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Jamie Berke
Deafness Blog

By Jamie Berke, About.com Guide to Deafness

Rape of Deaf Four Times Higher?

Friday June 20, 2008
A deaf woman was interviewed by an ABC affiliate about being raped twice. The article states, "Sexual assault against members of the deaf community is four times higher than it is for the general population." Is that true? I have never seen that statement anywhere else. (Sorry, the accompanying video is not captioned - I checked).

Apparently the reporter is not aware of the existence of organizations like Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services, because the organization is not mentioned in the report.

Comments

June 21, 2008 at 12:01 am
(1) Anonymous says:

http://www.nswrapecrisis.com.au/Information%20Sheets/I-am-deaf-or-hearing-impaired.htm cites the same statistics. This research is from Australia, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the stats were similar in the US.

June 21, 2008 at 11:59 am
(2) Janis says:

Certainly if you count kids … a lot of deaf kids have been sexually victimized by various specialized teachers, therapists, and the like.

June 23, 2008 at 4:38 pm
(3) dog food says:

of course; its far easier for a hearing person to take advantage of someone deaf.

its like that with the rest of life isn’t it?

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