 | ||||
As if being disabled isn't enough, those with disabilities are a LOT more likely to be abused. Hardly a day goes by I don't see news articles about people who are abused, raped, or killed and often by those caring for them. The rate of abuse among severely disabled people is staggering. Watch this national broadcast by Nancy Grace if you can stomach it. Highlights from her broadcast:
1. Disabled children are 1.5 to 10 times more likely to be victimized.
2. Predators seek out the disabled because they're more vulnerable and more likely to have difficulty reporting the crime.
3. The problem is getting worse.
4. Crimes against disabled children are getting more horrific, including more dismemberments, more beheadings, etc.
5. Perpetrators against the disabled get lesser punishments than perpetrators against the non-disabled.
Emma and Hope
The Cruel Irony of Cerebral Palsy
and the Disabled
14-year-old with cerebral palsy, Danieal Kelly, who was starved to death. She weighed just 42 lbs at her death and 9 people, including her mother, were convicted of criminal charges.
The following are news articles
I found in ONE month!
If you find this disturbing keep in mind that this is just ONE month, it only includes incidents that made the news, and it only includes articles that I personally read. I once owned a caregiving agency. I know the industry from the inside and, for every one of these incidents that made the news, there are thousands that didn't. (Some of the links to the actual news articles may have expired.)
Click here: Man rapes disabled young woman 28 times in 10 months.
Click here: Man with cerebral palsy robbed by friend at gunpoint.
Click here: Parents arrested when son with cerebral palsy found bruised, emaciated, nude, and living with no heat, no running water, and no food. Roaches, feces, and urine so bad officials order house boarded up.
Click here: Special Ed middle school teacher arrested after having sex with 14-year-old boy in her car.
Click here: Mother charged with murder after bringing dead 4-year-old with cerebral palsy to emergency room.
Click here: Man steals wheelchair from 8-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.
Click here: Nursing home neglects man with cerebral palsy to the point he gets only 1/9th the amount of fluids prescribed by his doctor.
Click here: Disabled man attacked and injured by 71-year-old assailant.
Click here: Couple convicted of abusing their disabled children and forcing them to sleep in cages.
Click here: Disabled man shot to death while watching TV in his home.
Click here: Woman pleads guilty to stealing credit cards from disabled.
Click here: 11-month-old suffers brain damage after being injured by babysitter. 10-month-old dies after being injured by babysitter.
Click here: Several examples of police brutalizing disabled persons.
Click here: Onlookers intervene when man with cerebral palsy brutally attacked without provocation.
Click here: Independent living facility allows twice convicted sex offender to live with their disabled residents even after 4 residents complain he has assaulted or threatened them.
Click here: Caretakers and another couple arrested for imprisoning a disabled woman in their closet and for starving and beating her with belts and extension cords for months while they stole her social security checks.
Click here: Shocking report reveals "disturbing and systemic" abuse of the disabled by their care providers.
Click here: Special education teacher charged with abusing disabled students.
Click here: Woman charged with murdering her disabled mother because the mother had become too much of a burden.
Click here: Woman admits stabbing disabled friend to death.
Click here: Man with cerebral palsy robbed and beaten in his home by two men and a teenager.
Click here: Disabled author writes her story, "Welcome to Oregon: Land of Domestic Abuse Endorsement".
Click here: Babysitter convicted of battering 3-year-old child in her care.
Click here: Caregiver burns disabled man over 20 times with red-hot cigarette lighter. Caregiver gives disabled man fatal overdose. Over half of foster homes for disabled fail basic standards inspection.
Click here: Parents sue over video of their disabled teen being slapped and pushed by other students.
Click here: Elementary school teacher accused of abusing and sexually molesting several of her disabled students.
Click here: Police officer pleads guilty to raping disabled child.
Click here: Caregiver charged with death of severely disabled resident after altercation.
Click here: Disabled man beaten to death while taking morning stroll.
Click here: Woman sentenced to 9 years in prison for neglecting her son with cerebral palsy to the point he died.
Click here: After father dies and disabled mother killed by hit-and-run driver while walking home, boy is left without parents.
Click here: Caregivers plead guilty when 23-year-old with cerebral palsy dies after getting trapped in his bed.
Click here: Man rapes girlfriend's severely disabled daughter. Judge overturns conviction on technicality.
Click here: State employees caught on video punching, kicking, and slapping disabled patients.
Click here: Man convicted of murdering his daughter with cerebral palsy.
Click here: Caregiver sexually assaults several disabled persons who are unable to speak at 3 different government homes for disabled.
Click here: $700,000 bail for convicted child rapist arrested for molesting disabled adolescent.
