Working with Victims of Crime with Disabilities 
            by Cheryl Guidry Tyiska, Director of Victim Services 
            National Organization for Victim Assistance 
           
             
            __________________________________________________
            Message from 
            The Director 
            During the past two decades, the victim assistance field has made 
            tremendous progress in securing fundamental justice and 
            comprehensive services for all crime victims. However, many crime 
            victims remain un-identified and unserved. To ensure these 
            "invisible" victims are reached, the Office for Victims of Crime 
            (OVC) provided fund-ing to the National Organization for Victim 
            Assistance (NOVA) for the project Working with Crime Victims with 
            Disabilities. As part of this project, NOVA coordinated a symposium 
            that brought together experts in the disability advocacy, victim 
            assistance, and research fields to address the issues of justice and 
            access to services for crime victims with disabilities. This 
            symposium was one of the first national scope initiatives that 
            focused exclusively on individuals with disabilities within the 
            criminal justice system, not as offenders, but as victims. 
            The findings of the symposium communicated in this OVC Bulletin 
            illustrate that many crime victims with disabilities have never 
            participated in the criminal justice process, even those who have 
            been repeatedly and brutally victimized. The highlighted 
            recommendations will assist advocates in their efforts to ensure 
            that crime victims with disabilities have full access to the 
            criminal justice system and receive their entitled services. Lastly, 
            a few of the existing programs that are working actively to serve 
            crime victims with disabilities are described. 
            We know that the issues involved in assisting victims with 
            disabilities present tremendous challenges. But we have full 
            confidence that the victim assistance and disability advocacy 
            communities will embrace these challenges like they have so many 
            others. Working with Crime Victims with Disabilities represents a 
            small but significant step toward ensuring justice and access to 
            services for all crime victims. 

            Kathryn M. Turman 
            Acting Director 
            __________________________________________________

            Introduction 
            This Bulletin is a product of the Symposium on Working with Crime 
            Victims with Disabilities, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime 
            (OVC) and coordinated by the National Organization for Victim 
            Assistance (NOVA), on January 23-24, 1998, in Arlington, Virginia. 
            The Symposium brought together experts from the disability advocacy 
            and victim assistance and research fields, and they raised as many 
            questions as they answered, thus opening the way for the victim 
            assistance field to look more closely at a large and under-served 
            crime victim population. As a result of their discussions, they 
            developed recommendations for OVC and the victim assistance field on 
            improving the response in serving crime victims with disabilities, 
            which are included in this Bulletin. 

            Historically, all victims of crime have been denied full 
            participation in the criminal justice process. Crime victims with 
            disabilities and their families are even less likely to reap the 
            benefits of the criminal justice system. Disability advocates report 
            that crimes against people with disabilities are often not reported 
            to police. Of those that lead to an investigation and an arrest, 
            very few are prosecuted. When going through the criminal justice 
            process, few victims with disabilities come into contact with a 
            crime victim advocate. Often when victim services are provided, they 
            may be inappropriate due to inadequate training of victim service 
            providers. 

            As with most types of crime and crime victims, underreporting of 
            crimes perpetrated against people with disabilities is a major 
            problem. Currently there is no authoritative research that details 
            how many individuals with a disability become crime victims or how 
            many people become disabled by criminal attacks. Nor has the victim 
            assistance field adequately identified the best practices for serving victims 
            with unique needs or how to train criminal justice system personnel - 
            including victim  specialists - to make services truly accessible to all crime 
            victims. 

            Limited information exists regarding the criminal victimization of 
            people with disabilities, but the little that is available is 
            horrifying in nature and scope. Joan Petersilia, Researcher and 
            Professor of Criminology at the University of California, Irvine, 
            stated that persons with developmental disabilities have a 4 to 10 
            times higher risk of becoming crime victims than persons without a 
            disability, in her Report to the California Senate Public Safety 
            Committee hearings on "Persons with Developmental Disabilities in 
            the Criminal Justice System." In addition, she says, "Children with 
            any kind of disability are more than twice as likely as nondisabled 
            children to be physically abused and almost twice as likely to be 
            sexually abused." Others in the crime victims field recount 
            anecdotal experiences from their work that illustrate that crimes 
            against people with disabilities are often extremely violent and 
            calculatedly intended to injure, control, and humiliate the victim. 

                "Children with any kind of diability are more than twice as 
                likely as nondisabled children to be physically abused and 
                almost twice as likely to be sexually abused." 

            Reginald Robinson, former Acting Director of the Office for Victims 
            of Crime, asked the Symposium participants "How can we better 
            identify and serve all crime victims who need advocacy and services? 
            Are we rising to the challenge of being inclusive as we define the 
            populations that deserve our attention and support?" This Bulletin 
            highlights the main discussion points and recommendations developed 
            by the Symposium participants and seeks to encourage victim 
            assistance program staff to take the necessary steps to better serve 
            crime victims with disabilities in their communities. 

            Obstacles Unique to the Disability Community 
            Some of the numerous social and legal problems faced by people with 
            disabilities can be summarized as follows: 

            Isolation 
            Our society often segregates persons with disabilities through 
            physical and social isolation, with institutionalization 
            representing the extreme. As a result of pervasive isolation, people 
            with disabilities may not learn about available services and 
            resources nor are they routinely informed of rights they have by 
            law. This is particularly true for people with more severe disabling 
            conditions, older people with disabilities, and younger people with 
            developmental disabilities. Indeed, many people who are chronically 
            victimized do not even know that society condemns such predatory 
            conduct and has tools to end and redress that wrong. 

            Limited Access 
            Physical Accessibility: In many instances, crime victims with 
            disabilities do not have physical access to services. Architectural 
            barriers in buildings and public transportation systems mean that 
            many crime victims with disabilities cannot visit criminal justice 
            agencies or victim assistance programs. The Americans with 
            Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) addresses key issues of 
            accessibility, but as Symposium participants pointed out, there is 
            an extensive lack of understanding of how Titles II and III of the 
            ADA pertain to the criminal justice and victim assistance fields. 
            Moreover, this lack of understanding is frequently coupled with a 
            fear that making services accessible to crime victims with 
            disabilities will require expensive, disruptive adaptations. 
            Attitudinal Accessibility: Attitudes to-ward the person with a 
            disability is as important or more so than physical accessibility. 
            In addition to accessible physical environments, program staff must 
            be welcoming toward people with disabilities and show in their 
            de-meanor and in the quality of their pro-grams that they sincerely 
            want to work collaboratively to serve the community.
            
                In California, a woman was stabbed in the back during a robbery 
                attempt. As a result of the assault, she became paraplegic. 
                Unfortunately, neither the police nor hospital staff told her 
                about victim assistance or independent living services. Because 
                the assailant was never apprehended, the prosecutor-based victim 
                assistance program did not provide her with services. In her 
                anger and depression, she became suicidal. She survived a 
                suicide attempt only because an alert nurse resuscitated her in 
                time. 
   
            Underreporting of the Crime 
            Underreporting of crime is a pervasive problem that the victim 
            assistance field is addressing on many fronts. For example, the 
            Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN)1 estimates that 
            1,000 rapes occur every day in the U.S., but only about 300 will 
            ever be reported to the police. A crime may go unreported for many 
            reasons: mobility or communication barriers, the social or physical 
            isolation of the victim, a victim's normal feelings of shame and 
            self-blame, ignorance of the justice system, or the perpetrator is a 
            family member or pri-mary caregiver. In crimes involving a victim 
            with a disability, one or more of these factors may prevent the 
            crime from ever being reported. When the crime is reported, the 
            reporting agency often fails to note that the victim had a 
            disability, especially if the crime is reported by someone other 
            than the victim. Later, assumptions and pre-judice about the 
            reliability of the test-imony of victims with disabilities can deny 
            them access to justice in the courts. 

            Limited Advocacy 
            Despite progress by disability rights activists, advocacy on their 
            own behalf is still limited. Again, just as with many crime victims, 
            a person who wants to access criminal justice decisionmaking 
            processes is unable to do so without adequate tools to enable full 
            participation. 

