One third of children and adolescents with disabilities suffered some form of violence, according to a global study

About one-third of children and adolescents with disabilities experienced emotional and physical abuse, while 20% experienced neglect and one in 10 sexual violence, according to international research. These figures could involve more than 90 million children worldwide.

The analysis that yielded this result involved more than 16 million young people from 25 countries and was carried out between 1990 and 2020. The results were published in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, and show that 31.7% of children with disabilities have experienced violence. The study found that this group is twice as likely to experience neglect and/or sexual, physical or mental abuse as children without disabilities. They are also much more likely to be bullied by their peers.

The report also showed that violence is more common against children with mental disorders and cognitive or learning disabilities than against children with sensory impairments, physical or mobility limitations, and chronic illnesses.

Researchers at the universities of Leeds, Oxford, Beijing and Columbia examined data measuring violence against children with disabilities published in studies in Chinese and English between 1990 and 2020. They included 75 studies from high-income countries and 23 studies from seven low- and middle-income countries.

“Our findings reveal unacceptable and alarming rates of violence against children with disabilities that cannot be ignored,” explained Jane Barlow, professor of evidence-based intervention and policy evaluation at Oxford University, who co-led the study.

The highest rates of violence occurred in low-income countries. Stigma, discrimination, lack of information on disability and inadequate access to social support for caregivers were factors that predisposed violence, as well as poverty and social isolation, the authors explained in their analysis.

Zuyi Fang of Beijing Normal University in China and lead co-author, said: “It is clear that low- and middle-income countries, in particular, face additional challenges, fueled by complex social and economic factors, and must establish legal frameworks to prevent violence, in addition to enhance the capacity of health and social service systems to address the complex needs of children with disabilities and their families”.

“As the data largely predates the COVID-19 pandemic, the current situation is likely to be much worse,” said Tania King, senior researcher at the University of Melbourne. “Lockdowns and job losses have increased family stress, while increasing isolation and risks for vulnerable children, including those with disabilities. Rates of violence against children with disabilities are likely to have increased during the pandemic.”

An estimated 291 million children and adolescents have epilepsy, intellectual disability, visual impairment or hearing loss, accounting for about 11% of the total world population of children and adolescents. Many millions more have other physical, cognitive and mental disabilities, or chronic illnesses. Extrapolating the figures among this population, some 90 million could have suffered violence. The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all forms of violence against children by 2030. However, it is estimated that more than 1 billion children experience violence, directly or indirectly, each year.

In 2012, a systematic review also published in The Lancet estimated that more than a quarter of children with disabilities in high-income countries experienced violence, and that their chances of experiencing it were more than three times higher than those of their non-disabled peers. This new analysis includes more studies from a wider geographic area, more types of violence (e.g., peer bullying and intimate partner violence) and a wider range of disabilities (physical limitations, mental disorders, cognitive or learning disabilities, sensory impairments) and chronic diseases, as well as the use of updated methods to provide current global estimates of violence against children with disabilities, as of September 2020.

Data analysis from 92 studies that analyzed prevalence found that overall rates of violence varied by disability and were slightly higher among children with mental disorders (34%) and cognitive or learning disabilities (33%) than among children with sensory impairments (27%) ), physical or mobility limitations (26%) and chronic diseases (21%).

The most commonly reported types of violence were emotional and physical. Estimates suggest that one in five children with disabilities experiences neglect and one in ten has experienced sexual violence. The study also draws attention to high levels of peer bullying, with nearly 40% of children with disabilities estimated to have experienced peer bullying.

In-person harassment (physical, verbal or relational acts, such as beatings and kicks, insults and threats or social exclusion) is more frequent (37%) than cyberbullying (23%). In general, children with disabilities living in low-income countries experienced higher rates of violence than those in high-income countries, possibly as a result of limited access to prevention and support services, lower levels of legal protection, and attitudes and norms that stigmatize.

“Violence against children with disabilities is preventable. These children should be given the right life opportunities now,” Fang added. “Achieving it will require political leaders, practitioners and researchers to work together to implement what we already know works to prevent violence, such as evidence-based parenting interventions, while developing and evaluating effective community, school and online interventions that are focus on specific forms of violence”.

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