Survivors’ Circle

A conversation with people with 

disabilities about sexual violence 

Welcome

Jill Jacobs

Commissioner

Administration for Community Living

June 14, 2023
Today’s Program

• Opening Remarks from Federal Partners

• An Introduction to ID/DD & Sexual Assault

• Panel Discussion with Survivors

• Q & A Opportunity 

• CEUs information
Housekeeping

This webinar is 

being recorded

Use the Q&A 

feature to submit 

your questions

You must attend 

the full webinar 

to receive CEUs

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Your well-being

During the webinar, we will be 

discussing sexual violence, 

and survivors will be sharing 

their experiences. If you have 

difficulty with this information, 

we encourage you to take care 

of yourself. Feel free to step 

away, mute the audio, or turn 

away from your screen. We 

are also dropping links to 

national hotlines in case you 

need to talk with someone as 

a result of this webinar.

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Hotlines 

RAINN Sexual Assault

Chat: https://www.rainn.org/

800-656-4673

National Domestic Violence Hotline

Chat: https://www.thehotline.org

800-799-7233

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Welcome from the White House

Cailin Crockett

Senior Policy Advisor

White House Gender Policy Council
Sexual Assault of People with 

Intellectual and 

Developmental Disabilities: An 

Introduction

Kara Ayers, PhD

kara.ayers@cchmc.org
Kara Ayers, PhD

• Professor and researcher

• Trained as clinical psychologist

• A disabled woman and parent to 

children with and without disabiliites

• No disclosures for this talk
Level setting with our 

language
Sexual assault of 

people with 

disabilities

People with IDD are more than 7 times more 

likely to experience sexual assault than people 

without disabilities. Women with disabilities were 

12 times as likely.

Abuse is often repeated and chronic.

Abuse is often committed by paid service providers and 

occur in disability service settings.

Few of these crimes are reported.

Charges and conviction of perpetrators are rare.

Curtiss, S. L., & Kammes, R. (2020). Understanding the risk of sexual abuse for adults With intellectual 

and developmental disabilities from an ecological framework. Journal of Policy and Practice in 

Intellectual Disabilities, 17(1), 13-20.
Ableism 

worsens the 

problem of 

sexual assault 

of people with 

disabilities.
Ableism can be 

covert but is still 

poisonous.
How ableism contributes to this 

problem...

Stereotypes 

about people 

with disabilities, 

like we are not 

sexual beings, 

are dangerous.

Many people 

with disabilities 

are denied 

sexual 

education.

Fear, isolation, 

and uncertainty 

can combine to 

make telling 

someone or 

seeking help 

more difficult.

The victim may 

have a negative 

history with law 

enforcement. 

Interviews can 

be inaccessible.
Anti-ableist responses to this emergency 

for our community

Internalized

Communication access 

Accessible and safe 

alternatives to abusive people 

and settings

Listen to the stories you will hear 

today. 
How you can reach me:

kara.ayers@cchmc.org @DrKaraAyers @KaraAyers My Google Scholar Profile to 

read my work.
Introduction of Panel

HHS Director of Sexual and Gender-based Violence

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health

Lynn Rosenthal
Survivors’ Circle Panelists

• Nancy Smith, Moderator, Director, Activating Change

• Cindy Bentley, Executive Director, People First in Wisconsin

• Kecia Weller, Abuse Prevention Advocate

• James Meadours, Advocacy and Outreach Lead

Strategic Education Solutions
Questions?

Use the Q&A feature to submit your 

questions for the panelists 

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Resources 

 Activating Change https://www.activatingchange.org/

 The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality: 

https://thinkequitable.com/

 Association of University Centers on Disabilities: http://aucd.org

 Department of Defense (DoD) SAFE 

Helpline: https://www.safehelpline.org/

 RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline and Online: http://www.rainn.org

 The National Domestic Violence Hotline: http://thehotline.org
Resources

 National Sexual Violence Resources Center: https://www.nsvrc.org/

 Prevent Connect: www.preventconnect.org/

 National Resource Center for Reaching Victims: 

www.reachingvictims.org/

 National Alliance to End Sexual Alliance: https://endsexualviolence.org/

 Office of Family Violence Prevention & Services Resource Centers: 

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofvps/programs/fvpsa/family-violenceprevention-services-resource-centers

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Continuing Education Credits

Supervisory Family Violence Prevention Specialist

Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services

Marlo Brooks
Thank You!

You can download the slides here.

The recording will be available June 21st here.

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