            Myths 
            The following three myths contribute to stereotyping which often 
            results in discrimination against people with disabilities: 
            The first myth is the perception that people with disabilities are 
            "suffering." Rather than extending legal rights and protections, as 
            with other oppressed groups, a societal response prior to passage of 
            the ADA typically was to extend "charity." Being kind to a person 
            with a disability is not an acceptable substitute for the provision 
            of civil rights protections. 

            The second myth is that people with disabilities lack the ability to 
            make choices or determine for themselves what is best for them in 
            all spheres of life (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, 
            political, sexual, and financial). Although individuals with severe 
            cognitive impairments may need greater support and advocacy 
            services, this does not impede their ability or preclude their right 
            to participate actively in decisions affecting their lives. 

            The third myth, according to crime victim advocates, is that many 
            people in society fear contact with crime victims generally, as 
            though their distresses are contagious. An even stronger stigma 
            attaches to people with disabilities. Our society is not socialized 
            to integrate differences in abilities as a part of our perception of 
            "normality." The cultural norms for functioning include good hearing 
            and vision, physical independence and mobility, mental alertness, 
            the ability to communicate primarily through the written and spoken 
            word, and physical attractiveness. Deviations from those norms tend 
            to frighten those in the "able-bodied majority" who define the 
            concept of normal abilities. When the two forces of stigma are 
            joinedC victimization and disability attitudinal barriers to 
            providing healing and justice can seem even more formidable. 
            Until recently, the crime victims' movement has not worked 
            systematically to identify issues and challenges involved in 
            responding more effectively to victims with disabilities. Improving 
            service delivery to people with disabilities must become a priority 
            because the crime victims' rights movement is founded on the premise 
            that every crime victim deserves fundamental justice and 
            comprehensive, quality services. 

            Background 
            Since the early days of the victims' rights movement, the effort has 
            been animated by a two-fold desire to address the trauma of 
            victimization and to move crime victims from outside of the criminal 
            justice system, looking in, to the center of the process. Fostering 
            full participation of crime victims has been at the heart of what 
            the victims' rights movement has sought to achieve. Victim 
            advocates, in particular, provide the tools that allow crime victims 
            to reconstruct their lives and regain the control that was taken 
            from them by the criminal. This healing process enables victims to 
            perceive themselves as survivors and in most instances, to seek and 
            achieve full engagement with society once again. 
            Inclusion and participation have been at the heart of a parallel 
            civil rights movement. The disability rights movement has worked 
            diligently to ensure that people with disabilities are able to 
            contribute their considerable talents to society. 

            A primary difference for a person with a disability who becomes a 
            crime victim, however, is that the criminal victimization frequently 
            compounds existing problems caused by a lack of accessibility to 
            basic social services, poverty, institutionalization, and other 
            barriers to equal rights. A crime that would be damaging to an 
            able-bodied person is frequently a devastating blow to a person with 
            a disability. Indeed, for many, it is the criminal assault itself 
            that results in a disability, when major life functionsCthe ability 
            to move, to communicate, to understandCare disrupted temporarily or 
            permanently. 

            Many people with disabling conditions are especially vulnerable to 
            victimization because of their real or perceived inability to fight 
            or flee, or to notify others and testify about the victimization. 
            Frequently, because a person with a disability may be more 
            physically frail, the victimization may exacerbate existing health 
            or mental health problems. For those who hope that their disability 
            may "protect" them from criminal victimization, it is shocking to 
            learn that many criminals do not act upon a perceived "desirability" 
            of the intended victim. Indeed, many perpetrators may be unaware 
            that their victims have a disability. Here, the victim is truly 
            random another one of us in the wrong place at the wrong time; 
            although that victim's ability to frustrate the criminal's intent 
            may be less than a person's without a disability. 

            Another reality is that many offenders are motivated by a desire to 
            obtain control over the victim and measure their potential prey for 
            vulnerabilities. Many people with disabilities, because they are 
            perceived as unable to physically defend themselves, or identify the 
            attacker, or call for help, are perfect targets for such offenders. 
            People with disabilities are also vulnerable to abuse by the very 
            professionals and other caregivers who provide them with services. 
            Just as many pedophiles gravitate to youth-serving occupations, so 
            do many other predators seek work as caregivers to people with 
            disabilities. Indeed, in one survey, virtually half 48.1 percent of 
            the perpetrators of sexual abuse against people with disabilities 
            had gained access to their victims through disability services.2 

            People who are victimized are vulnerable to exacerbated suffering. 
            Most victims will experience a sense of shock, disbelief, or denial 
            that the crime occurred, often followed by cataclysmic emotions: 
            fear, anger, confusion, guilt, humiliation and grief, among others. 
            But people with disabilities may have intensified reactions because 
            they may already feel stigmatized and often have low self-esteem due 
            to societal attitudes. The sense of self-blame, confusion, 
            vulnerability, and loss of trust may be exaggerated, as may be an 
            ambivalence or negativity related to their perception of their 
            bodies. Denial and avoidance of the need to cope with the aftermath 
            may complicate the identification of crime victims with a 
            disability. Some victims, particularly elderly and those with 
            developmental disabilities, will need services designed to enhance 
            a feeling of safety and security regarding future victimization. 
            Unlike most in this series of OVC Bulletins focusing on special 
            categories of victims, this one offers no authoritative "census" 
            describing the numbers and characteristics of the victim population 
            under review. The implementation of such a census is very high on 
            the agenda of those working in both the victim rights and 
            disability rights arenas so that, at last, the nation will have 
            reliable data on who among the population with disabilities is hurt 
            by crime, in what way, and how frequently. Despite the absence of an 
            authoritative census, there are a number of studies that indicate 
            that the risk of criminal victimization is much higher for an 
            individual with a disability than for someone without a physical or 
            cognitive disability. 

            The following are statistics revealed by some studies. For example, 
            research has found that 68 percent to 83 percent of women with 
            developmental disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their 
            lifetime, which represents a 50 percent higher rate than the rest of 
            the population.3 People with developmental disabilities are more 
            likely to be re-victimized by the same person and more than half 
            never seek assistance from legal or treatment services (Pease & 
            Frantz, 1994). It is not just individuals with developmental 
            disabilities who suffer very high rates of victimization. A study of 
            psychiatric inpatients found that 81 per-cent had been physically or 
            sexually assaulted.4 The Colorado Department of Health estimates 
            that upward of 85 percent of women with disabilities are victims of 
            domestic abuse, in comparison with, on average, 25 to 50 percent of 
            the general population.5 

            About 54 million Americans live with a wide array of physical, 
            cognitive, and emotional disabilities. Some disabilities will be 
            more easily discernable than others. People who use wheelchairs, 
            service animals, or walkers are easy to identify. Less obvious will 
            be those with intellectual or mental disabilities (such as people 
            who have learning disabilities or schizophrenia) and those with 
            chronic illnesses (such as people with chronic fatigue syndrome, 
            seizure disorders, arthritis, alcoholism and drug addiction, and HIV 
            disease). As with any crime victim, people with disabilities may be 
            victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, homicide, 
            fraud and other types of crimes. They are victimized by family 
            members, acquaintances, strangers, institutional personnel, and 
            caregivers. Many are victimized multiple times. 

            In addition to people who have been disabled since birth, some 
            people are disabled as a result of violent assaults. Catastrophic 
            physical injuries may result in loss of abilities to see, hear, 
            touch, taste, feel, move, and think in the usual ways. Although 
            statistics on crime-related physical injuries are imperfect, it has 
            been estimated that at least 6 million serious injuries occur each 
            year due to crime, resulting in either temporary or permanent 
            disability. The National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) 
            has estimated that a --large percentage perhaps as many as 50 
            percent--of patients who are long-term residents of hospitals and 
            specialized rehabilitation centers are there due to crime-related 
            injuries. Those patients seldom receive outreach from a crime victim 
            assistance or compensation program. 

