She lives in a country where she can’t speak the majority language. Very few speak her language either. Those she can communicate with are part of a very small and marginalized minority group with little power. She is vulnerable.
When looking for his next victim, her would-be perpetrator calculates her vulnerability. He instinctively knows his chances of getting caught or prosecuted are minimal. Who would she tell? Who would believe her? She’s the perfect victim.
She isn’t a refugee living in a foreign country. She belongs in this land. She is a citizen. But she is deaf. Her inability to hear and speak combined with others’ inability to sign, or to “hear” her, means she is unlikely to be able to communicate to others that she has been sexually abused.
She can, however, communicate in her own language – sign language – with her deaf peers. Sadly, even her parents are unlikely to understand her when she tries to tell them she was assaulted. They don’t know sign language. In fact, 75-90% of parents of deaf children don’t sign. In America, about 75% of parents of deaf children don’t sign. In other countries, where there is often shame associated with having a deaf child, the percentage is even higher.
In India, for example, when Deaf children attempt to sign in public, their parents will discourage them from speaking what they call “monkey language”. In other countries, it is thought that the Deaf person has been cursed by God or is influenced by some demonic force. In shame, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that their child is deaf, parents often discourage their children from signing in public and are not motivated to learn to sign themselves.
Even if a deaf child does have parents who know some sign language and she wants to tell her parents she has been sexually assaulted, her parents are unlikely to know the signs for sexual words. Mackay Vernon, a Florida psychologist who has worked with deaf clients for 50 years says, “Most parents don’t know sexual signs. And only 1 percent of teachers do. Even if kids try to tell, they may not be understood.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer -Nov. 27, 20
Even if there are agencies in his or her country to report sexual assault to, many deaf victims may be reluctant to reach out to those agencies because most of the providers are hearing and do not have systems for effectively communicating with deaf people. (National Institute for Justice Journal No. 257 , June 2007). If the abuse happened in a residential school, she may not want to be the one to bring shame on her educational institution by reporting it. If the abuse is happening in the tight-knit Deaf community by another Deaf person, she may fear that she wouldn’t be believed or that she would be ostracized from the only community she has.
How widespread is sexual abuse of the Deaf? One hearing woman who lived and worked with Deaf people for decades said she had never met a Deaf woman who had NOT been sexually abused.
• 83% of women with disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime (Stimpson & Best, 1991).
• 54% of boys who are Deaf have been sexually abused, compared to 10% of boys who are hearing.
• 50% of girls who are Deaf have been sexually abused, compared to 25% of girls who are hearing (Sullivan, Vernon & Scanlan, 1987).
Note: The Deaf usually do not see themselves as having a disability. Rather they see themselves as belonging to a distinct group with its own culture and language.
Call to action:
The worldwide problem of sexual abuse of the Deaf is multi-faceted and a very large one to address. We may not be able to solve the whole problem, but we do have an opportunity to make a difference for a few Deaf women in Kenya.
OneMaker is a 501c3 organization, providing business and jewelry making consulting for DOOR International to establish a fair-trade jewelry making business that aims to employ 100 Deaf artisans. Establishing a jewelry business gives Deaf artisans a chance to work in a safe environment where others, their co-workers and supervisor, can “hear” them because they also sign. As an artisan learns new skills and earns income through the products she makes, she gains dignity as well as status in her family and community. To support OneMaker’s efforts with this artisan group and others around the world helping poor women fair wages in dignity, make a donation today.
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