- About Us
- Services
-
Programs
- Programs Home
- Center on Immigration and Justice
- Center on Sentencing and Corrections
- Center on Victimization and Safety
- Center on Youth Justice
- Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit
- Family Justice Program
- International Program
- Prosecution and Racial Justice Program
- Substance Use and Mental Health Program
- Adolescent Portable Therapy
- Common Justice
- The Guardianship Project
- Experts
- Topics
- Blog
- Resources
- Newsroom
Home / Accessing Safety Initiative
HomeAccessing Safety Initiative
Home
Home
Accessing Safety Initiative
About This Project
Vera’s Accessing Safety Initiative (ASI) helps its partner jurisdictions—states and cities—enhance the capacity of their social services and criminal justice systems to assist women with disabilities & Deaf women who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
ASI partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women in 2006 to provide intensive consulting and training to federally funded initiatives that are working to improve services for these survivors. Its goal is to increase victim agencies’ knowledge, skills, and resources for offering accessible and welcoming services to people with disabilities and, at the same time, help disability organizations offer safe and responsive services to survivors of domestic or sexual violence.
Providing equal access to safety and other services for women with disabilities and Deaf women requires collaboration and cross-learning among local agencies that serve people with disabilities and local agencies that serve victims of domestic and sexual violence. ASI works throughout the country to foster this collaboration and help criminal justice personnel and social service providers increase their knowledge, resources, and capacity to serve survivors with disabilities. Specific activities include hosting national conferences, facilitating peer-led learning, conducting site visits, and providing intensive consultation. To ensure that capacity enhancements it facilitates are sustainable, ASI emphasizes those that focus on the policies, practices, cultures, and attitudes of organizations and that are, ultimately, integrated into the fabrics of those organizations.
Particular Needs of Survivors with Disabilities & Deaf Survivors
A small but persuasive body of research suggests that violence and abuse occur at epidemic rates among women with disabilities. It also suggests that women with specific kinds of disabilities are at a higher risk than others. Individuals with developmental disabilities, for example, are up to 10 times more likely to experience sexual assault than other adults. Moreover, research and anecdotal evidence indicate that Deaf women and women with disabilities—regardless of their disability type—experience significant barriers to accessing and receiving services that provide support and safety for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
For more information, please see the Accessing Safety Initiative’s web site at www.accessingsafety.org.
Resources
Blog
-
A new study of disability finds that its diverse forms pose a growing challenge to the world population.
According to a new report jointly prepared by the World Health Organization and the World Bank, more than a billion people—about 15 percent of the world’s population—are estimated to live with some form of disability. While this number may seem larger than our everyday experience of people with disabilities suggests, disability manifests in diverse ways.
topics:Disability -
Let’s act to end impunity for perpetrators who masquerade as care-givers.
Recent media accounts have chronicled reports of alleged abuse and assault of people with disabilities in residential-care settings. These are vile stories of perpetrators caught in the act of raping residents, disturbing descriptions of people with disabilities being beaten, some even killed—all while in the supposed care of a residential facility and at the hands of employees who have been hired to support them. While these articles may be difficult to read, they shed light on a problem that is often hidden from view but warrants immediate attention.
topics:Crime and Victimization -
A Massachusetts ruling says the need for an accommodation is no reason to deny victims their right to testify.
Could you imagine being the victim of a violent crime and not being allowed to testify, even though you wanted to?
Through Vera's work on the Accessing Safety Initiative, we have learned that this is an all-too-common scenario for people with disabilities and Deaf people who have experienced a violent crime.
topics:Court Systems -
Stopping to commemorate a life-saving law inspires service providers to more effectively respond to survivors of violence with disabilities and Deaf survivors.
Last week, staff of Vera’s Accessing Safety Initiative (ASI) were in Boston to conduct a training for grantees titled “Applying the Principles of Universal Design to Serving Survivors with Disabilities and Deaf Survivors” for recipients of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Disability Grant.
topics:Crime and Victimization -
Will police departments nationwide follow DC's example and eliminate barriers to communication with Deaf and hard of hearing crime victims?
I was so excited to see this article in the Washington Post last week.topics:Crime and Victimization
Featured Expert
-
Project Director, Accessing Safety Initiative -
Director, Center on Victimization and Safety