            Pending a more comprehensive portrait of crime victims within the 
            disability community, it is important for the victim assistance 
            field to gain a better understanding of that community as a whole. 

                A blind woman who was regularly beaten by her spouse received 
                nothing but disdain from her family and few friends. She felt 
                isolated and ashamed. After an appearance by the Executive 
                Director of NOVA on a national television show, the woman called 
                NOVA and asked for help on the condition that she be allowed to 
                maintain her anonymity. 

                An elderly woman who was unable to walk was cared for at home by 
                family members. Her grandson, a drug user, frequently stole 
                money from her, especially after the third of each month, when 
                her Social Security Disability Income check arrived. The woman 
                would tuck her money under her to hide it from her grandson. 
                Once, in a state of anger when he could not find her money, he 
                flipped her over and she fell out of the bed onto the floor. She 
                sustained several bruises but was not seen by a doctor. She did 
                not report the abuse or the theft to the police out of fear that 
                her family would no longer want to care for her. 
            
            According to the National Council on Disability: 
            As a group, people with disabilities are older, poorer, less 
            educated, and less employed than people without disabilities. The 
            most widely accepted estimate of the number of people with 
            disabilities is 49 million non-institutionalized Americans (McNeil, 
            1993). As such, people with disabilities constitute the single 
            largest minority group identified in the United States, surpassing 
            the elderly (about 33.2 million) and African Americans (about 32.7 
            million) (Bureau of the Census 1995). [Note: The October 1997 update 
            to this report indicates 54 million Americans reporting having some 
            level of disability, with 26 million of those having a severe 
            disability.] 

            Data from the 1990 Census indicate that about 2.3 million residents 
            of institutions have disabilities, most of these residing in nursing 
            homes. Others live in mental hospitals, correctional institutions 
            and mental retardation facilities. Mental disability is the most 
            frequent impairment cited among those living in institutions 
            (LaPlante 1991). In the last decade, the number of people with 
            disabilities who are homeless has increased, particularly those with 
            mental disabilities. 

            The percentage of people with a disability increases with age. While 
            5 percent of the population less than age 18 has a disability, 84.2 
            percent of those age 85 and over have a disability. Of those age 
            18-44, 13.6 percent have a disability, while of those age 45-64, 
            29.2 percent have a disability (McNeil, 1993). As the baby boom 
            generation advances in age, the number of people with disabilities 
            will likewise increase. 

            There are differences in the prevalence of severe disability among 
            races, ethnicity groups and sexes. For the population aged 15-64, 
            7.4 percent of Whites had severe disabilities, compared to 12.7 
            percent of African Americans, 11.7 percent of American Indians, 
            Eskimos or Aleuts, 9.1 percent of those from Hispanic origin and 4.5 
            percent of Asian or Pacific Islanders. Males had a disability rate 
            of 18.7 percent and a severe disability rate of 8.1 percent. For 
            females, the corresponding rates were 20.2 percent and 11 percent 
            (McNeil, 1993). 

            -- Achieving Independence: The Challenge for the 21st Century, 
            Report of the National Council on Disability, July 26, 1996, pages 
            13-14. 
            



            
            Purpose of the Project 
            The Symposium participants came together to develop an action plan 
            for victim service providers and other allied professionals to 
            improve their capacity to identify and respond to crime victims with 
            disabilities. Over the course of 2 days, participants identified 
            issues, service gaps, and barriers to access; recommended needed 
            changes; and spotlighted successful programs and promising practices 
            that reach and serve crime victims with a wide array of disabling 
            conditions. The Symposium provided an opportunity for a candid 
            exchange of ideas among a diverse array of individuals and the 
            organizations that they represented. Although unanimity did not 
            always reign, participants were united in their quest of affording 
            all crime victims fundamental justice and comprehensive services. 
            In the months before the Symposium, NOVA and OVC staff identified 
            knowledgeable people from the fields of disability rights, 
            protection and advocacy, crime victim assistance, law, and research. 
            A number of these pioneers were invited to attend the 2-day 
            transfer-of-knowledge Symposium. Resource materials were identified 
            for Symposium attendees to review, and an agenda was designed that 
            included presentations from experts, facilitated discussion, and 
            small working groups. Symposium participants focused on promising 
            practices currently in use and identified areas for future action. 
            The Symposium was recorded so that a full transcript would be 
            available to aid in developing the recommendations report and 
            subsequently this Bulletin. 

            Participants began their discussion by addressing the following 
            questions: 

            1. How do we begin to understand the experiences of crime victims 
            who are disabled? 
            * What are the psychological, econ-omic, social, and legal 
            experiences of people with disabilities who come in contact with the 
            law enforcement, judicial, correctional, emergency medical, and 
            victim service systems? 
            * How has the passage of the ADA affected the criminal justice 
            system's response to these victims? 
            2. How do we improve service delivery to crime victims who are 
            disabled? 
            * How can we improve reporting of crimes against people with 
            disabilities? 
            * How can we perform better outreach to crime victims with 
            disabilities? 
            * How can we better serve victims whose perpetrators are their 
            primary caregivers? 
            * What may be different for those who were disabled prior to their 
            victimization than for those who became disabled as a result of the 
            criminal assault? 
            * How do we prepare victim service programs to serve all victims 
            with disabilities? 
            * What do victims with disabilities need/want from the system? 
            * What strategies can be employed to ensure that people with 
            disabilities do not "fall through the cracks" of the service 
            delivery system, especially those who are institutionalized or 
            hospitalized for long periods of time and those who rely on the care 
            of a personal assistant or home health care system? 

            3. What do crime victim advocates need to know to effectively 
            respond to people with different kinds of disabilities (i.e., 
            victims with developmental disabilities and their families, 
            newly-disabled victims, victims with physical disabilities, and 
            victims with other types of cognitive or mental disabilities)? 

            4. What do crime victim advocates need to know about the Americans 
            With Disabilities Act and its enforcement? 

            Unique Issues Identified 
            During the Symposium, participants raised many issues that criminal 
            justice and victim assistance professionals need to consider when 
            working with crime victims with disabilities. Although this list is 
            not exhaustive, it is representative of some of the main concerns of 
            the group. 

            Crime Victims with Disabilities Have Distinct Issues 
            Most issues that confront crime victims with disabilities are issues 
            that affect all crime victims. They include underreporting of 
            crimes; a lack of responsiveness from law enforcement or prosecutors 
            based on a perceived lack of credibility on the part of the victim; 
            repeated victimization; lack of effective, appropriate services, 
            physical or social isolation of the victim; and a judicial process 
            that is centered on the rights and needs of the offender, not the 
            victim. However, there are important issues and even distinctions 
            that must be emphasized when serving victims with disabilities. 

            * Crime victims with disabilites have a higher risk of victimization 
            than crime victims without disabilities, and face a greater risk of 
            being revictimized, often at the hands of a caregiver or family 
            member. Consequently, victims may not be in a position to report the 
            crime without fear of retaliation from the care provider. 
            * A crime victim with a disability or a person who becomes disabled 
            due to crime may not have the resources or the physical stamina to 
            cope with the many delays and hurdles that typically occur in the 
            criminal justice system. For example, if a victim is paralyzed as a 
            result of a crime, the victim will be adjusting to this recent 
            disability at the same time that he or she is interacting with the 
            criminal justice system. The combination may well be overwhelming. 
            * Child custody issues are typically complex in cases of domestic 
            violence. When the victim has a disability, the issues may be 
            further complicated. According to disability advocates, some courts 
            have awarded custody to the batterer, based on an assumption that 
            children may be better-off with an able-bodied offender than with a 
            victim who has a disability. 

