Some FACTS about Sexual Assault/Abuse and Developmental Disability…
- The risk of being physically or sexually assaulted for adults with developmental disabilities is likely 4 to 10 times as high as it is for other adults (Sobsey, 1994).
- Children with any kind of disability are more than twice as likely to be sexually abused (Little, 2004).
- Regardless of age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or class, women with disabilities are assaulted, raped and abused at a rate more than two times greater than non-disabled women (Cusitar, 1994; Sobsey, 1994).
- Women with developmental disabilities are more likely to be re-victimized by the same person, and more than half never seek assistance with legal or treatment services (Pease & Frantz, 1994).
- Although about 80% of women and 60% of men with developmental disabilities will be sexually molested by age 18, only 3% of their attackers go to jail (Hingsburger, Press Release CP Wire, May 2002).
http://www.teachingsexualhealth.ca/media/pdf/Sexuality_Developmental_Disability.pdf
