Sexual Harassment & Abuse
Sex Work is a Disability Issue. So Why Doesn’t the Disability Community Recognize That?
Sex workers face enormous risks of violence both from the police and from clients, and they are about to face more.
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 …
Sex Education is for Everyone. Even Disabled Kids.
We live in a society that desexualizes disabled bodies. This allows the topics of sex and sexuality to be left out of the educations of many young disabled people. As disabled students head back into the classroom this year, this…
Anti-Stigma Mental Health Campaigns Often Ignore Our Realities
I have to be honest: I am not a fan of anti-stigma campaigns. Or, at least, not the way the campaigns are normally run. Let me explain why: I am forever grateful to live in a time where openness about …
VIDEO: #DisabilityToo
We all know about #MeToo. What we don’t talk about is the epidemic of sexual assault against people with disabilities. Rooted in Rights and the Disability Visibility Project collaborated to lift up the voices of disabled survivors so that their …
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 …
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…
What’s the Point of Trigger Warnings?
Trigger warnings are an incredibly contentious subject, from op-eds insisting that they’re ruining higher education to complaints that they’re wildly overused to a high profile author mocking them in the title of a book. But the conversation about trigger warnings…