            Vocabulary Assigned to the Disability Community 
            The words that we use are important, as the following issues 
            demonstrate: 
            * Victim is a loaded term in the disability rights community. In the 
            medical system, people with disabilities have historically been 
            considered "victims" of their disabilities, i.e., a "victim" of 
            polio. The term reinforces an already-existing, socially-imposed 
            negative identity. Disability advocates have struggled to transform 
            their identity from "victim" to something more positive; therefore, 
            admitting "victimization" is often experienced as a setback. Victim 
            advocates have also long been concerned about using language that 
            would include all crime victims and yet not be stigmatizing. Service 
            providers working with crime victims could clarify the issue by 
            asking the victims how they prefer to be characterized. Some 
            individuals may prefer the term survivor, while others may feel that 
            the use of victim is an appropriate word to describe their status in 
            the aftermath of violent or repeated victimization. 
            * Special services is another loaded term with negative 
            connotations. Crime victims with disabilities do not want anything 
            special. They want the rights and services to which they are rightly 
            entitled and request common-sense accommodations to ensure that they 
            can receive them. However, many crime victims (not just those with 
            physical or cognitive disabilities) will need individualized 
            attention and services. 
            * Disability is more than a physical/emotional/mental issue. It is a 
            political and social issue as well, and frequently is a major source 
            of a person's identity because of societal attitudes. Many people 
            with disabilities view their disabilities as disabling only to the 
            extent to which society does not provide an accommodating 
            environment. 
            * Just as with many victims, violence may be defined differently for 
            many people with disabilities. For example, the withholding of a 
            wheelchair, thus forcing a person to slide along the floor, might be 
            considered an act of violence. In that regard, it is important to 
            note that many acts of criminal violence committed against 
            vulnerable individuals, such as children, the elderly, and 
            individuals with disabilities, are referred to as forms of abuse. 
            While the behavior is certainly abusive, using the term abuse 
            instead of violence can serve to minimize the severity of the crime 
            against the victim. 
            * The disability community includes family members, who, like the 
            family members of many crime victims, are frequently secondary 
            victims. 

            Diverse Needs 
            There is no single, monolithic "disability community." It is made up 
            of many smaller communities that may vary from one geographic 
            location to another, and according to the type of disability: 
            * Not all disability advocates support mandatory reporting of crimes 
            against people with disabilities. An individual struggling to 
            maintain independence may perceive mandatory reporting as excessive 
            "protectionism," while others believe that the legal requirement to 
            report crimes against "vulnerable adults" is integral to ensuring 
            their safety. 
            * There are varying numbers of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people 
            throughout the country. For example, a large number of Deaf and 
            Hard-of-Hearing people are in the Washington, D.C. area, probably 
            because of the presence of Gallaudet University, the largest 4-year 
            liberal arts university for the Deaf in the United States. Other 
            communities of similar size may have far fewer Deaf residents. 
            However, even within the communities of people with similar 
            disabilities (for example, those with spinal cord injuries, or those 
            who are blind, or those with learning disabilities), it must be 
            remembered that the community is composed of separate, unique 
            individuals who differ from one another and will require 
            individualized assistance. All racial, ethnic, and socio-economic 
            groups include people with disabilities. 
            * Accessibility is different depending on the disability (also see 
            p. 2 Limited Access). 
            Highlighting Promising Practices 
            In preparation for the Symposium, NOVA staff identified victim 
            assistance programs that were making inroads in reaching out to 
            crime victims with disabilities, as well as pertinent training 
            materials. NOVA is continuing to seek information about effective 
            programs and training materials that focus on serving crime victims 
            with disabilities. The following are organizations which were 
            highlighted at the Symposium, as well as a few from programs who 
            were unable to have a representative present. 
            1. The Domestic Violence Initiative for Women With Disabilities was 
            founded to create, promote, and support viable alternatives for 
            women with disabilities who are victims/survivors of domestic 
            violence and/or caretaker abuse. This program also serves those who 
            have become disabled as a result of domestic abuse. DVI provides 
            extensive education and training to relevant service providers and 
            the public about domestic violence and disability issues. For more 
            information, call 303-839-5510 voice/tdd (Denver, CO). 

            2. The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault 
            Developmental Disabilities Resource Center operates a sexual abuse 
            prevention and information program for persons with disabilities. 
            For more information, call 816-931-4527 (Kansas City, MO). 

            3. The Network of Victim Assistance has produced a training 
            curriculum and video entitled "Your Safety, Your Rights," which 
            highlights personal safety and abuse prevention information for 
            adults with disabilities and for service providers. For more 
            information, call 215-348-5664 
            (Doylestown, PA). 

            4. Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS) is a program of 
            advocacy and services specifically for Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and 
            Hard-of-Hearing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. 
            Services include a 24-hour crisis line and safe homes for battered 
            women. ADWAS was developed and is administered by Marilyn Smith, a 
            sexual assault survivor who is Deaf. In 1996, Ms. Smith received the 
            Crime Victim Service Award, the highest Federal award for service to 
            victims. For more information, call 206-726-0093 (TTY only) or email 
            to hilsmjs@aol.com (Seattle, WA). 

            5. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office and Crime Victim Initiative 
            have spearheaded development of a training program entitled "Police 
            and People with Disabilities," focusing on the important role of law 
            enforcement in serving crime victims with disabilities. For more 
            information, call 800-279-8284 (Minneapolis, MN). 

            6. The Victim Services Unit of the Ventura County District 
            Attorney's Office has a history of seeking out under served victim 
            groups in the county. Their program which serves crime victims with 
            disabilities is one of several unique services they provide. For 
            more information, call 
            805-654-2500 (Ventura, CA). 

            7. Victim Services 2000, a demonstration project funded by OVC to 
            showcase a comprehensive, seamless model of victim assistance, has 
            worked closely with disability rights specialists in the community 
            to provide training to local victim service providers on how to best 
            serve crime victims with disabilities. For more information, call 
            303-640-4933 (Denver, CO). 

            8. Victim Assistance to Deaf Adults and Children (VADAC). The 
            Department of Public Safety in South Carolina awarded VOCA funding 
            to the State Department of Mental Health Services to deliver 
            comprehensive victim assistance to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing crime 
            victims in fifteen counties in upstate South Carolina. Most services 
            are provided in the home by case managers who are fluent in American 
            Sign Language. Services include interpreting, case management, 
            crisis counseling, therapy, victim rights information, and 
            information about other available services. For more information, 
            call 864-297-5044 or 864-297-5130 (TTY) (State of South Carolina). 

            9. Domestic Violence Access Project. In the State of Hawaii, the 
            Department of the Attorney General has awarded Violence Against 
            Women Act (VAWA) grant funding to a statewide project that is 
            developing linkages between domestic violence programs and service 
            providers working with women with disabilities. The project provides 
            specialized equipment to aid in providing services, as well as 
            training for disability service providers on the nature of domestic 
            violence and how to recognize it, how to elicit necessary 
            information from victims and how to access available services. The 
            development of partnerships and protocols for collaborative efforts 
            should result in better services for domestic violence victims with 
            disabilities. For more information, call 808-534-0040 (State of 
            Hawaii). 

            10. Barrier Free Living, Inc., (BFLI) has been working with family 
            violence victims with disabilities for the past 10 years, and has 
            recently expanded its program to include a hotline for victims with 
            disabilities. In 1986, BFLI received a national award from the 
            National Safety Council for Improving the Lives of People With 
            Disabilities. A report entitled Domestic Violence and Women and 
            Children with Disabilities by BFLI Executive Director Paul 
            Feuerstein provides an excellent overview of the problems of women 
            and children with disabilities. For more information, call 
            212-677-6668 (New York, NY). 

            11. Advocacy for Women and Kids in Emergencies (AWAKE) is a program 
            for battered women who are recovering from substance abuse, as well 
            as battered women with physical and cognitive disabilities. Services 
            are offered in a local hospital, community health center, and a 
            public housing project. The available counseling, educational, and 
            advocacy services focus on the development of self-esteem, parenting 
            skills, healing and self-discovery, and ultimately, for a future 
            based on sobriety. For more information, call 617-355-4760 (Boston, 
            MA). 

