Tita Yanez

Mrs. Greene
Capstone- 7
27 October 2016
Track 4
Source N
Citation:
Mohapatra, Sruti, and Mihir Mohanty. "Abuse and Activity Limitation: A Study on Domestic
Violence Against Disabled Women in Orissa, India." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
Source Validation: I believe this is a valid source because it is written by specialists in the field
that are familiar with the culture and is based on studies they conducted.
How I Found This Source: I found this source on Google scholar.
Intended Audience: The audience intended for this source is a mature audience that is interested
in learning about how disabilities can influence abuse.
Arguments/Topics this Source Discusses: This source discusses a study conducted in a city in
India in order to determine the prevalence of domestic violence toward women with disabilities.
They took into account all forms of violence but looked closer at sexual abuse. This article took
an interesting perspective when identifying what may be considered as form of violence.
According to this article, isolation of the individual can be considered a form of violence because
it traps them within themselves and can make them feel useless. This can be more damaging than
any physical violence that occurs. This article also discusses measure that needs to be taken in
order for a disabled individual to be able to leave their abuser and succeed in receiving the care
they need.
Quotes:
The violations that a disabled woman faces every day are various and can be expressed at two
levels. The first level is that of visibility. Being visible means to be recognised as a person in her
own right, expressing herself through the various contexts of life: family, educational,
professional and social. Very often in our societies this doesn't happen and the disabled woman
is violated in her most intimate and deepest dimension - of physical identity, emotion, thought
and, of great importance to everyone, personal relationships. The violence consists in the
incapacity of others to recognise that disabled women are capable of these dimensions and
therefore exclude them.
Disability is associated with fewer economic resources, thereby increasing the risk of abuse. It
also limits the woman's options for escaping abusive situations or accessing battered women's
programs.
Women and girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to violence, especially within the
home situation. Sexual abuse is quite common, especially among women with mental and/or
hearing disabilities. Abuse by physicians and caregivers, e.g. forced sterilization, is common.14

Incest is very common in India. Women with disabilities are the easy prey for the exploitation
within the family.
If a woman becomes disabled after her marriage, she knows that her husband will leave her for
another wife. Or if she has children she will be judged incapable of looking after them. The
children will be put in the care of grandparents.
Disabled women do not meet the set standards, and their sexuality is barely recognised. The
possibility of being considered asexual, and therefore of being deprived of their right of bringing
up a family, childbirth, adoption, and housekeeping, etc, is directly proportional to how evident
the disability is.
This source helped me realize the many ways a person may experience violence or abuse without
ever being physically hurt. It also helped me see just how pressing of an issues sexual violence is
toward disabled girls and females. In my first set of track hours, I watched a TED talk where a
man described how him and his buddies used to take sexual advantage of a special needs girl that
lived in their neighborhood. He described it as their way to be manly at the time. When, I saw
this I didnt realize that in fact many girls endure the same thing that this girl did. This source
also helped me see how violence toward the disabled may vary among different cultures. This
source took me about an hour and a half to read and analyze.
Source O
Citation:
Radkiewicz, P., and K. Korzeniowski. "Justification and Indifference: Diverse Permissive
Attitudes Toward Witnessed Violence Against the Elderly and Disabled." Journal of
Interpersonal Violence (2015): n. pag. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.
Source Validation: I believe this is a valid source because it is written by experts in the field.
How I Found this Source: I found this source on Google Scholar.
Intended Audience: The intended audience for this source is people who are wanting to study
how those with disabilities and the elderly are affected by violence.
Arguments/Topics this Source Discusses: This source discusses domestic violence toward the
elderly and the disabled based on a study conducted in Poland. It was found that a huge portion
of the elderly population experienced domestic abuse at some point in their lives; moreso even
than those with disabilities. They also found that a great portion of those who participated in this
study were indifferent to domestic violence. Some even justified it. This is in large part due to
the culture and environment people are surrounded in.
Quotes:
Many people who witness acts of violence against elders and the disabled do not react
Justification was much less widespread in the population than indifference. It seems easier to
accept excuses for passivity in the face of violence than to find justifications for violence.
Justification turned out to be mainly a function of environmental exposure to violence.

