At their final event for Sexual Assault Awareness Month Tuesday, members of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment highlighted eight different kinds of abuse to which disabled individuals can become victims.
Nastassja Heintz-Janis, PAVE outreach coordinator, said the workshop was open to the entire campus to inform students about an issue they may not have considered.
""[This event shows] one of the different forms sexual assault has and the different ways it affects people,"" she said.
According to the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, among developmentally disabled adults, approximately 83 percent of women and 32 percent of men are victims of sexual assault.
However, Alex Lubniewski, McBurney Disability Resource Center Speakers Bureau representative, said there are several forms of abuse other than sexual assault that individuals with disabilities may encounter, including emotional abuse, isolation, intimidation and coercion.
Lubniewski said relationships within the disabled community oftentimes have a supportive base that can turn abusive, but victims may not realize they are in danger.
""Think about how somebody like that can get attracted to thinking they should be grateful they found somebody who is normal,"" she said. ""They have not had experience of what a good relationship is like and may not realize the relationship they are in is not healthy.""
Lubniewski said people with disabilities can feel physically trapped within their household, unable to connect with the community if they are not given appropriate resources. She said coercion is especially scary for those with certain disabilities.
""Think about if you have a mobility disability and you are not in your chair how scary it would be if they were throwing things around you, or if you are blind and you can hear things crashing but you don't know exactly where they are,"" she said.
According to Lubniewski, even people with mild cognitive disabilities may accept abuse in relationships and can be forced into a servile state.
""There are some cases where a man will have somebody who does whatever they want,"" she said. ""They basically have a servant who will do whatever he wants because she thinks she is lucky because she got a husband.""
PAVE staff said they will look at making their programs more accessible to all students with disabilities.
