Abuse comes in many forms. Caregivers may painstakingly attend to children's physical needs but often overlook their need for social relationships and opportunities to explore their world. Systems that segregate children with and without disabilities reinforce this. Finding homes for children with disabilities who can't live with their parents can be difficult. They're often placed in any spare bed, whether or not they'll receive good care.
Poor care can lead to behaviour problems, resulting in frequent moves and worse behaviour problems.
As children's behaviour deteriorates, caregivers sometimes resort to 'behaviour-management' techniques, like strapping them into wheelchairs or isolating them for hours. Such treatment is as damaging to children with disabilities as it is to children without them. Behaviour problems are too often attributed to the disability and not the environment. Physical abuse usually results from poor coping skills. But when a child with disabilities displays symptoms of abuse, the problems are too often left untreated.