This source helped me see how difficult it is for victims of domestic violence to escape the abuse
they endure not only because they are usually heavily reliant on their abusers but also because
many are indifferent toward this issue. Often times someone may reach out for help from
someone but those they reach out to do not take it seriously or may see it as a right of the abuser.
This type of mentality is one of the first barriers that needs to be taken down in order to eradicate
domestic violence. This source took me about an hour and a half to read.
Source P
Citation:
UNICEF, comp. "Violence Against Disabled Children." (n.d.): n. pag. 28 July 2005. Web. 31
Oct. 2016.
Source Validation: I believe this is a valid source because it was put together by UNICEF at a
United Nations committee session.
How I Found this Source: I found this source on Google Scholar.
Intended Audience: The intended audience for this source is anyone who wants to learn on how
domestic violence may increase when a child has a disability.
Arguments/Topics this Source Discusses: This source discusses violence toward children with
disabilities. It discusses the increased likelihood that a child with a disability may face abuse by
family members, teachers, and peers. The more noticeable their disability may be, the higher the
chance that they may experience abuse. The abuse these children experience is often continual.
In some parts of the world, children with disabilities are considered to be conceived through evil
and sin and may even be killed as a result.
Quotes:
Disabled children are often targeted by predators on their way to and from school.
Children with a physical, sensory, intellectual or mental health impairment are at increased
risk of becoming victims of violence. While the amount of research available on this population
is extremely limited, particularly for disabled children in the developing world, current research
indicates that violence against disabled children occurs at annual rates at least 1.7 times greater
than their non-disabled peers.
Disabled children may be killed either immediately at birth or at some point after birth; and
sometimes years after birth. The rational for such killings is either 1) the belief that the child is
evil or will bring misfortunate to the family or the community or 2) the belief that the child is
suffering or will suffer and is better off dead.
In many countries, disabled children are placed in institutions at birth or as toddlers and remain
there until death.
Unexpectedly, but sadly, children with disabilities are also at risk for experiencing increased
domestic violence. This source helped me realize just how difficult it may be for a child to grow

up with a disability. They not only face abuse often, but may also be ostracized from society
which can affect them even more in the long run. This source took me about an hour and a half
to read.
Source Q
Citation:
Shepard, Melanie F., and Ellen L. Pence. Coordinating Community Responses to Domestic
Violence: Lessons from Duluth and Beyond. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage
Publications, 1999. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.
Source Validation: I believe this is a valid source because it is written by people who have
published on this topic before.
How I Found this Source: I found this source on Google Scholar.
Intended Audience: The intended audience for this source is people who are genuinely
interested in how a communitys stance on violence can prevent it from occurring within homes.
Arguments/Topics this Source Discusses: This source discusses domestic violence and how
this at home violence can impact the community. Its main idea is that if violence that occurs
within a home can impact an entire community, than an entire community should be able to
impact the violence in homes. This source discusses how a community can build and establish a
response to domestic violence. The hopes of this are that in doing so, the community as a whole
benefits and abuse decreases. This source is centered on the Duluth model principles as an
example.
Quotes:
The Duluth models major contribution to legal reform focuses on ensuring that practitioners
respond to domestic violence cases in a consistent manner and that their response centralizes
victims safety.
Many cities adopt a strict mandatory arrest or a no-drop persecution policy on domestic
violence cases.
This source took me about 5 hours to read.
Reflection
For this fourth set of track hours, I continued with my independent study and looked for
articles and books over my topic. I was sadly unable to conduct the interviews I wanted to do,
but am in the process of working it out with my mentor for this last set of hours or at least as a
way to begin preparing for my spring action. The material on my topic is overall plentiful,
however, this time around I tried to focus mostly on finding articles that focused on domestic

violence toward the disabled. For this reason, it was more difficult to find some sources because
there is not much information available on this topic due to too few studies for this being
conducted. I didnt focus on this entirely though because there is still plenty on my topic that I
do not know and am wanting to learn. I do not think I will ever be able to be an expert on my
subject as there are so many things out there to learn, but I believe that I am passionate enough to
really put together what I do know into a well done spring action.
My sources this time around were not very difficult to read, but they were very lengthy.
There were times in which I would have to go back and reread a section in order to better
understand or to refresh my mind as to what exactly that part was about. My last source, the
book, was very interesting to read because it described community changes that the author
believed needed to be done in order to bring an end to domestic violence. These changes
included both legal and just structural changes in society. As I continue to do research I realize
more and more that over time the amount of intervention and desire for change on this issue
increases, but the work that remains to be done is still so much.