            12. Back to Life is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to 
            creating opportunities for people with disabilities to participate 
            fully and safely in their communities. The organization provides 
            training and technical assistance to crime victims with disabilities 
            and to the practitioners who work with these victims. For more 
            information, call 512-255-1465, Fax 512-255-1746, or email: 
            btl@inetport.com (Austin, TX). 

            Recommendations for Criminal Justice Agencies and Victim Service 
            Programs 
            Many of the recommendations presented by the Symposium participants 
            apply to all criminal justice agencies: law enforcement, 
            prosecution, judiciary, corrections, and victim assistance. All 
            agencies must work in concert with one another to ensure that 
            vulnerable victims are identified and served. However, since the 
            focus of this Bulletin is on improved victim assistance services, 
            emphasis is placed on recommendations for those who work in victim 
            assistance programs. Victim assistance program staff interested in 
            implementing any of the recommendations are welcome to contact NOVA 
            or OVC staff for suggestions on how to get started. Many of the 
            recommendations apply equally to those victim assistance programs 
            that are not based in a criminal justice agency. 

            Physical Accessibility 
            1. Criminal justice agencies and victim assistance programs should 
            receive training on the requirements of the Americans with 
            Disabilities Act (ADA) and should support its vigorous enforcement. 
            Agencies/programs should take advantage of technical assistance 
            provided by the Federal government to help ensure enforcement of the 
            ADA. Programs that are not required to abide by the letter of the 
            law should commit to adhering to the spirit of the law. This will 
            help to ensure equal access to the justice system-as called for by 
            Federal law and State constitutional amendments and statutes. 

            2. When full physical accessibility is not immediately achievable, 
            criminal justice agencies and victim assistance programs should 
            initiate transition planning that focuses on obtaining accessibility 
            by a designated date. Public and nonprofit agencies should 
            understand that development of compliance plans are typically 
            mandated under Titles II and III of the ADA, and with some 
            exceptions, compliance plans are required, not optional. These 
            compliance plans serve as a roadmap in taking incremental steps to 
            improve accessibility, even if complete implementation of the plan 
            must be delayed. The victim assistance sector should join with 
            disability advocates and representatives of the various populations 
            within the community to conduct a community needs assessment survey 
            to ensure that the compliance plan is appropriate and effective. 
            Networking and Cross-Training 
            3. Criminal justice and victim assistance personnel should receive 
            training on disabilities, including developing an understanding of 
            disability cultures. Special efforts should be made to identify 
            qualified victim advocates with disabilities as trainers. In 
            addition, criminal justice agencies and victim assistance programs 
            should enlist qualified people with a wide range of different 
            disabilities to lead in all stages of policy development, 
            decisionmaking, program development, and service delivery for crime 
            victims with disabilities from the time of the crime through case 
            disposition and beyond. People with disabilities should be 
            proactively recruited and trained to become volunteers and paid 
            staff members in criminal justice-oriented programs, especially in 
            system-based or private victim assistance programs. 

            4. Criminal justice agencies and vic-tim assistance programs should 
            reach out proactively to local disability service organizations. 
            They should provide them with information about victim rights and 
            services, then the service organization in turn, can inform their 
            constituents on how better to access the criminal justice system, 
            particularly the victim assistance programs. 

            5. Criminal justice agencies and victim assistance programs must 
            develop coalitions, cross-training, and joint training opportunities 
            with disability advocacy and services programs to build better 
            working relationships and to better understand the services each 
            offer when working with people with disabilities.6 In some 
            communities, this coalition could be formalized as an interagency 
            team or coordinating council, including involvement of local or 
            State governmental task forces on disabilities. Communities may wish 
            to emulate the models developed within the domestic violence victim 
            advocacy community. The Commonwealth of Kentucky's Model Protocol 
            for Local Coordinating Councils on Domestic Violence could be a 
            useful guide. Call 502-564-2611 for information. 

            6. Collaborative partnerships must also be fostered with other 
            community-based entities, such as schools, social service agencies, 
            citizen groups, and churches or synagogues. Utilizing the resources 
            of the entire community will help to ensure that service delivery is 
            seamless, more inclusive, and does not duplicate or waste limited 
            resources. 

            7. Leaders in the victim assistance and disability advocacy fields 
            should work together to develop and utilize innovative ways to 
            communicate, such as e-mail listservs. These links would allow the 
            timely sharing of information and ideas between disability groups 
            and individuals with expertise in disability rights and services 
            with similar experts in victim rights and services. Regional and 
            State Web sites devoted to the needs of crime victims offer another 
            way of fostering this exchange. 

            Direct Services 
            8. Agencies should implement or extend streamlined interviewing and 
            intake procedures so that crime victims with disabilities, 
            particularly those with cognitive or communications disabilities, do 
            not have to bear repeated interviewing in different locations. A 
            multidisciplinary approach involving a law enforcement officer, a 
            prosecutor, a victim assistance specialist, and others, as needed, 
            in victim-friendly environments would be more effective and 
            cost-efficient. 

            9. Agencies should develop and implement specific protocols on 
            disclosures, confidentiality, and safety for crime victims with 
            disabilities, particularly where there is potential for retaliation 
            by a caregiver or a disability services agency. For example, when a 
            crime victim reports to a law enforcement officer (or, when it does 
            not get reported to a police agency, to a victim advocate), that he 
            or she is being victimized by a caregiver and has reason to fear for 
            his or her safety, that victim should be provided with assistance to 
            relocate if necessary and to have emergency replacement caregiver 
            services provided. 

            10. Criminal justice agencies and victim assistance programs should 
            be proactive in acquiring assistive technology that would help crime 
            victims with disabilities to be informed, present, heard, and 
            understood more effectively when they communicate with law 
            enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, and victim advocates. For 
            example, victim assistance service providers should know what 
            accommodations will be needed so that a person with a communication 
            disability can make a Victim Impact Statement at the time of 
            sentencing. Assistive technology and accommodations costs (i.e., for 
            computer software, sign language interpreters, paratransit, etc.) 
            should be considered part of the cost of "doing business." 
            Victim assistance agencies should be aware that under Federal VOCA 
            guidelines, VOCA funds may be used to make services accessible to 
            victims with disabilities. Specific allowable costs include the 
            purchase of items such as Braille equipment or TTY/TTD machines, or 
            for minor building improvements that make services more accessible 
            to victims with disabilities. Specific guidance is contained in the 
            Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Comptroller, Financial 
            Guide. 

            11. Once the agency is accessible and staff is trained, criminal 
            justice agencies and victim assistance programs should publicize 
            their ability to work with crime victims with disabilities by 
            putting the universal symbol of access (the line drawing of a 
            wheelchair) and a TDD/TTY number on all literature, promotional 
            materials, business cards, etc., used by the agency. 

            12. Victim assistance and criminal justice agencies should 
            incorporate into existing policies, procedures, and protocols the 
            specific inclusion of persons with disabilities who are 
            victims/witnesses of domestic violence, sexual violence, child 
            abuse, impaired driving crashes, survivors of homicide victims, or 
            other violent personal crimes. Parallel policies should be written 
            to cover economic crimes committed against people with disabilities. 
            
            13. Statistical information about crime victims with disabilities 
            should be systematically collected by criminal justice agencies and 
            victim assistance programs, using the ADA to define disability 
            status. 

            14. Prosecutors should invoke hate crimes statutes, if indicated, 
            when prosecuting crimes against people with disabilities. Judges 
            should apply equal sentencing or sentencing enhancements, when 
            allowed, for offenders who victimize people with disabilities. 

            15. When a violent personal crime occurs against a person with a 
            disability who is institutionalized, the investigation of the crime 
            should not be handled administratively or informally by the 
            institution's own investigators. Dan Sorensen, in his California 
            Victims of Crime Committee Report (January 12, 1997), noted that 
            there were several studies that suggested that 80 percent to 85 
            percent of criminal abuse of residents of institutions (an estimated 
            2.3 million people) never reached law enforcement authorities. 
            Criminal prosecution should be pursued in cases of violent crime. 

