Scapegoat: why we are failing disabled people

Shamash, Michael

doi:10.1080/09687599.2013.783425

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…However, this has made it difficult to prosecute perpetrators under disability hate crime legislation as they exhibit plausible denial of knowledge of the victim's disability. This is also confounded by evidence that perpetrators are often themselves disabled (Quarmby, 2011), which again is echoed in our descriptive data which showed that one-third of the participants had been victimised by other neurodivergent people. There are two important considerations here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Here, our findings relate to the broader literature on IPV in disabled adults. In cases where extreme violence has been perpetrated against disabled people by known others, it has been preceded by othering regardless of perpetrator knowledge of disability (Quarmby, 2011). However, this has made it difficult to prosecute perpetrators under disability hate crime legislation as they exhibit plausible denial of knowledge of the victim's disability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘I felt like I deserved it because I was autistic’: Understanding the impact of interpersonal victimisation in the lives of autistic people

Pearson

Rose²,

Rees

2022

Autism

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Research suggests that there is a high prevalence of interpersonal violence and victimisation within the autistic population, and that this accounts for poor mental health outcomes. This study aimed to examine the impact of interpersonal violence and victimisation on autistic adults from their own perspective and explore what helps or hinders their recovery. In total, 102 autistic adults completed either an online survey or a spoken interview about their experiences of interpersonal violence and victimisation. We analysed the data using a thematic analysis, and found four themes: (1) The usual for autism (expectations of victimisation, experiences of othering), (2) Personhood revoked: The cost of living (being part of a neurominority, trauma, masking and burnout), (3) Unpacking the baggage (impact of hermeneutical injustice) and (4) ‘ If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you have to invent the universe first’ (structural inequality/power dynamics, support and community). Findings highlight the importance of considering the relationship between stigma and victimisation, and the relationship between trauma, masking, and burnout in autistic people. Reducing barriers to support and recovery are contingent on reducing structural inequality and providing better training about autistic people to frontline professionals. Lay abstract Research suggests that autistic people are more likely to be hurt by someone they know (e.g. a friend or a family member) compared to non-autistic people. In this study, we wanted to know how being hurt by someone you know affects autistic people, and what might help them recover. In total, 102 autistic people took part in an interview, where we asked questions like how being hurt by people they know had made them feel and whether anyone they had asked for help had done a good job of supporting them. We analysed what they had said using thematic analysis, which involved reading what everyone said and looking for common themes. Our findings showed that a lot of autistic people think it is normal to be hurt by people you know because it has happened to them so much. This makes many autistic people feel like they need to mask parts of themselves to stay safe, but this also makes them really exhausted. It took some people a long time to realise what had happened to them was wrong, and it was hard to ask for help. People who did ask for help often had bad experiences with professionals (e.g. police) who did not know much about autistic people. They said better support would come from creating more autistic-run support groups and educating people about autism. These findings are important for working out how to help people who have been hurt by people they know.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I felt like I deserved it because I was autistic’: Understanding the impact of interpersonal victimisation in the lives of autistic people

Pearson

Rose²,

Rees

2022

Autism

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“…In response to not infrequent disability hate crimes, they are often afraid to move freely within their local communities, severely restrict their movements and even move home, if able to do so. 14,15 Consistent associations have been reported in this population between stigma and poorer self-reported health outcomes, 6 increased anxiety and depression 11,12 and lower self-esteem. 8,9 Consequently, intellectual disability stigma needs to be tackled at multiple levels, as articulated in our theoretical framework which calls for evidence production and remedial action at four interlinked levels (Figure 1): the level of stigmatised person, their family who may be subject to courtesy and affiliate stigma themselves, 16,17 the community who generates and maintains stigma through prejudicial attitudes and discrimination, and finally the level of society and systems such as legislation and policy.…”

Section: Stigmamentioning

confidence: 56%

“…to adapt the existing STORM intervention for online delivery (Digital STORM), ensuring the content, number of sessions and direct contact time were the same for both STORM and Digital STORM; 2. to pilot the Digital STORM intervention in order to investigate the feasibility of recruitment to and retention of participants in Digital STORM; and adherence, fidelity and acceptability of Digital STORM, when delivered to groups of people with mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities online; 3. to test digital administration of the study outcome and health economics measures; 4. to build on community assessments to describe what usual practice might look like for groups of 1. Intervention adaptation (months [14][15][16][17] An Intervention Adaptation Group (IAG) was established to oversee the adaptation and report progress to oversight committees. The group included all members of the PPI advisory group (people with intellectual disabilities, the independent co-chair), experienced group facilitators from third and education sector organisations (from our stakeholder group), Mencap as our intervention delivery partner, digital inclusion experts and members of the research team.…”

Section: Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital adaptation of the Standing up for Myself intervention in young people and adults with intellectual disabilities: the STORM feasibility study

