A recent national study by the Center for Research on Women with Disabilities shows that women with physical disabilities experience about the same rate of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse as women without disabilities. The women with disabilities, however, were more likely to experience the abuse over longer periods of time. The most common perpetrators were husbands or live-in companions. Women with disabilities were more likely to experience abuse by medical professionals and by parents than women without disabilities. Abuse has a more severe negative effect on the self-esteem of women with physical disabilities than those without disabilities.
Disability is associated with fewer economic resources, thereby increasing the risk of abuse.
It also limits the woman's options for escaping abusive situations or accessing battered women's programs. She may feel shame and humiliation that this is happening to her. She may think she deserved the abuse. She may think that, because of her disability, she cannot hope for better treatment. She may feel protective of her partner.