            Recommendations for National, State, and Local Disability Rights 
            Specialists 
            While many of the recommendations listed above for victim assistance 
            and allied professionals in the justice system also apply to 
            disability rights specialists, the following are suggestions that 
            are specific to disability rights communities. Furthermore, NOVA and 
            OVC staff can make suggestions on how to locate the necessary 
            information to get started with these recommendations. 
            1. Disability rights and services specialists should learn about 
            State and local victim rights legislation. They should learn how 
            victim assistance programs (both system-based and private agencies) 
            are set up and how services and resources, including crime victim 
            compensation, are acces-sed. In addition, this information should be 
            shared with crime victims with disabilities and their families. 

            2. People with disabilities, especially young people, should be 
            educated about the nature of criminal victimization, to whom they 
            should report crimes against them, and how to access help. 

            3. Personal safety training should be provided for people with 
            disabilities. People with substantial disabilities should work with 
            a knowledgeable specialist to develop personal safety plans. 

            4. Independent living center staff, benefits rights specialists, 
            protection and advocacy program staff, and legal rights specialists 
            should be trained on how to access State crime victim compensation 
            programs to benefit their clients. 

            5. National disability rights organizations should establish a 
            national scope criminal justice committee. This committee would 
            establish a national agenda that calls for disability rights 
            organizations and criminal justice authorities to systematically 
            address the issue of crime against all groups of people with 
            disabilities. 

            6. Disability rights advocates need to work with appropriate allies 
            to estab-lish a personal assistant "bank" for emergencies (to 
            provide backup assist-ants and financial resources to pay for them). 
            
            7. Disability rights advocates should advocate for State laws 
            requiring criminal background checks on prospective personal 
            assistants and other direct service providers before they are hired 
            to care for individuals with disabilities. The Office of Juvenile 
            Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of Justice 
            Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, in conjunction with the 
            American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, recently 
            published Guidelines for the Screening of Persons Working with 
            Children, the Elderly, and Individuals with Disabilities in Need of 
            Support (NCJ# 167248). While these guidelines do not mandate 
            criminal record checks for all care providers, they do provide 
            advice on establishing policies to ensure an appropriate level of 
            screening based on specific situations. To obtain a copy of this 
            publication, call or write the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse/NCJRS, 
            P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, Maryland 20849-6000, telephone number 
            800-638-8736, fax number 301-519-5212. This document may also be 
            viewed online or downloaded from the OJJDP Home Page: 
            www.ncjrs.gov/ojjhome.htm. 

            8. Personnel of programs that pro-vide services to people with 
            disabilities should be encouraged and trained to ask about a 
            client's victimization history as part of the routine 
            intake/assessment process. The disclosure should be entirely 
            voluntary and should be confidential. If a client discloses that he 
            or she has been a crime victim in the past or is currently being 
            victimized, the service provider should inform the client that there 
            may be victim rights laws that offer protection and offer to refer 
            the client to an appropriate victim assistance agency. 

            Recommendations for the Office for Victims of Crime 
            1. OVC should lead the victim assistance field in ensuring that 
            crime victims with disabilities are afforded basic rights and access 
            to needed services. OVC should encourage a strong State response to 
            Section IV.A.4 of the Final Program Guidelines for the VOCA Victim 
            Assistance Grant Program. This Section encourages States to identify 
            gaps in available services, not just by the types of crimes 
            committed but also by victims' demographic characteristics, 
            including disability status. 

            2. OVC should work cooperatively with State Crime Victim Assistance 
            and Compensation Programs to ensure that regional training for VOCA 
            sub-recipients on the requirements of the ADA is available. OVC 
            could then develop an annual accessibility "check-list" for State 
            VOCA administrators, who in turn could provide guidance to VOCA 
            sub-recipients about complying with the ADA. 

            3. OVC should promote the use of available resources and foster the 
            identi-fication and development of other re-sources to help ensure 
            that the victim assistance fieldCin particular those programs funded 
            by VOCA-is educated about issues and concerns relevant to crime 
            victims with disabilities and trained to provide services 
            efficiently, effectively, and with compasion. 

            * States receiving VOCA funds have the option of using up to 6 
            percent of the State's victim assistance grant for the purpose of 
            conducting statewide and/or regional trainings of victim services 
            staff. States should be encouraged to use this option to provide 
            needed training to practitioners on the best practices in serving 
            crime victims with disabilities. 
            * OVC should propose and encourage the formation of a Working Group 
            composed of State VOCA Administrators and service providers to help 
            determine the most effective ways to utilize available resources. 

            4. OVC should ensure that training materials developed under OVC 
            Grants and Cooperative Agreements are available through the OVC 
            Resource Center. They should be offered in a variety of formats that 
            can be used by victim advocates with disabilities or disseminated to 
            the disability rights community to better educate consumers with 
            disabilities and disability service providers. For example, videos 
            produced with OVC funding should be required to be open-captioned so 
            that Deaf people will be able to use them. 

            5. OVC should direct VOCA discretionary grant funding to develop 
            training and technical assistance projects that include a strong 
            focus on serving crime victims with disabilities. Special attention 
            should be addressed to crime victims with disabilities from minority 
            and low-income groups, who are least likely of all crime victims to 
            receive victim assistance services. OVC is currently funding several 
            multiyear demonstration projects, Victim Services 2000, which are 
            designed to serve as models for communities in rural and urban 
            settings that wish to develop networks of integrated and 
            comprehensive services for crime victims. OVC should ensure that the 
            needs and issues of crime victims with disabilities are addressed 
            comprehensively in these demonstration projects. 

            6. OVC should work closely with State victim compensation 
            administrators to identify issues and service gaps related to the 
            long-term medical and mental health needs of crime victims with 
            disabilities when developing crime victim compensation guidelines. 
            For example, a long-term medical expense for one Symposium 
            participant who became blind after being shot, is to be refitted for 
            and to replace her prosthetic eyes every few years; an expense of 
            about $1,700. 

            7. OVC should encourage presentations on themes relevant to 
            increasing accessibility of services for crime victims with 
            disabilities at all State, regional, or national conferences, 
            conventions, symposia, focus groups or meetings funded by OVC. In 
            particular, training for VOCA administrators attending the annual 
            VOCA conference should promote the importance of serving this 
            population of crime victims. The training should present the most 
            efficient ways to use State VOCA funds to increase physical access 
            through facility modifications or acquiring specialized 
            communication equipment. OVC should also study how much VOCA funding 
            is currently being spent annually to increase access of services to 
            crime victims with disabilities, and how much additional VOCA 
            funding will be needed to ensure full accessibility. 
            8. OVC should establish dynamic partnerships with disability 
            communities at the national level (paralleling local efforts) to 
            encourage policy and program development that will benefit crime 
            victims with disabilities. 

            9. OVC should develop a mechanism for using and disseminating the 
            information on disability status that is currently collected by VOCA 
            subrecipients. Such statistics could be used to develop 
            "benchmarking" standards. 

            The Federal Performance Report Working Group should be composed of 
            representatives from (1) the Office for Victims of Crime and the 
            Violence Against Women Grants Office of the Office of Justice 
            Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice and (2) The Center for 
            Disease Control and Ad-ministration on Children and Families of the 
            U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Working Group will 
            develop a standardized Statistical Summary Subgrant Award Report 
            that could be used by all organizations receiving Federal funding to 
            assist victims of crime from any of these Federal funding sources. 
            OVC should formally recommend that this standardized report include 
            disability status and the nature of the disability as part of the 
            demographic data that is collected. 

            10. The National Victim Assistance Academy, funded by OVC, should 
            build on the current training component on working with crime 
            victims with disabilities. 

