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05/09/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 05/09/2024 14:49

Providing Better Support to Disabled Survivors of Sexual Assault

Providing Better Support to Disabled Survivors of Sexual Assault

Sargent occupational therapy PhD students to present best practices at annual meeting of New York sexual violence counselors and survivor advocates

Kelly Kronemeyer (Sargent'25) (from left), Dayna Kim (Sargent'25), Karly Britt (Sargent'25), professor and chair of occupational therapy Emily Rothman, Natalie Schmidt (Sargent'25), Anne Cunningham (Sargent'25), and Gia Baldassano (Sargent'25).

Advocacy

Providing Better Support to Disabled Survivors of Sexual Assault

Sargent occupational therapy PhD students to present best practices at annual meeting of New York sexual violence counselors and survivor advocates

May 9, 2024
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Note: In this article, we use identity-first language ("disabled people"), consistent with the preference of many in the disability self-advocacy community. We acknowledge that some people prefer person-first language ("people with disabilities").

A disabled individual is four times more likely to be sexually assaulted in their lifetime than a nondisabled person, according to the US Department of Justice. They're also less likely to report it.

To equip New York State sexual violence survivor advocates to better serve disabled people reporting an assault, six Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences doctoral students in occupational therapy (OT) researched the issue and will present their findings over Zoom to the annual meeting of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NYSCASA) on May 14, 2024.

Each student has researched and will present on a different category of disability: intellectual disability, developmental delay, physical disability, hearing impairment, visual impairment, and serious mental illness. They will define each one, discuss their prevalence, outline the specific considerations in supporting a survivor with a particular disability, and provide the advocates with resources for further learning.

"There's a lot of information in general about sexual assault. But with sexual assault and disabilities, we want to help people avoid lumping anyone with a disability into one bucket," says Gia Baldassano (Sargent'25), whose presentation focuses on survivors with physical disabilities. "For example, someone who may have vision impairments might have different advocacy needs from someone who has Down syndrome."

There's a lot of information in general about sexual assault. But with sexual assault and disabilities, we want to help people avoid lumping anyone with a disability into one bucket. For example, someone who may have vision impairments might have different advocacy needs from someone who has Down syndrome.
Gia Baldassano (Sargent'25)

Anne Cunningham (Sargent'25) will present on advocacy needs of survivors with intellectual disabilities. She says she's found that disabled people, and those with intellectual disabilities in particular, are sometimes stereotyped as being asexual, which can make it even more difficult for them to recognize when they have experienced abuse and make it more challenging to reach out for services.

"I feel like I can't hammer home enough the emphasis on needing comprehensive sex education that's accessible and available to not just disabled people, but [also to] all adolescents and all people, generally," Cunningham says.

The opportunity for Sargent doctoral students to speak was the result of a conversation between William Rivera, NYSCASA interim executive director, and Emily Rothman, Sargent professor and chair of occupational therapy, about one of Rothman's research studies on counseling autistic sexual assault survivors in college. Rivera indicated he would like to address the topic at the 2024 training for sexual assault survivor advocates and counselors. Rothman immediately thought of her students.

"I told Will, 'I know a bunch of students who are pretty passionate about trying to convey information about how to help disabled people and are also passionate about sexual violence prevention. So, I see a real fit here,'" Rothman says.

Within an hour of emailing 42 of the OT entry-level doctoral students asking for 6 volunteers to help with the presentation, Rothman had her group set. She says the students, who were not paid for their work, stepped up because they are passionate about caring for assault survivors in the disability community. A few of the students, Rothman says, connected with individuals with lived experience with disability in order to build their sections of the presentation.

"I feel very impressed by the students and grateful to them," Rothman says. "As a teacher, one of the things I appreciated about this opportunity is that we found a way to capitalize on the raw energy and enthusiasm that students bring to addressing real-world challenges, where we're showing up as our best selves, as teachers, as learners, and as community members. I see them learning by leaps and bounds, because they're learning as they're doing. So, it's a win-win all the way around."

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  • Steve Holt

    Senior Editor/Writer Twitter Profile

    Steve Holt is a senior editor and writer responsible for print alumni magazines at the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, School of Theology, and the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. He came to BU in 2022 from Appalachian Mountain Club, where he was a senior editor at the nonprofit's award-winning member magazine. For more than a decade before that, Steve built a prolific freelance journalism career, collecting bylines in numerous print and online publications, such as The Boston Globe, Boston magazine, Civil Eats, Business Insider, and Bloomberg CityLab. His Edible Boston story about sustainable hamburgers in Boston was selected for inclusion in the Best Food Writing2011 anthology. Steve holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's in theology from Abilene Christian University. Profile

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    Cydney Scott has been a professional photographer since graduating from the Ohio University VisCom program in 1998. She spent 10 years shooting for newspapers, first in upstate New York, then Palm Beach County, Fla., before moving back to her home city of Boston and joining BU Photography. Profile

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