Individuals should never be blamed or held responsible for their own victimization. However, increasing protective strategies for at-risk individuals has proven to be one way to help reduce the risk of victimization. Risk reduction is also the responsibility of service providers, as they can proactively identify resources and address obstacles to reporting and accessing services.
Examples of protective strategies for at-risk individuals (implementation may require the help of service providers):
- Ensure access to communication methods (phone, Internet, etc.) if help would be needed.
- Maintain access to assistive devices.
- Minimize financial dependency on one person; include more than one person in financial arrangements.
- Obtain and understand basic information on sexual violence, personal boundaries, personal safety and community resources.
- Require that caregivers and/or guardians be screened.
- Inform caregivers and other service providers that sexual assault will be reported to law enforcement and follow through with reporting.
- Reduce isolation through multiple social connections that occur unscheduled in person or via the phone or Internet. Also maintain regular conversations with someone other than a caregiver to verify personal safety.
- Have an individualized safety plan.
Examples of ways that organizations can increase access to their services:
- Advertise their services in accessible formats in venues utilized by persons with disabilities.
- Provide services at no or low-cost.
- Partner with agencies serving victims with disabilities to provide education about available resources, their rights, sexuality, and healthy sexual relationships versus sexual violence.
- Have the necessary resources available to communicate with victims seeking services, such as a picture board, capacity to hire an interpreter, etc.
- Identify accessible resources to meet the needs of sexual violence victims and persons with disabilities.
- Ensure the facility is accessible or arrange to provide equivalent services at an alternate site.
- Train staff to appropriately respond to disclosures from victims with disabilities, provide crisis intervention and safety planning, support victims and quickly connect them with the resources they need.
Examples of ways service providers can work on a systemic level to reduce risk:
- Change policies that limit victims' access to services.
- Support local projects that increase safe, independent living opportunities for persons with disabilities.
- Encourage policies and practices that will increase the safety of individuals with disabilities, such as screening policies for personal care attendants and guardians. • Increase awareness of the risk of sexual victimization to create a supportive social environment that encourages victims to speak out.
- Provide cross-training to all disciplines involved in the service delivery system to ensure that victims with disabilities will be well served at all points of entry into the system
For more information on this topic, see B1. Sexual Victimization of Persons with Disabilities: Prevalence and Risk Factors in the WV S.A.F.E. Training and Collaboration Toolkit—Serving Sexual Violence Victims with Disabilities.