KosAbility is a community diary series posted at 5 PM ET every Sunday and Wednesday by volunteer diarists. This is a gathering place for people who are living with disabilities, who love someone with a disability, or who want to know more about the issues surrounding this topic. There are two parts to each diary. First, a volunteer diarist will offer their specific knowledge and insight about a topic they know intimately. Then, readers are invited to comment on what they've read and or ask general questions about disabilities, share something they've learned, tell bad jokes, post photos, or rage about the unfairness of their situation. Our only rule is to be kind; trolls will be spayed or neutered.
Despite the fact that many laws have been passed whose intent was to protect people living with disabilities from abuse, we still have a ways to go—as the experiences we have had with the schools here in Tennessee have so clearly pointed out…
Last Friday, I noticed a suspicious looking bruise on my profoundly autistic daughter’s arm when she came home from school. I immediately called the police and her pediatrician. After waiting for almost three hours, they finally showed up—and told me that they would not do a police report until after I had talked to the principal at her school (the cop also let me know that his wife is a teacher, and so he knows “how these things work”).
Luckily, her doctor was a bit more attentive to Ashley’s needs—she met us at the emergency room and immediately examined her and did the proper documentation on the bruise. She also put in a call to the Child Abuse Hotline. She says the bruise looked like it was caused by some sort of restraint—and that she sees these kinds of injuries all the time.
The following Monday, I went to see the principal. She called Ashley’s aide into the meeting room and took down a report from her—in which she basically denied everything, and claimed that my daughter must have hurt herself at home. She did admit that Ashley had an “episode” the day before in which “she was being uncooperative and she had held her by her wrists to keep her from hitting”. She kept changing little details of her story—it is obvious to me that she is hiding something.
When she left the room, the principal looked at me and asked, “What is your real concern?” I told her flat out that I was worried about the possibility that she was being abused at school—and she told me, “Well, you’ve put her on notice now—she knows you will be watching—and I’ll be watching, too. There were no other staff members in the room, so we only have her word to go on.” She told me she would see what she could do to insure that there is always at least two staff members in the room at all times.
Just great. Though it is a little reassuring that the principal “will be watching” it doesn’t change the fact that my daughter was hurt—for the entire weekend afterward, you could tell that something had upset her terribly—she acted out, quite badly at times, and it was all even I could do to keep up. She still doesn’t want to go to school when she gets up in the morning. Since she is completely nonverbal, and her ability to communicate is very limited—she can’t tell us what really happened.
No one from Child Protective Services has contacted us—despite the fact that the doctor called. But that is not at all surprising—earlier in the school year, my son, who is also autistic (but quite verbal) started telling me he had seen a teacher’s aide hit a little girl in the head with a ruler. We called CPS and filed a report—but again, there was no investigation. But I have since learned that at least one investigator who works in this community is the daughter of a teacher who works for this district…perhaps that is why.
These kinds of things don’t just happen in Tennessee—there is a literal epidemic of abuse against people who are living with a disability occurring all over the country. It happens in schools, in residential care facilities, in nursing homes, in prisons, in foster care, within families…it’s everywhere. One study I read about concluded that at least 70% of all cognitively impaired females will suffer a violent sexual assault at some point in their lives. People living with developmental disabilities are often denied even the most basic of civil rights—such as a young man in Seattle who was ordered by the state (no trial, no judge) to enter into a residential care facility “to protect him from being sexually assaulted” and because he “might” have violent tendencies—even though he had never shown such tendencies before. He was then sexually assaulted by a staff member after entering this particular facility.
Children are placed in restraints or “seclusion rooms” as a form of punishment at school—(shades of Gitmo, anyone?) People with cognitive impairments are drugged into zombiehood for the convenience of their caregivers. Sometimes they are killed—like this little girl who died after a teacher sat on her and cut off her air supply:
In many instances, people with developmental disabilities are—like my daughter—unable to report the person who harmed them because they can’t communicate it to others. Or they depend on their abuser for care, and are fearful of being left with no help at all. They are afraid of retaliation. They are afraid they won’t be believed.
I could provide thousands of stories about adults and children who have been mistreated as examples…but the question I keep asking is…Why? How could anyone be that damn vicious—to harm persons who are often so vulnerable—so helpless—so unable to defend themselves…people who are sometimes so severely affected by whatever disorder they have that they have the mind of a small child? What kind of sadistic, sick fuck does it take to abuse a person in that kind of position? How could anybody have that little respect for human life? Is it social Darwinism? Conclusions based on religious views that claim disability is the result of sin? Lack of ethics, morals, maturity? Lack of education? It seems that there is a relatively large minority out there who are capable of such acts—according to UNICEF, 11% of all individuals employed in schools in the US as teacher’s aides, janitorial work, or transportation have a criminal background—often related to child abuse or sexual abuse. And that says nothing about the numbers of abusers who work in other settings—or family members who do it.
And why does it seem that in many areas of the country, authorities charged with the protection of these vulnerable individuals refuse to enforce the fucking law? Using Tennessee as an example once more, a teacher here was sued seven times by parents for abusing special needs students before she was finally placed on leave by the school district. In a group home for boys, one worker sexually abused children three times before DCS finally fired her. In too many instances, workers who abuse the mentally disabled are often simply fired or reassigned—without facing criminal penalties for their actions.
At one facility where I worked, a man who had been employed there for over a year was fired after it was learned that he had a history of abuse—the only reason we found out was because his ex-wife—who was pissed at him for not paying child support—called the Director of Nursing and told her. He had moved from another state, and claimed he had never worked as a nursing assistant before—so no background check from his previous residence was done. This is how I believe some abusers manage to move from job to job—and why I think we need a nationwide abuse registry that includes healthcare workers, plus anyone who works with children or the disabled.
We need to work to root out and expose authority figures who are willing to look the other way when they refuse to do their fucking job and protect those they are supposed to serve from abuse. That’s cops who refuse to do police reports, DCS workers who refuse to do investigations, school boards members who refuse to fire employees who are caught abusing children, DA’s who refuse to press charges, and judges who refuse to sentence these criminals.
But I believe the most important thing we can do is to educate the public—teach people what life is really like for folks living with a mental disability, and how it impacts the lives of their families. We need to counter the negative and erroneous stereotypes attached to the mentally disabled. And we must never stop fighting those who would abuse and exploit any human being—for any reason.
Many, many persons living with a mental disability are unable to advocate for themselves--it is up to us to advocate for them, to stand by their side, and to fight their abusers and the motherfuckers who act as their enablers. If you know of a child or adult who is being abused, call child protective services, call the police, call every agency in your area you can find until you get somebody who will do something. In most states, Protection and Advocacy will help individuals with disabilities who have been abused.
You can also look up:
The National Disability Rights Network
Wrightslaw a group who can be a helpful source of information about abuse of special needs children and special ed issues.
The American Civil Liberties Union
And a little footnote…
HR 4247—the Keeping All Students Safe Act—passed the House 262-163. This bill would protect children from the excessive use of restraints at school. It is currently awaiting passage in the Senate. Note that the vast majority of the nays came from Republicans…
Call your Senators and tell them to get up off their asses.
