Study Examines Relationship Violence in Deaf Community

By Rachel Ward

Rochester, NY – The RIT study compares incidences of relationship violence between Deaf and hearing students, and also delves into the experiences of gay and lesbian students.

But the most dramatic finding relates to men. Researchers found that of the four types of relationship violence that they studied, Deaf men were more likely to experience all four. Deaf women were only more likely to experience one category of abuse more frequently than their hearing counterparts.

Laverne McQuiller Williams started the study back in 2000.

"I think it's very important to highlight, especially these findings in males, because a lot of the research and previous literature simply ignores males as victims, especially victims of dating and relationship violence."

McQuiller Williams don't know why Deaf men are reporting more relationship violence. It could be because of efforts to raise awareness about what actually qualifies as abuse, or it could be that women experience abuse more before college, skewing the results. But either way, the data shows that Deaf and hard of hearing people, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, are more often targets of abuse.

Erin Esposito can testify to that. She's the executive director of Advocacy Services for Abused Deaf Victims ... she's a Deaf abuse survivor, and she says that the rates that the RIT study found are actually lower than national statistics that she's seen. Esposito speaks through an interpreter.

"It sounds a little bit extreme, but I feel like it's a form of domestic terrorism in a way."

Esposito says studies show that somewhere around half of all deaf children experience sexual abuse - and that Deaf and hard of hearing people are more than twice as likely to experience domestic violence. And when Deaf people try to get out of abusive situations, they face enormous challenges.

"If I had to summarize it in one word I would say access ... That's one of the huge reasons why you see the numbers are higher in the Deaf community. Because shelters for domestic violence are not accessible. They don't have TTY or video phone, they don't have captioning or strobe lights. They're not Deaf-friendly."

There are also cultural barriers that make it tough for people to get out of bad situations. Being Deaf or hard of hearing can pose a communication barrier with police. Advocates say in the past, police have even asked alleged abusers to translate when Deaf victims have called 911.

"The Deaf community is very small and everyone knows each other, everyone knows everything that's going on. It's, if you think of a small town, it's sort of the same idea. And with the age of technology, people find out things very quickly."

A vicious cycle

Amy Schwartz, with the Empire Justice Center says the relationship between survivors and service providers is a "vicious cycle."

"You have domestic violence victims who don't know their rights, their options and what services may be available, and service providers who were really challenged to reach out to that community."

Schwartz has built training programs for dealing with domestic violence in communities of people with disabilities. She agrees that communication barriers compound relationship violence.

Deaf people aren't the only survivors who struggle with finding safe places to go though. Schwartz says people with physical and mental health disabilities also often find shelters unaccommodating, and Judy Porter, who worked on the RIT study about dating violence, points out that shelters for people other than straight women are also difficult to find.

"We don't have shelters typically for men, so where are they gonna go? And we even can look down on them - you know 'why don't you stand up, be a man', and all of that, right? And then if you're also a gay male, that's difficult to find a resource or a shelter if you need it."

To help bridge the gap between people who need help, and organizations that can offer it, Schwartz says the first place to start is education - teaching providers how to be more sensitive during intake and how to tailor strategies for people's individual circumstances.

"A lot of organizations see their need to become more fully accessible as like a big money issue. You know, 'well we'll have to build a new program, we'll have to build a new shelter in order to accommodate just a few'. And they don't necessarily understand that they can make a lot of different changes and accommodations in an affordable way."

Education is also critical for vulnerable populations, like children, according to Erin Esposito, with Advocacy Services for Abused Deaf Victims.

"I don't have all the solutions, all I can really say is that I'm a very big proponent of prevention. I believe that from childhood we need to be educating about healthy boundaries and relationships and proper ways to channel emotions."

Esposito says while domestic violence rates may be high in the Deaf community, the issue affects everyone. And that unless more work is done to stop people from being victimized, the cycle will continue.

Resources

Download a presentation about the data collected by McQuiller Williams and Porter

Contact Advocacy Services for Abused Deaf Victims

Get support from Alternatives for Battered Women