Abuse and Neglect
Very Unfair: The Nightmare of Institutionalization
Like so much in this dystopia, care is about money. And disability is most certainly expensive. The durable medical equipment, medication, personal care, transportation, home modifications—the shopping list goes on. And everything tagged “accessible” is marked way up. Until I …
Tangled: Exploring the Overlapping Symptoms of ADHD and Trauma
CONTENT NOTE: discussion of domestic/child abuse . . . . . . . . . Hypervigilance, trouble focusing, dissociating, trouble maintaining relationships. These are only some of the common symptoms that overlap between ADHD and the effects of trauma. …
Shock Therapy is Still Legal. It’s Time to #StopTheShock.
The Judge Rotenberg Center, an educational and residential facility in Canton, Massachusetts, says it has a “near zero rejection policy,” accepting autistic people and those with developmental disabilities and mental health conditions whose families say they have nowhere…
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…
Is Strip-Searching a Form of Sexual Abuse?
This blog post is part of a series in partnership with the Disability Visibility Project® to bring attention to the omission of disability from larger conversations taking place within the #MeToo Movement. Trigger warning: this post discusses institutionalization and sexual…
We Cannot Ignore the Connection Between Disability and Intimate Partner Abuse
This blog post is part of a series in partnership with the Disability Visibility Project® to bring attention to the omission of disability from larger conversations taking place within the #MeToo Movement. Trigger warning: this post discusses abuse, violence, and…