More than 300 calls a month are made to special domestic violence hotline
By Natalie White
Massachusetts, May 29, 1995 6:00 AM
Dealing with domestic violence is difficult enough without also grappling with a disability.
Yet hundreds of people each year must do exactly that, said Michael J. Brooks, executive director of the state Disabled Persons Protection Commission.
Mr. Brooks said society has been slow to accept that the disabled can also be victims of domestic violence, in large part because most people have a hard time believing someone would abuse the most vulnerable.
We don’t like to think of spousal abuse or any kind of abuse with the disabled. People in the general population don’t want to think about it. There’s a reluctance to acknowledge it,” Mr. Brooks said. “But it’s there, and we have to help.”
The commission was formed in 1987 to help with abuse of the disabled, and currently fields more than 300 calls a month to its 24-hour hotline.
The agency investigates a wide range of abuse from neglect and physical battering to sexual abuse. When possible, the agency helps victims get out of an abusive relationship by assisting them in seeking restraining orders, tapping into state resources or finding shelter.
“We try to find shelters, but there is a real shortage of shelters that can deal with people with disabilities,” said Mr. Brooks. “There are a few, and that’s more than there were a few years ago. So we are making progress. It’s not that shelters don’t want to have the disabled, but they don’t have access for them to get around, they may not have elevators or wide-enough doors, or handicapped bathrooms.”
Shelters also are not staffed to meet the needs of the mentally ill or mentally retarded, he said. In these cases, the agency works with other state departments such as the Department of Mental Health to try to find safe haven.
“Right now, we handle this on a case by case basis and try to get by. But it’s an issue we are working on and need to deal with in a more comprehensive way,” said Mr. Brooks.
In fiscal year 1993, the most recent data available, the agency received more than 3,000 reports of abuse against the disabled by caretakers. Of those cases, about 60 percent were alleged to have occurred at program settings and the other 40 percent in private homes, most often by family members.
Mr. Brooks said the agency in 1993 received at least 79 complaints of husbands abusing wives, 23 wives abusing husbands, 135 cases of fathers abusing sons or daughters, 197 cases of mothers abusing sons or daughters, 47 cases of sisters abusing brothers, 36 cases of brothers abusing sisters and 28 cases of boyfriends abusing girlfriends. Because of the way the information is garnered and kept, these numbers are probably low, he said.
“The issues that are here are the same ones in other domestic violence cases. They are relationship issues of power and control and dominance. If you are a disabled person, it makes you even more vulnerable because your ability to protect yourself may be lower,” said Mr. Brooks. “The underlying issues are the same, although the disability may put more pressure on resources, finances. It might exacerbate the situation, but it doesn’t cause it.”
The agency is responsible for screening and investigating reports of abuse of anyone aged 18 to 59 who is “disabled.” State law defines a “disabled” person as anyone who is mentally or physically disabled and, because of that disability is wholly or partially dependent on others to meet daily living needs such as eating, taking medication or taking care of personal hygiene.
Mr. Brooks said the broad definition allows the agency to take people not normally considered disabled under its protective wing. For instance, the agency could step in in the case of a person with cancer or AIDS whose disease has progressed to the point where he or she needs assistance from a caretaker.
By law, as with the elderly and children, abuse or suspicion of abuse of the disabled must be reported to state authorities by those considered “mandated reporters,” such as educators, doctors, nurses, police and anyone working in a public or private agency that deals with the disabled. Failing to report could lead to criminal prosecution and a fine of up to $1,000.
Occasionally, the victim will call the hotline him or herself. But, Mr. Brooks said, victims often do not report abuse because they fear no one will help, they will be forced to move or they will lose their caretaker.
Mr. Brooks encouraged anyone who suspects abuse to call the commission’s hotline. If the abuse is occuring at that moment, call police first, he said.
The commission screens its complaints, and then decides which reports warrant further investigation. Some complaints are referred to other agencies because they involve children or elders with disabilities, or because the person described is not dependent on the caretaker.
Of the approximately 2,000 complaints that were investigated in 1993, abuse was found to have occurred in more than 900 cases. Nearly a third of those cases were domestic abuse cases, or occuring in private home settings.
“That’s about three cases a day, and we know that all abuses are not reported so the real number is probably higher,” Mr. Brooks said.
Women are the victims in a majority of the cases.
@ 2008 South Coast Today
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