Scior,

Richardson,

Randell

et al. 2024

Public Health Res

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Background Stigma contributes to the negative social conditions persons with intellectual disabilities are exposed to, and it needs tackling at multiple levels. Standing Up for Myself is a psychosocial group intervention designed to enable individuals with intellectual disabilities to discuss stigmatising encounters in a safe and supportive setting and to increase their self-efficacy in managing and resisting stigma. Objectives To adapt Standing Up for Myself to make it suitable as a digital intervention; to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Digital Standing Up for Myself and online administration of outcome measures in a pilot; to describe usual practice in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic to inform future evaluation. Design Adaptation work followed by a single-arm pilot of intervention delivery. Setting and participants Four third and education sector organisations. Individuals with mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities, aged 16+, members of existing groups, with access to digital platforms. Intervention Digital Standing Up for Myself intervention. Adapted from face-to-face Standing Up for Myself intervention, delivered over four weekly sessions, plus a 1-month follow-up session. Outcomes Acceptability and feasibility of delivering Digital Standing Up for Myself and of collecting outcome and health economic measures at baseline and 3 months post baseline. Outcomes are mental well-being, self-esteem, self-efficacy in rejecting prejudice, reactions to discrimination and sense of social power. Results Adaptation to the intervention required changes to session duration, group size and number of videos; otherwise, the content remained largely the same. Guidance was aligned with digital delivery methods and a new group member booklet was produced. Twenty-two participants provided baseline data. The intervention was started by 21 participants (four groups), all of whom were retained at 3 months. Group facilitators reported delivering the intervention as feasible and suggested some refinements. Fidelity of the intervention was good, with over 90% of key components observed as implemented by facilitators. Both facilitators and group members reported the intervention to be acceptable. Group members reported subjective benefits, including increased confidence, pride and knowing how to deal with difficult situations. Digital collection of all outcome measures was feasible and acceptable, with data completeness ≥ 95% for all measures at both time points. Finally, a picture of usual practice has been developed as an intervention comparator for a future trial. Limitations The pilot sample was small. It remains unclear whether participants would be willing to be randomised to a treatment as usual arm or whether they could be retained for 12 months follow-up. Conclusions The target number of groups and participants were recruited, and retention was good. It is feasible and acceptable for group facilitators with some training and supervision to deliver Digital Standing Up for Myself. Further optimisation of the intervention is warranted. Future work To maximise the acceptability and reach of the intervention, a future trial could offer the adapted Digital Standing Up for Myself, potentially alongside the original face-to-face version of the intervention. Study registration This study was registered as ISRCTN16056848. Funding This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme (NIHR award ref: 17/149/03) and is published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 12, No. 1. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.

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“…The sustained nature and multitude of offenders involved in this case made discerning a clear motivation difficult. Nonetheless, a jury in the inquest found that the lack of police action and failure of local authorities to act had had a significant impact on Fiona's decision to take such drastic action (Quarmby, 2011). The failure of various institutions to respond appropriately to victims of hate crime means that they are effectively victimised again by the support services that let them down.…”

Section: The Big and Bad Offendermentioning

confidence: 99%

Creating ideal victims in hate crime policy

Mason-Bish

2018

Revisiting the ‘Ideal Victim’

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This chapter will suggest that problems over the perception of the nature of hate crime mean that often victims of disablist hate crime are overlooked. Developed partly through campaign group activism and high profile cases, hate crime has become a solid part of criminal justice policy and practice. The legal framework recognises different forms of crime motivated by prejudice or hostility towards victims based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and/or disability. However, this chapter will demonstrate that there are particular problems with the implementation of provisions related to disablist hate crime which can be understood by utilising Nils Christie's 'ideal victim' typology. Born out of an identity politics which sought recognition for the specific harms of hate crime, the development of policy has been shaped by sometimes simplistic perceptions of what it is to be victimised. These have often been framed around issues of stranger danger and attributing recognition to 'deserving victims'. This reliance on identity politics has often meant that victims of disablist hate crime are portrayed as weak and vulnerable, a situation which Christie suggests can contribute to anxiety and a questionable focus on the need for severe punishments. Fundamentally this chapter will show that Christie's ideal victim thesis is relevant today, with an increasing emphasis on identity politics which is used to demonstrate that victims are both 'deserving' and 'legitimate'.

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Scapegoat: why we are failing disabled people

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

‘I felt like I deserved it because I was autistic’: Understanding the impact of interpersonal victimisation in the lives of autistic people

‘I felt like I deserved it because I was autistic’: Understanding the impact of interpersonal victimisation in the lives of autistic people

Digital adaptation of the Standing up for Myself intervention in young people and adults with intellectual disabilities: the STORM feasibility study

Creating ideal victims in hate crime policy

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