            Recommendations for Other Department of Justice Agencies 
            1. The National Institute of Justice should work with the 
            appropriate disability-related research agencies to establish a 
            long-term research agenda focusing on the needs of crime victims 
            with disabilities from the time of the occurrence of the crime 
            through the entire criminal justice process. Such research should 
            seek to determine the best methodologies for identifying the level 
            and nature of victimization risk, the impact of criminal 
            victimization on victims with disabilities, the need for specialized 
            types of victim services, the ability to access victim services, and 
            the challenges posed to the criminal justice system in investigating 
            and prosecuting the offenders, as well as preventing future 
            victimization. 

            2. The OVC funded project administered by the National Institute of 
            Justice on "The Effectiveness of VOCA Funding in Meeting the Needs 
            of Crime Victims" should incorporate specific strategies to measure 
            the ability of VOCA subrecipients to identify and serve crime 
            victims with disabilities and to identify the barriers that impede 
            those efforts. 

            3. The National Crime Victimization Survey, the Unified Crime 
            Report, and other data collection surveys should be redesigned to 
            capture data on the incidence of violence against people with 
            disabilities and the number of people who become disabled due to 
            crime-related catastrophic physical injuries. If alternative survey 
            methods are used, they should be designed and implemented with 
            sufficient resources so that their findings are as authoritative as 
            others produced by the Department of Justice. 

            4. Appropriate offices in the Department of Justice should work 
            collab-oratively to focus on the problems of crime against people 
            with disabilities to foster cooperation in the development of policy 
            initiatives at all governmental levels. 

            5. The Violence Against Women Grants Office and the Civil Rights 
            Division of the Department of Justice should work to enhance the 
            physical and attitudinal accessibility of domestic violence and 
            sexual assault programs to women with disabilities and actively 
            discourage any kind of discrimination in service provided to persons 
            with disabilities. 

            These recommendations represent only a first step toward building a 
            better service delivery system for crime victims with disabilities. 
            The Symposium participants who developed these suggestions are 
            committed to continuing their work and to recruiting others to 
            continue the work that they have begun. 

            Implications 
            The victim assistance field has made great progress since its 
            beginnings in the early 1970's. However, there is much more to 
            achieve in order to ensure full inclusion and full participation of 
            all crime victims. 

            Currently, few networks exist to bring together the various 
            specialists in the field of victim rights and services and their 
            parallel colleagues in the disability rights field. Until such 
            networks are developed, it is likely that strategies for outreach, 
            training, and coordinated service delivery will be delayed. 
            Effective networking could promote participation of people with 
            disabilities in our criminal justice process, ensure timely delivery 
            of appropriate services to crime victims with disabilities, promote 
            community awareness of the special needs and concerns of victims 
            with disabilities, and help disseminate facts about victimization in 
            the varied communities of people with disabilities. Developing such 
            networks will take the time and energy of many committed individuals 
            and agencies in both the victim rights and the disability rights 
            arenas. It is clear that policies will not be changed, service 
            providers will not be trained, and help will not be provided without 
            the active involvement of the constituencies for whom the services 
            are intended. People with disabilities must take a leading role in 
            helping to determine the future of victim rights and services for 
            themselves, and they must work in concert with all the various 
            criminal justice entities to make that happen. 

            Leadership and funding will be needed not only from OVC but also 
            from other appropriate funding sources to ensure that our criminal 
            justice agencies and victim assistance programs are fully accessible 
            to people with disabilities and that the staffs of those programs 
            are appropriately trained to provide quality services. Given the 
            large numbers of crime victims with disabilities, programs will need 
            additional funding in order to provide the level of services needed. 
            When funding is not immediately available, program man-agers will 
            need to be creative in seek-ing alliances with new partners to help 
            make service delivery a reality. Lack of funding should never be an 
            excuse for excluding any crime victims from our American system of 
            justice. 

            Americans with disabilities are a widely diverse group of people 
            with varying levels of independence and needs. The challenge for the 
            future is to ensure that all people with disabilities become full 
            participants in the criminal justice system. The National Council on 
            Disability noted in its Achieving Independence report that the 
            "achievement of independence for people with disabilities is a test 
            of the very tenets of our democracy. It is a test we can pass." As 
            victim advocates, we now know that there is a potentially huge 
            population of unserved and under served crime victims who have the 
            right to the services that we are committed to giving to all crime 
            victims: 
            * The right to protection from intimidation and harm. 
            * The right to be informed concerning the criminal justice process. 
            * The right to counsel. 
            * The right to reparations. 
            * The right to preservation of property and employment. 
            * The right to due process in criminal court proceedings. 
            * The right to be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect. 
            While the United States is viewed as the world leader in civil and 
            disability rights, crime victims with disabilities are largely 
            invisible and their legal rights for serviceCand justice go 
            unaddressed. Criminal rights are carefully monitored by the justice 
            and legal system; the crime victims' rights movement is striving to 
            achieve recognition of similar rights and services for the victim, 
            including those with disabilities. 

                The challenge for the future is to ensure that all people with 
                disabilities become full participants in the criminal justice 
                system. 
                
            Meeting the needs of crime victims with disabilities presents the 
            criminal justice system, including the victim assistance field, with 
            a great challenge. It will not be accomplished simply by extending 
            the umbrella of "victim assistance" to cover more or even all crime 
            victims with disabilities. Rather, a partnership between the victim 
            assistance and disability advocacy fields needs to be built that 
            fosters mutual respect and sharing of ideas, knowledge, 
            capabilities, successes, and collaborative efforts in order to 
            develop strategies to address the problems. Such a partnership will 
            strengthen the capability of both victim and disability advocates in 
            their efforts to ensure that all crime victims are afforded 
            fundamental justice and access to quality, comprehensive services. 
            The facts are before us. We cannot turn back now. 

            For Further Information 
            For additional information about the project and products related to 
            Working With Disabled Crime Victims, contact NOVA or OVC at the 
            following addresses and phone numbers: 

            Office for Victims of Crime 
            U.S. Department of Justice 
            810 7th Street, N.W., 8th Floor 
            Washington, D.C. 20531 
            202-307-5983 202-514-6383 fax 
            Web Site: http:\www.ojp.usdoj.gov\ovc\ 

            National Organization for Victim Assistance 
            1757 Park Road, N.W. 
            Washington, D.C. 20010 
            202-232-6682 
            202-462-2255 fax 
            E-mail: nova@try-nova.org 
            Web Site: http:\www.try-nova.org 

            Additional Resources 
            Following are useful resources. The list, of course, is not 
            complete, in the interest of brevity. 

            Books 
            Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People With Disabilities: The End 
            of Silent Acceptance? Dick Sobsey, R.N., Ed.D., Paul H. Brookes 
            Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD. 
            Violence & Disability: An Annotated Bibliography, Dick Sobsey, Don 
            Wells, Richard Lucardie, Sheila Mansell, Paul H. Brookes Publishing 
            Company, Baltimore, MD. 
            Caregiver Abuse and Domestic Violence in the Lives of Women With 
            Disabilities, Meeting the Needs of Women With Disabilities: A 
            Blueprint for Change, a Project of Berkeley Planning Associates. 
            Marlene F. Strong and Ann Cupolo Freeman. 510-465-7884 (booklet). 

            Curricula and Videos 
            Your Safety, Your Rights, a personal safety and abuse prevention 
            program for adults with disabilities and for service providers. 
            Terri Pease, Ph.D. and Beverly Frantz, Network of Victim Assistance, 
            215-348-5664. 
            Charting New Waters: Responding to Violence Against Women With 
            Disabilities, Video and Facilitators' Guide. Justice Institute of 
            British Columbia, 604-525-5422. 
            Together We Can Make a Difference: A Police Orientation Manual on 
            Citizens With Disabilities. Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & 
            Delinquency, Harrisburg, PA. 
            Police and People With Disabilities. Law Enforcement Resource 
            Center. Minneapolis, MN 800-279-8284. 

