New research finds that almost a third of children and young people with disabilities have experienced violence – defined as physical, emotional or sexual abuse and neglect – which can include everything from being hit or verbally assaulted by family members to cyberbullying.
Additionally, young people with disabilities are reported to be twice as likely to be victims of violence as those without disabilities.
Far too many children are affected: an estimated 291 million children and young people (just over one in 10) have a disability, such as hearing impairment, visual impairment, epilepsy or intellectual disability.
The review, published in the medical journal The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, reaffirms the discouraging conclusions of a World Health Organization-sponsored review published in the Lancet a decade ago that focused on high-income countries.
This time, data from low- and middle-income countries, where the vast majority of young people with disabilities live, provides a more comprehensive global picture of the issue and includes a wider range of disabilities than the 2012 WHO-supported study.
The new material still has limitations: It only looked at studies in English and Chinese, and it only covered seven low- and middle-income countries. Still, “I think this is a really important study because it shows that violence against children with disabilities happens in countries across a range of income levels,” says Mia Ives Rubley, director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C. “It gives us a framework to ask what we should do about this violence, which includes calling on all governments to provide communities with enough resources and information to de-escalate the situation.”
Leila Sharafi, a gender adviser at the United Nations Population Fund, who coordinated a similar study in 2018, said welcoming more people with disabilities, including young people, into policy-making is key to creating lasting change.
To learn more, we spoke with Ilan Serna Turov, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, who co-led the new study.
Why update the 2012 survey?
Regular updates will help policymakers and researchers assess progress towards the global goal of eliminating violence against children with disabilities. In our study, 23% of the new studies were from low- and middle-income countries, which provides a starting point for understanding the true scope of the problem outside high-income countries. We broadened our search to Chinese language articles, which accounted for 11% of the included studies and provided more information on violence in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Finally, we explored more nuanced aspects of violence than in our previous study, such as face-to-face and virtual bullying.
How accurate do you think your survey results are?
Given that studies have found that anywhere from 30% to over 98% of violence goes unreported in the general population, the figures reported in our study are likely to be significant underreporting. Children with disabilities may not understand what violence is or may not be fully equipped to protect themselves, such as not having the language skills or mental capacity to understand and report violence.
Types of abuse also include emotional violence and neglect, can you explain those terms a bit more?
Emotional violence is usually understood as psychological or verbal abuse. It involves making someone feel humiliated, marginalized or inferior. Neglect can be physical, emotional, educational, medical or safety-related and can refer to any act that puts a child at risk or fails to adequately consider their needs.
Do we have to meet in person?
Violence can occur in person or virtually, as in the case of cyberbullying.
What triggers violence among those who commit such violence?
The triggers are manifold. Past research has shown that prejudice is probably the biggest cause of this problem. There is still a lack of understanding towards people with disabilities among the general public, and they are often the subject of jokes and fear. As a result, children with disabilities can be bullied and subject to physical and psychological violence.
Is it not just outsiders who are to blame, but family members as well?
Some caregivers and family members may act out due to stress. Some children and young people with disabilities may have very demanding care needs, either physically or financially, which can place a great strain on caregivers and families. Caregivers may: [role] A model for how to parent children with disabilities and address complex behavioral issues.
How can we change norms around stigma and protect children with disabilities?
In most countries, norms exist that discriminate against people with disabilities. In some extreme cases, epilepsy and other disabilities have been thought to be manifestations of witchcraft, leading to extreme child abuse. Community education, involving religious and community leaders, has proven effective in changing norms.
Why do you think there was little change in the results between the two reports?
This is not a simple problem. It has multiple causes and cannot be treated with a vaccine or intervention. We need to build new social norms and systems in education, social services and health that prevent and effectively respond to violence against children with disabilities. We need to ensure that these systems are adequately funded and that staff have access to ongoing training.
We should also strengthen parent education for raising children with disabilities, but we face the challenge of limited budgets for such activities, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Now add COVID-19 to the mix, along with the climate crisis and other economic and social factors. For policymakers, this is a challenge. They have multiple priorities, all of which require investments at the same time. We need to talk to policymakers and make sure we address these issues. [of violence] We ensure that nothing goes off the agenda and that programs are adequately funded and implemented.
If you look at the disability-adjusted life years lost because of violence, it impacts the development of an entire country, hindering economic and social development. This supports the argument that violence prevention is a wise and important priority, and that we need to invest in. We are talking about millions of children. But this is not just a monetary argument. There is also a moral and social justice responsibility to invest in these children within our society.
And will you continue working?
This is too big a problem to fail or abandon, we need to make sure we are holding ourselves accountable.
Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington, DC, who has written for The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News. Find her on Twitter: Follow