear recovery plan and the resources to make it happen.

We are excited to be able to bring light to this dark topic. We will publish our complete gap analysis framework in July of 2021. We will then begin working on resources to help fill those gaps.

Comment below to let us know what you think is most important in supporting people with IDD!