Click here: Blind, disabled man says police refused to help him.
Click here: Parents uncover documents of extensive abuse after their disabled child dies at the hands of state institution employee.
Click here: School teacher suspended for a year for abusing 11-year-old student with cerebral palsy.
Click here: Caregiver and ex-school teacher sentenced to 7 years in prison after using a man with cerebral palsy to obtain child pornography and after having a sexual relationship with another disabled person in his care.
Click here: Woman with cerebral palsy dies, detectives find home filled with animal feces.
Click here: Boy with cerebral palsy refuses to attend school after bullying by other students result in bruises and a broken bone.
Click here: Institutions in Serbia accused of neglect of patients with cerebral palsy to the point it is referred to as "torture".
Click here: $590,000 bail for man charged with sodomizing disabled 18-year-old and a 13-year-old.
Click here: Caregiver robs and attempts to strangle disabled person and then stabs gay roommate to death.
Click here: Disabled man in wheelchair attacked by his elderly father.
Click here: Man with cerebral palsy beaten by a gang for his mp3 player.
Click here: 16-year-old with cerebral palsy beaten on school bus.
Click here: Man receives life in prison for stabbing man with cerebral palsy 26 times.
Click here: Former councilman pleads guilty to setting his house on fire and critically injuring his 17-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy.
Click here: Woman sues school district after her son with cerebral palsy is raped in a public bathroom during a school picnic.
Click here: Caregiver couple arrested for child abuse and sexual abuse.
Click here: Registered sex offender arrested for abusing disabled teen.
Click here: Nursing home aide injures residents' genitals and commits numerous other abuses for over 5 years before she's investigated.
Click here: Disabled man beaten with golf club.
Click here: Disabled woman raped by burglar in her home.
Click here: Oregon governor admits that 1 of every 5 disabled persons in foster or group homes has been seriously abused or neglected in the past 7 years. "more than 2,000 developmentally disabled adults have been robbed, beaten, raped, neglected and cursed at, most often by their state-paid caregivers."
Click here: Mother starves son with cerebral palsy to death.
Click here: Research shows overwhelming majority of disabled children are bullied at school.
Click here: Hospital houses convicted killer with schizophrenia with female patients and fails to report it when he sexually assaults a patient.
Click here: Caregiver charged with manslaughter after death of a man with cerebral palsy.
Click here: Woman facing charges of assaulting a disabled person arrested and pleads guilty to forcing another woman to kneel on hot pavement and wear a diaper in public on the outside of her clothes.
Click here: Employee at disabled housing complex charged with sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a counselor/therapist.
Click here: Nurse sentenced to 20 years for sexually assaulting disabled person.
Click here: Man faces life in prison after sexually molesting 12-year-old disabled girl.
Click here: Man accused of homicide after running down a disabled man, severing his legs, and then driving away with victim's legless body in the car in the seat next to him.
Click here: Mentally and physically disabled woman victim of homicide.
Click here: Worker pleads no contest to scalding disabled person.
Click here: Call to 911 for little girl with cerebral palsy results in discovery of a "house of filth" and the girl being taken into state custody.
Click here: Wheelchair bound students with cerebral palsy at Arizona State University forced to wait in burning building.
Click here: Foster mother claims compassion as her motive for attempted murder of foster daughter with cerebral palsy.
Click here: State worker charged with locking up disabled patients. Inspection of state group home finds 8 patients found soaked in their own urine while only staff person asleep.
Click here: Man indicted for raping disabled woman at library.
Click here: Doctor charged with giving overdose to hasten death of man with cerebral palsy in order to harvest the man's organs.
Click here: 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy sodomized on school bus just one year after a 12-year-old disabled girl is sexually assaulted on a school bus in the same school district.
Click here: Welfare workers caught stealing credit cards and physically abusing their disabled clients.
***
If you think this is unique, think again. Every year dozens of people with cerebral palsy are starved to death by those caring for them.
What can we do? The most important thing we can is to not allow our child to be alone. Sin loves darkness and almost all of these abuse stories happen while the disabled person is alone with the perpetrator.
What about nanny cams? The business I lost due to my own disability was a home care agency. I saw the caregiver industry from the inside and I know all its little secrets. Most caregivers have good intentions but there are so many times when they are alone that even honest caregivers can be tempted. A wise person once told me that we all have a tendency to do more of what is inspected than what is expected. The best thing you can do is to constantly inspect those caring for your child and, when your own eyes aren't available, a nanny cam or surveillance system is effective. Remember, we want to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft, not just punish people, so mount the cameras so they are conspicuous and install multiple cameras so you don't have blind spots. Expensive? What is your child's life worth?
