Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience sexual violence at a rate seven times higher than the rest of the population, and 66% of sexual violence incidents are perpetrated by someone they know – such as a family member, intimate partner, or staff. We can help begin to address this public health crisis by incorporating sexual violence prevention into direct support staff orientation and annual training.
Training direct support staff about sexual violence prevention, and teaching them to identify the signs and symptoms of sexual abuse, can give them the skills necessary to help prevent sexual violence against people with I/DD.
The Arc Minnesota is working with a coalition of advocates from the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance, Proof Alliance, the Autism Society of Minnesota, the Minnesota Council on Disability, Fraser, Upstream Arts, and more, to advance this proposal during the upcoming legislative session.
We are also meeting with service providers and trade associations, and are proud to partner with ARRM in this effort as well.