Disabled children suffer 4.6 times more sexual violence

By Tooba Altaf Jul 12th, 2012 ( No Comment )

Geneva: Disabled children with mental sickness or intellectual impairments suffer 4.6 times more sexual violence than the normal kid.

According to a review commission by WHO, published today in the medical journal “The Lancet”, a disabled child is four times more vulnerable to violence than a normal kid.

The further details of report revealed that a disable kid has 3.7 times more chances of being a victim of any kind of violence, 3.6 times more chances of being a victim of physical violence and 2.9 times more chances of being a victim of sexual violence, than a normal and non-disabled child.

Dr Etienne Krug, Director of WHO’s Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability says, “The results of this review prove that children with disabilities are disproportionately vulnerable to violence, and their needs have been neglected for far too long.” Dr. Krug further adds, “We know that specific strategies exist to prevent violence and mitigate its consequences. We now need to determine if these also work for children with disabilities. An agenda needs to be set for action”.

The reasons behind such high statistics of violence for disabled children are stigma, biasness, lack of knowledge about disability and no social support.

Admitting disabled children in various institutions also increase the chances of violence. And one more drawback for disabled kids with communication problems is their inability to disclose the abusive incident to anyone.

Dr Mark Bellis, a lead researcher on this review, says “”The impact of a child’s disability on their quality of life is very much dependent on the way other individuals treat them. It is the duty of government and civil society to ensure that such victimization is exposed and prevented.”