Sexual Harassment and Abuse

Disabled voices need to be part of conversations about sexual harassment and abuse. These posts make our community’s voices heard.

White person with shoulder length brown hair in a gray tshirt and jeans. They're sitting against a wall with their head buried in their lap and hand in front of their face.

Justice Should Not Mean Bringing Up Trauma for People with PTSD

Content notes: rape, violence, systematic injustice I used to call flashbacks time travelling. Partly to make light of the situation – is everything really that bad when you can compare it to a Doctor Who episode? (don’t answer that) – …

Photo of four people in a car about to embark on a roadtrip.

Rooted in Rights Reviews: Come As You Are

Content note: sexual harassment Come As You Are is a comedy about three disabled men and their trip to Montréal, Canada to lose their virginity at a brothel. The film, which is coming to theaters on February 14, opens to…

A photo of a yellow flower growing up through dry cracks in the ground.

I’m a Survivor of Sexual Violence That Caused My Disabilities. Here’s Why I’m Still Proud to Be Disabled.

When a 29-year-old woman initially reported to be comatose gave birth, the news broke widely. It should have. This story embodied the statistics of women with disabilities being far more vulnerable to sexual assault than the general population. Story…

A gray-toned photo of a person hunched over.

My Family’s Normalization of Pain Made Me Believe I Wasn’t Strong

My three little toes on the outer sides of my feet curl inward so that when I walk I sometimes step on them. They look like calloused half moons. The skin is red and blistered. My body has adapted to…

Shadows of hands surrounding a female-presenting person standing in the middle of them.

My Mental Health Disabilities Don’t Make My Experience of Sexual Assault Less Worthy of Belief

It was approximately seven years ago when I first told my partner I was sexually assaulted by my best friend eight years prior to entering college. Despite the length of time since it happened and the memories being recovered only …

A dark navy blue watercolor painting of a person lying on the floor in the fetal position. Small yellow dots surround the person, giving the picture a space-like quality.

We Need to Break Through the Silence on Abuses of Institutionalized Children

Content note: this post discusses psychiatric hospitalization and sexual abuse. When I was thirteen years old, I was sexually abused by a staff member in a psychiatric hospital. The first time she abused me, she took me into the examination…

A cardboard sign being held up. The sign says "blame rapists, not victims."

Don’t Use “Functioning Labels” to Victim-Blame Me

Content note: this post discusses sexual abuse and rape. When people find out that I survived a rape and my assailant was a woman, their tone often immediately shifts from sympathy to disbelief or confusion: “How could a woman rape …

A female-presenting person shown from the nose to the neck, with duct tape over her mouth, indicating silence.

Disabled People Can Sexually Harass and Assault People, Too

There are many reasons as to why women who have experienced sexual harassment or abuse do not come forward straightaway, including the fear of not being believed. Such disbelief often stems from the perpetrator not matching stereotypes of the sort…

A silhouette of a person speaking into a megaphone, surrounded by other silhouettes.

When Do I Get to Say “Me, Too?”

I love the word “disabled” because it speaks to the heart of the matter: my ability to move freely through life is hampered. As an “invisibly” disabled, white-passing, biracial, queer femme, I wear my privileges like armor. Pretty masks queer.…