            Miscellaneous 
            San Francisco Police Department's "Transition Plan for Police 
            Stations and the Hall of Justice" (re: Americans With Disabilities 
            Act), contact Sgt. Michael J. Sullivan, ADA Coordinator, 
            415-553-1343, 415-558-2406 (TTY). 
            Personal Safety Awareness Center Resource Lending Library Listing of 
            Materials, Austin Rape Crisis Center, 512-445-5776 x 210. 
            National Council on Independent Living, 2111 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 
            405, Arlington, VA 22201, 703-525-3406 (voice), 703-525-3407 (TTY), 
            to locate the nearest Center for Independent Living. 
            ADA Information Line 
            800-514-0301 (Voice) 
            800-514-0383 (TDD) 
            www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm 
            The U.S. Department of Justice answers questions about the ADA and 
            provides free publications by mail and fax through its ADA 
            Information Line; publications may also be viewed or downloaded at 
            its website. 
            Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers (DBTACs) 
            800-949-4232 (Voice/TTD) 
            www.icdi.wvu.edu/tech/ada.htm 
            The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research 
            (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education has funded a network of 
            grantees throughout the nation to provide information, training, and 
            technical assistance to agencies and businesses regarding their 
            responsibilities and duties under the ADA. Your call to the above 
            toll-free number will be routed to the DBTAC in your region. 

            President's Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities, 
            List of Chairpersons, Vice Chairpersons and Secretaries of 
            Governors' Committees on Employment of People With Disabilities, 
            202-376-6200 (voice)/376-6205 (TDD). The Job Accommodation Network 
            (JAN) is a service of the President's Committee on Employment of 
            People With Disabilities, and provides personalized consulting 
            services by giving callers detailed accommodation solutions and 
            answers to specific questions about the ADA. Call 800-ADA-WORK 
            (800-232-9675) voice/tty. Computer Bulletin Board: 800-Dial-JAN, 
            800-342-5526). Web Site: http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu. The Access 
            Board provides ADA accessibility guidelines for new construction and 
            compliance issues for facilities built with Federal dollars. Call 
            202-272-5434 voice, 202-272-5549 tty, Web site: 
            http://access-board.gov. 

            Related Web Sites 
            www.cavnet.org 
            www.boystown.org/research/abused.html 
            www.quasar.ualberta.ca/ddc/ddb/sobleymansell.html 
            www.psych-health.com/death.html 
            www.psych-health.com/tony.html 
            www.vh.org/Welcome/UIHC/UIHCMedDepts/Peds/ ChildAbuse/DHSAdult.html 
            www.realtime.net/austinrapecrisis/HTML/psac.htm 
            www.pcepd.gov 
            www.icdi.wvu.edu/tech/ada.htm 
            
            Symposium Participants (Advisors) 
            OVC and NOVA thank the following advisors who attended the 2-day 
            Symposium, and to many others who were unable to attend, but lent 
            their information and support. 
            Diane Alexander, National Victim Center, Arlington, VA 
            Nora J. Baladerian, Ph.D., Spectrum Institute, Disability, Abuse & 
            Personal Rights Project, Culver City, CA 
            Diane Bryen, Institute on Disabilities/UAP, Temple University, 
            Philadelphia, PA 
            Barbara Burkhardt, Office of the Attorney General, Division of 
            Victim Services, Tallahassee, FL 
            Charlotte Clarke, Victim/Witness Assistance Unit, U.S. Attorney's 
            Office, Washington, D.C. 
            Marcie Davis, Crisis Response of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM 
            Dan Eddy, National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards, 
            Alexandria, VA 
            Sharon D'Eusanio, Division of Victim Services, Office of the 
            Attorney General, Boca Raton, FL 
            Barbara Waxman Fiduccia, Center for Women Policy Studies, Cupertino, 
            CA 
            Beverly L. Frantz, Network of Victim Assistance, Sellersville, PA 
            Marc Gallucci, Esq., Center for Disability Rights, Victims of Crime 
            Coalition of Connecticut, New Haven, CT 
            Wilson Hulley, President's Committee on Employment of People With 
            Disabilities, Washington, D.C. 
            Kerry A. Klockner, Washington Coalition of Citizens with 
            disABILITIES, Seattle, WA 
            Pat Laird, Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Dept. 
            of Health/Human Services, Washington, D.C. 
            Morna Murray, Esq., VALOR, Alexandria, VA 
            Kim Musheno, The Arc, Washington, D.C. 
            Brooke O'Kelly, The RiteAway Team, Beverly Hills, CA 
            Debbie O'Neill, Ventura County District Attorney's Office Victim 
            Services Unit, Ventura, CA 
            Joan Petersilia, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, Santa 
            Barbara, CA 
            Barbara Ransom, Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP), 
            Philadelphia, PA 
            Dan Rosenblatt, International Association of Chiefs of Police, 
            Alexandria, VA 
            Tom Satterly, Riverview, FL 
            Jane Nady Sigmon, Ph.D., American Prosecutors' Research Institute, 
            Alexandria, VA 
            Marilyn Smith, Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services, Seattle, WA 
            Richard Sobsey, Ph.D., Developmental Disabilities Center. University 
            of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 
            Lisa Sonneborn, Institute on Disabilities/UAP, Temple University, 
            Philadelphia, PA 
            Dan Sorensen, Criminal Justice Task Force for Persons With 
            Developmental Disabilities, Sacramento, CA 
            Linda Spies, Denver, CO 
            Sergeant Michael J. Sullivan, ADA Coordinator, San Francisco Police 
            Department, San Francisco, CA 
            Patricia M. Sullivan, Ph.D., Center for Abused Children with 
            Disabilities, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE 
            Sean Sweeney, National Institute on Disability & Rehabilitation 
            Research, U.S. Dept. of Education, Washington, D.C. 
            



            
            Christine Thompson, Crime Victim Initiative, Hennepin County 
            Attorney's Office, Minneapolis, MN 
            Richard Titus, Ph.D, National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C. 
            
            Reginald F. Wells, Ph.D., Administration on Developmental 
            Disabilities, U.S. Dept. of Health/Human Services, Washington, D.C. 
            Jody Wildy, D.C. Center for Independent Living, Washington, D.C. 
            Mary Ellen Young, Ph.D., Center for Research on Women With 
            Disabilities, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 

            ENDNOTES
            
            1 RAINN, 635-B Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC 20003 
            
            2 Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People With Disabilities: The 
            End of Silent Acceptance?, Dick Sobsey, R.N., Ed.D., 1994, pp. 
            75-76, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. 
            
            3 Your Safety . . . Your Rights & Personal Safety and Abuse 
            Prevention Education Program to Empower Adults with Disabilities and 
            Train Service Providers. T. Pease and B. Frantz, 1994, Doylestown, 
            PA: Network of Victim Assistance. 
            
            4 Assault Experiences of 100 Psychiatric Inpatients: Evidence for 
            the Need for Routine Inquiry. Jacobson, A. and Richardson, B. (1987) 
            American Journal of Psychiatry, 144(7), 908-913.) 
            
            5 Domestic Violence and Women and Children With Disabilities, 
            Millbank Memorial Fund Report, Paul Feuerstein, June 1997, 
            unpublished 
            
            6 NOVA has presented at least one workshop on a disability-related 
            topic at its annual conferences since the early 1980's. In 1998, 
            NOVA will present a plenary session on working with crime victims 
            with disabilities, along with a track of six workshops devoted to 
            this issue. The Office for Victims of Crime is sponsoring two of 
            these workshops, including one on requirements of the ADA and 
            technical assistance available to victim assistance agencies to meet 
            these requirements. Crime victim advocates with disabilities will 
            work closely with the conference coordinator to design and present 
            the plenary session and the workshops. 
            
            This bulletin was prepared under cooperative agreement number 
            97-BF-GX-K022, awarded to the National Organization for Victim 
            Assistance, by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice 
            Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The findings and conclusions 
            are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official 
            position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 
            The Office for Victims of Crime is a component of the Office of 
            Justice Programs which also includes the Bureau of Justice 
            Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute 
            of Justice, and the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
            Prevention. 
            
            NCJ 172838