Disability Raises the Odds of Being a Victim | Disability News

by Samantha on 03/02/2013

Violence is usually more widespread throughout those with disabilities.

There was a recent World Report on Disability that went over the violence rates which puts it at the leading cause of morbidity of disabled individuals. They assessed the extent that people with disabilities experience the different kinds of violent and then the associated economic and health costs that follow. The data was analyzed from 2009 and 2010 in the British Crime Survey in order to estimate the odds that someone with a physical or mental disabilities would experience any kind of domestic, non domestic, physical or sexual violence in their life. This survey doesn?t include those that live in institutions.

?Our study highlights that, contrary to popular opinion, people with mental health problems are much more likely to be victims of violence as opposed to perpetrators of violence,? says Paul Moran, from King?s College London Institute of Psychiatry and co-author of the study. ?Moreover, the psychological impact of violent victimization is likely to be more severe for those with pre-existing disability. Unsurprisingly, this is associated with a huge amount of suffering and a substantial economic burden.? ?We need to develop a better understanding about how to prevent the victimization of vulnerable adults. GPs and hospital staff should be alert to these findings and should be enquiring about victimization experiences among their more vulnerable patients.?

It was found that compared to those that do not have disabilities, the odds of being a victim of one of these crimes throughout the past year were three fold higher for those that have a mental illness and two fold higher for those with a physical disability. It was also revealed that those that have a disability were twice as likely to experience this and emotional difficulties following the violence.

Read More:

http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/disability-raises-odds-of-being-victimized/#sthash.ntpYlr9K.dpuf

Source: http://disabilitynews.com/american-disabilities-act/disability-raises-the-odds-of-being-a-victim/

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