Questionnaires were mailed to 2,703 programs nationwide that deliver abuse-related services; 2200 came from the National Domestic Violence Hotline database of programs self-reporting wheelchair accessibility. We received 598 responses.

Characteristics of Women with Disabilities Served by Abuse Programs

• The most common number of women with physical, mental or sensory disabilities served by a program during the past 12 months was 20, but the number served varied widely from one program to another, ranging from 0 to 12,000 women.

 
• The disability type most likely to receive services from an abuse program was mental illness, whereas programs were the least likely to serve those with visual or hearing impairments. On average, 10% of the women served by each program had physical impairments, 7% had mental retardation or developmental disabilities, 21% had mental illness, 2% had visual impairment, and 3% had hearing impairment. For nearly half of the programs, less than 1% of their clients served within the past year had physical impairments.

• Abuse programs on average provided two services targeted to women with disabilities; 89% of abuse programs provided less than five special services for women with disabilities.

• The most commonly provided service available to women with disabilities was accessible shelter or referral to accessible safe house or hotel room (83%). A majority of abuse programs provided individual counseling (80%), and group counseling (73%). Nearly half (47%) provided an interpreter for hearing impaired women. Less than half (40%) presented workshops or other training on recognizing potentially violent situations. Approximately one-third offered safety plan information modified for use by women with disabilities (36%), and disability awareness training for program staff (35%).

 
• The service least likely to be offered was personal care attendant services, available in only 6% of abuse programs.

 
• Sixteen percent of programs have a program staff member who is specifically assigned to provide services to women with disabilities. Respondents identified one-quarter of these 79 staff members as being social workers by training, while the second most common primary field of training or expertise for this staff member was peer counseling (22%), meaning that the individual had personal experience with abuse or disability, then rehabilitation counseling (15%), and psychology (13%). Only a very few (less than 5 each) program staff for disability services were nurses, other types of mental health specialists, legal or paralegal specialists, sign language interpreters, substance abuse specialists, or community volunteers.

• When participants were asked to describe the most effective outreach services for making women with disabilities aware of the abuse services offered by a program, 49% of respondents suggested community presentations and training, followed by printed materials (40%), then collaboration with agencies and advocacy groups that serve women with disabilities (26%), and direct service outreach and referrals (18%).

 
• Although 49% of respondents considered presentations in the community focusing on the needs of abused women with disabilities to be the most effective outreach method, only 16% of programs offered it. Distributing printed materials was the second most frequent suggestion for outreach made by abuse programs, but only 13% had printed information targeted specifically to women with disabilities.

 
• Abuse programs were also unlikely to educate law enforcement personnel about disability-related abuse; 12% of programs provided this service.

 

• Although women with mental illness are being served by battered women's programs, very few women with physical, visual, or hearing impairments are receiving services from these programs.

 
• The majority of the programs that responded offer accessible emergency shelter, yet few women with physical disabilities call them to request services. Outreach in the form of presentations in the community and distribution of printed materials is needed to make women with disabilities aware of programs that can help them resolve abuse.

 
• Battered women's programs need to collaborate with personal care attendant agencies and independent living centers to enable the provision of personal assistance services for women with severe physical disabilities at emergency shelters.

 
• The sensitive handling of domestic violence and sexual assault against women with disabilities should be a mandatory part of the training of law enforcement personnel in every city. They need to be aware of the additional measures that may be needed to keep a woman with a disability safe from the perpetrator.

 
• The proportion of battered women's programs that provide disability awareness training for their staff needs to rise from one-third to 100% of all programs.

 
• Battered women's programs that did not return surveys and that do not provide services to women with disabilities should network with programs that do serve women with disabilities to discover how to finance and provide these services.