People with intellectual disabilities are sexually assaulted at a rate SEVEN TIMES HIGHER than people without disabilities. And that figure is likely a substantial underestimate, as it doesn't take into account repeated abuse or people living in institutions and group homes. 

There are steps we can take to prevent abuse and empower our loved ones to protect themselves and understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. 

We spoke with Molly Dellinger-Wray who leads LEAP - Leadership for Empowerment and Abuse Prevention - at VCU's Partnership for People with Disabilities and LEAP trainer Rose Sutton.

 

The Odyssey: Parenting. Caregiving. Disability. 

The Center for Family Involvement at VCU School of Education's Partnership for People with Disabilities provides informational and emotional support to people with disabilities and their families. All of our services are free. We just want to help. We know how hard this can be because we're in it with you. 

 

SHOW NOTES: 

As Rose mentioned, caregivers need to take care of themselves, too!! 

To register for the upcoming LEAP webinar on March 18th, click here!

For more about Healthy Relationships and Abuse Prevention, check out LEAP's website. LEAP is currently funded by the Individual and Family Support Program at Virginia's Department of Behavioral Health and Human Services. 

Partners in Policymaking is a leadership development and advocacy education program for people with disabilities and family members. This free program is offered across the country and online in some areas. PIP started in Minnesota in the late 1980s. 

The NPR report on abuse can be found here. The latest statistics on abuse are here. 

The Adult Down Syndrome Center/Advocate Health Care webpage has many adaptive visual aids to help people with IDD with various things. Including: 

Bathing and Showering

Sexual Health and Relationships

Self Care and Hygiene

Social Skills

 

01:00:07 :20 - 01:00:34 :11

Erin Croyle

Welcome to The Odyssey. Parenting, Caregiving, Disability. I'm Erin Croyle, the creator and host of The Odyssey podcast explores how our lives change when a loved one has a disability. My new path started in 2010, when my first child was born with Down's Syndrome. I joined the Center for Family Involvement at VCU's Partnership for People with Disabilities a few years after he was born.

 

01:00:34 :12 - 01:00:47 :05

Erin Croyle

Using my journalism and television producer background as a communication specialist, I have the privilege of bringing much needed attention to issues facing our community.

 

01:00:47 :07 - 01:01:20 :02

Erin Croyle

Unfortunately, rampant abuse is one of them. NPR's 2018 report The Sexual Assault Epidemic No one talks About brought this to light. Correspondent Joseph Shapiro's yearlong investigation found that people with intellectual disabilities are sexually assaulted at a rate seven times higher than people without disabilities. And that's likely an underestimate, as the report notes, because government surveys used to compile this data don't include people living in institutions or group homes.

 

01:01:20 :04 - 01:01:51 :19

Erin Croyle

These statistics are integrating heartbreaking and terrifying, but there are steps we can take to prevent abuse. That's why I asked Molly Dellinger-Wray and Rose Sutton to join me. Molly leads a program at VCU called LEAP, which stands for Leadership for Empowerment and Abuse Prevention. LEAP provides training on healthy relationships and information for preventing abuse to adults and teens with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

 

01:01:51 :21 - 01:02:18 :10

Erin Croyle

LEAP was founded in 2014 and is currently funded through the Individual and Family Support PrOgram at Virginia's Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Rose Sutton is a disability advocate, autism specialist, mother and a sleep trainer. Molly and Rose. Thank you for joining me. Molly, let's start with you telling us more about LEAP and your involvement with it.

 

01:02:18 :11 - 01:02:48 :20

Molly Dellinger-Wray

The Partnership for People with Disabilities has been addressing the problem of abuse and neglect of children with disabilities since, I think, 2015. They used to have a grant, a multi-disciplinary grant about teaching multidisciplinary teams about child abuse. And I got involved with that project and felt like we were providing training for law enforcement for school social workers, for court personnel, and for lots of adults.

 

01:02:48 :20 - 01:03:06 :10

Molly Dellinger-Wray

But we weren't. No one was actually providing training to the people who really needed it, and that's people with disabilities. And so LEAP is taught by a person with a disability and a coach trainer to teach people with disabilities about healthy relationships in Molly.

 

01:03:06 :12 - 01:03:14 :05

Erin Croyle

What is your role? So what brought you to the partnership and what got you interested in this sort of work?

 

01:03:14 :07 - 01:03:51 :10

Molly Dellinger-Wray

My role started in positive behavior support and one of the things that we know on positive behavior support is we're always looking. We're like trying to solve a puzzle of why people may be struggling and exhibiting behaviors that make people around them frustrated and angry. And one of the big reasons for that is past trauma. And when you look at the statistics and the data surrounding the numbers of people who have experienced trauma and abuse, that can often lead to some challenging behaviors.

 

01:03:51 :10 - 01:04:14 :14

Molly Dellinger-Wray

And so that sort of pulled me down the rabbit hole of thinking, you know, we really want to help people with the quality of life. We need to think about their past trauma. And because my background is in special education, I always think, you know, I would much rather prevent abuse than have to help someone work through it on the other side.

 

01:04:14 :16 - 01:04:38 :05

Erin Croyle

Rose You and I actually know each other from Partners in Policy making the Virginia Class of 2013, which is a long time ago now for folks not familiar Partners in Policy Making is a leadership development and advocacy education program for people with disabilities and family members. The three programs offered in most states and I can put more information about that and leap in the show notes.

 

01:04:38 :07 - 01:04:44 :03

Erin Croyle

ROSE Can you tell us a little more about yourself and what led you to become a lead trainer?

 

01:04:44 :05 - 01:05:02 :19

Rose Sutton

So thank you for having me. For myself, what brought me to leap was after we had good partners in policymaking, I had learned how to advocate since where mi