A new report has revealed that in the last year women with disability were more than twice as likely to report sexual violence as women without disability. A quarter of young people with disability reported violence compared to 11 per cent of those in older age groups. And people with cognitive and psychological impairments reported higher rates of all types of violence compared to people with other types of impairments.
The research report ‘Nature and extent of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation against people with disability in Australia’ was commissioned by the Disability Royal Commission and compiled by the Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health (CRE-DH)
The report also showed that over the course of their lifetime, about two thirds of people with disability have reported some kind of violence, whether that be physical, sexual, intimate partner violence, emotional abuse and/or stalking by any perpetrator, compared to just under half of people without disability.
Up until now, there has been very little data collected in Australia that specifically addresses issues of neglect and exploitation.
From the information gathered in this report it is now clear that people with disability remain at much greater risk of experiencing physical violence than people without disability.
The report used the findings of the Personal Safety Survey (PSS) administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is currently the only national survey in Australia that collects data on experiences of interpersonal violence and the best available data source for the prevalence of different types of violence experienced by people with disability in Australia.
The full report, including Auslan and easy read versions, can be accessed on: www.disabilityroyalcommission.gov.au