According to a study conducted in 2021, as many as 93 % of women with disabilities reported having experienced psychological abuse at least once in their lives. Nearly half of those surveyed said they face this every week, most often in domestic settings.
Psychological abuse is one of the hardest forms of abuse to recognise. Its signs may initially appear as innocent comments. Abusive individuals use gaslighting to change another person’s perception of reality and events, convincing them that they imagined everything or that they are at fault for the abuse.
Psychological abuse includes verbal assaults, threats, humiliation, mocking, demonstrations of power, name-calling, threats referencing previous abusive episodes, deliberate ignoring, neglect, and controlling whom a person can meet or what clothes they can wear.
Psychological abuse against women with disabilities is characterised by manipulations involving medications, mobility aids, and personal care. The abusive person is often the woman’s partner or caregiver, whom she depends on for assistance. Psychological abuse manifests in various ways:
- Threatening to no longer help or to send the woman to a care facility;
- Taking away or restricting the use of mobility aids (wheelchairs, crutches, white canes, etc.);
- Forbidding access to personal assistants or other social services;
- For women with visual impairments – rearranging furniture and objects at home so that they trip or cannot orient themselves independently;
- Claiming that a woman with a disability is incapable of making decisions and making decisions on her behalf;
- Neglect – when the partner or caregiver is indifferent and neglects her needs;
- Psychological abuse and manipulation can escalate or lead to other forms of violence, such as physical abuse, so it is crucial to seek help as soon as possible.
