Things I've Learned

I flew. Those of you with disabilities are probably already cringing, but it wasn't bad. All in all, no major problems. The only damage to my chair was a nick in one of the stickers on my wheelguards. A big old nick right in the middle of the "Knit Local" sticker that my local yarn shop gives out. And the slightly annoying process that US Airways has put into place where they fill out a sheet of paper that has your disability needs on it. And then they have you give a copy to each person you encounter (ok, gate people and flight attendants). Still, I got asked at least twice for each flight if I needed an aisle chair, and several times they tried to call for one of their wheelchairs. No thanks, I brought my own.

But I went to a conference on Crime victims with disabilities. I know, it doesn't sound like a happy conference, and in many ways it isn't one. But it is uplifting in a lot of ways. To hear stories of people who have survived, and succeeding in pressing charges is wonderful. To see law enforcement and other members of the criminal justice system learning about this critical issue was encouraging. And every bit of this conference reminded me why I do this work, and why I fight so hard.

On the last day the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a major government study on the victimization of people with disabilities and Deaf people. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/capd07.htm
Except there are a few major issues with the studies. The biggest ones in my opinion are that they exclude anyone living in an institution (which includes some group homes), and they were not able to make communication accommodations (they were done by interviews, so they were able to simplify and explain language, but this still would have excluded some people). These are major drawbacks, because the study shows that people with cognitive disabilities are some of the most vulnerable. And yet their study design excluded many of those individuals.

Still, it showed that people with disabilities are roughly two times more likely to experience crime than the general population. So to all the people who say "but we never see a person with a disability here" I say, "look again, because they are out there."