Setting the record straight

Post Reply New Topic

I'm having an argument with someone who insists abuse of mentally and developmentally disabled persons in special education and care home situations are isolated incidents. I say it happens all the time, in many places, but it goes under-reported and is not talked about, and that the disabled person is almost never believed, because they're disabled.

Thoughts or experiences?

I think that like any abuse, it's under reported, but I don't think it happens all the time. It's probably somewhere in between what's reported and "all the time".

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that victims who are cognitively disabled are less likely to report abuse than unimpaired people. It also doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that knowing a victim will not be able to report abuse will lead to more abuse. I don't know if you guys are aware of what people make for a living working with disabled people. When you pay poverty wages you get what you pay for.

Smack your friend upside the head for being ignorant.

You are right and they are wrong.

The abusers have perceived authority and credibility, so everyone thinks "they would never do something like that" or "they wouldn't have that important job if they were abusers". While the only people who CAN abuse others are people who are in that kind of position of authority and power.

It is the fact that most people think like your friend, thinking "it could never happen, doctors are too credible", is what lets them get away with it in the first place.

The majority of people are stupid and judge everything by appearances. If someone wears a lab coat or calls himself a scientist, these people will believe anything he says, especially if the only people who disagree with him are perceived as socially awkward bumbling fools.

My friend? It's my mother.

Well, perhaps your mother is your enemy, but either way, you're still right and she's still wrong.

I've seen people abused so many times and there is absolutely nothing they can do. Their abusers are simply perceived as being too credible, and completely beyond doubt, while the people being abused are simply perceived as unreliable morons.

I'm not just talking about autists either, people with quite a variety of disabilities.

Just because someone isn't paid very well doesn't make them an abuser. Also, even though all reports of abuse should be equally investigated, there are some people with certain mental conditions that cause them to perceive nonabusive things as abuse, to intentionally make something up about being abused, or to truly believe an incident happened that never happened. I'm not talking about AS/ASD's here, I'm talking about others with severe mental illness.

If I were to get a job working with disabled people, because I don't have a degree etc, I'd make minimum wage. Does that mean that I would automatically be an uncaring, heartless abuser? Because of what I was paid? Get over that!

And you would be one of the people I'm talking about. All it takes is the flash of some credentials and you are instantly mesmerized into believing that the doctor's excuse is gospel truth. All they have to do is say that the patient has a condition which causes them to make things up, and you immediately take their word for it, and disregard any need for a thorough investigation.

I've noticed that women are a lot more susceptible to this than men. Perceived authority has a much greater influence on them in general.

Perceived nor real authority has influence on me like that. There are conditions that do cause those things. It's not something that is hard to see either. If one person tells me that someone has it, I'll take it with a grain of salt. If most of the people caring for the person tells me the person has it', I'm more likely to believe them.

Lets say that someone is in a facility and they are recently diagnosed with diabetes. As a result, they get no more sweets. The person likes sweets, and doesn't understand why they aren't getting sweets any longer. (Lets say for this hypothetical situations sake that for some reason they medically cannot have the diabetic artificial sweets) If they have some sort of illness that causes them to interpret things wrong, they may report that they are being punished and not given proper food and abused that way.

Another example would be someone who for some reason hates being bathed. Well, for basic hygiene you have to at least wash a person off periodically, and they may interpret getting a sponge bath as abuse. Especially if they are combative. Especially if there is a reason why they must be bathed even if they have to be restrained for that, like fecal smearing or incontenence.

So, in those types of cases do you consider that the people are being abused?

It's a fact that some mental illnesses can cause people to either perceive incorrectly, make up, believe that nonexistant events happened. I'm not saying that it's the majority of those who have mental illness, but it is true that it happens and it's not uncommon. It can cause the opposite as well. A person may be being abused and not perceive it as abuse or taken advantage of and not see that they are. Mental illness can cause many things, and by denying that people can perceive abuse where none is present you are also denying that they may not perceive abuse where it is present.

And when someone with those conditions is actually being abused? They won't ever be believed, on the basis of their disability. That is scary indeed.

My sister in law has been a caregiver for the elderly, and she even witnessed mistreatment of an elderly resident who was being caused pain because her assigned worker could not be bothered to do whatever procedure it was properly. The reason? "They annoy me."

'They.' Another class of person.

Anyway, my sister in law blew the whistle and informed her supervisor. I don't remember what the resolution was.

I've just seen way too often in the news and such how the disabled person is never believed... until the lid is blown off with some media coverage and cell phone camera footage. Without it, the apparently lying disabled person is not ever believed.

Most abuses are not overt. They're not beating people up or raping them or whatever--not usually, anyway. It's much more subtle than that. It's overuse of restraints, overuse of drugs, the subtle devaluing of human life, the patronizing attitude by staff. It's the long-term constant "you are not capable" messages. It's grabbing someone just a little too hard, waiting just a little too long to bring them food, conveniently ignoring sensitivity to lights and sounds and then blaming them for freaking out. It's denying contact with people you love, refusing to let you make decisions you're perfectly capable of making. It's cutting corners on care--leaving you in a wet diaper, promising therapy and not delivering, giving you crayons and paper and calling it "therapy", or just leaving you without anything to do or think about. It's interpreting your actions as manipulative and dismissing them, interpreting physical distress as manipulative and refusing medical attention. That kind of thing is... well, pretty much ubiquitous.

Some investigative reporters went into some care homes and did some covert filming. This was broadcast fairly recently on British TV. I'm not sure how widespread it is (and I don't know how we can ever know that without putting cameras in every room in every care home), but the footage was shocking.

My aunt, who's elderly and bipolar, has recently moved from a council run home into a privately run home. The difference in her is quite startling. I don't think she was suffering any overt abuse where she was before, but she appears to have been overly medicated (or doped up as we'd say). She's more alert now than she has been in 10 years.

Where I'm from (Oregon), the kind of jobs you're talking about have a very high turnover rate. They'll take anybody without a criminal record. I have no problem believing that abuse occurs in those settings on a systematic level.

Also...what Callista said, x100.