Resources

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to …
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Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to them. There are a number of steps agencies can take to make their services more accessible and welcoming for survivors with disabilities and Deaf victims, including asking every victim if they need accommodations to participate in services or the legal system.

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities lays out four simple steps for providing accommodations to survivors with disabilities, and includes sample language you can use when talking to survivors. It also outlines what your agency needs to have in place for staff to be able to provide accommodations as soon as survivors request them.

The toolkit includes:

Palm Card

The palm card outlines four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, as well as sample questions to ask. It is designed to be carried with you or displayed on your desk and used while working with survivors.

Quick Reference Guide

A companion to the palm cards, the quick reference guide contains detailed information on the four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, including additional recommended language to guide your conversation with victims.

Agency Readiness Guide

These short guides offer recommendations to ensure your agency is prepared to provide accommodations, including creating or revising an accommodations policy, budgeting for access, and building relationships with disability and Deaf service organizations.

Tip Sheet

The tip sheet offers examples of common accommodations survivors may request.

Poster

Designed to be displayed in your office, the poster communicates to people with disabilities your agency’s commitment to providing accommodations. – Downloadable poster coming soon.

Demonstration Video:

Asking about Accommodations: An Instructional Video for Victim Advocates

Vera Institute of Justice
Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities Online Training Toolkit

People with disabilities turn to a variety of support systems in the aftermath of victimization, from family and friends to victim services to their local disability service provider or to …
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Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities Online Training Toolkit

People with disabilities turn to a variety of support systems in the aftermath of victimization, from family and friends to victim services to their local disability service provider or to law enforcement. When those support systems are knowledgeable about the needs of people with disabilities, they can broaden the paths to healing available to victims with disabilities. The Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities toolkit was designed to provide comprehensive and culturally responsive informational and educational resources, tools, videos, and examples of best practices for law enforcement, forensic interviewers, victim advocates, and others to prepare them to effectively respond to victims of crime with disabilities across the lifespan. Leveraging the guidance and expertise of representatives from these fields, the toolkit embodies ideals of intersectionality, accessibility, and usability among others. The toolkit includes video testimonials from survivors with disabilities, recorded lectures from professionals across a variety of systems, and interactive activities. You can review the content from beginning to end or select specific topics of interest.

Video Introduction to the Online Toolkit
Innovations at the Intersection: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault with a Survivor Support Packet

In our first Innovations at the Intersection webinar, we will highlight the Survivor Support Packet, a support guide for survivors of sexual assault with disabilities. If you are looking for …
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Innovations at the Intersection: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault with a Survivor Support Packet

In our first Innovations at the Intersection webinar, we will highlight the Survivor Support Packet, a support guide for survivors of sexual assault with disabilities. If you are looking for a tool to help you serve survivors with disabilities, the Survivor Support Packet, developed by and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in collaboration with the rest of the Mass Rights for Change team, may be what you are looking for! The Survivor Support Packet includes a list of a survivor’s rights following sexual assault, a community resource list, scripts to help survivors reach out for help, self-care exercises, and tips for people supporting survivors with disabilities.

In this interactive discussion, we will talk about the need that led to the Survivor Support Packet, how it could be valuable in your community, and how you can create a similar, customized resource by partnering with self-advocates. You will also learn some of the strategies used in the Survivor Support Packet that could be helpful in working with survivors with disabilities you serve.

Serving Survivors with Mental Health Disabilities

Each May, we observe Mental Health Awareness Month. It is a time to celebrate the resilience of people with mental health disabilities and honor their voices as they work to …

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Developing a PREA-Compliant Language Access Plan for Incarcerated Survivors

Providing language access to incarcerated victims of sexual abuse honors their humanity and worth in the wake of an experience that may have left them feeling stripped of both. Drawing …
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Developing a PREA-Compliant Language Access Plan for Incarcerated Survivors

Providing language access to incarcerated victims of sexual abuse honors their humanity and worth in the wake of an experience that may have left them feeling stripped of both. Drawing on Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety’s work on the Office for Victims of Crime-funded Translating Justice Initiative, this guide offers concrete steps for how correctional agencies can craft language access plans and engage interpreters and translators that are consistent with the requirements in the National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape (commonly referred to as the “PREA Standards”).

Creating language access plans for PREA-related educational materials and services will contribute to safer correctional facilities and increase the likelihood that incarcerated people with limited English proficiency will report and seek help if they experience sexual victimization.
Serving Survivors of Sexual Assault with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Each April, we come together to pause, to reflect, and to uplift the experiences of sexual assault survivors. Please join us as we honor Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a …
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Serving Survivors of Sexual Assault with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Each April, we come together to pause, to reflect, and to uplift the experiences of sexual assault survivors. Please join us as we honor Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a conversation centering people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) who are more likely to experience sexual assault. In this webinar, you will learn about the unique risks they face, barriers they encounter when seeking services, and best practices that you can implement to serve survivors with I/DD effectively. Also, a self-advocate shares her experiences and provide tips for ways in which you can increase survivors’ comfort, be trauma-informed, and meet the needs of those most likely to experience sexual assault.

Vera Institute of Justice
Applying Trauma Informed Care and Disability Justice to Serving Survivors of Sex Trafficking with Disabilities

People with disabilities are more likely to experience sex trafficking than their peers. Traffickers deliberately target victims they think will be easily isolated and controlled, so conditions surrounding people with …
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Applying Trauma Informed Care and Disability Justice to Serving Survivors of Sex Trafficking with Disabilities

People with disabilities are more likely to experience sex trafficking than their peers. Traffickers deliberately target victims they think will be easily isolated and controlled, so conditions surrounding people with disabilities, including the fact that they are marginalized, devalued, and isolated, make people with disabilities more vulnerable to this type of abuse. A trauma-informed approach to supporting sex trafficking survivors with disabilities recognizes signs and symptoms of trauma, resists re-traumatizing survivors, and provides safe and accessible services and healing. This webinar describes the importance of using a trauma-informed approach to supporting survivors of sex trafficking with disabilities and provide attendees with skills to more effectively support these survivors.

Vera Institute of Justice
A Conversation on Serving Deaf Survivors

Deaf individuals in the U.S. experience rates of domestic and/or sexual violence equal to or higher than hearing individuals, with emerging research pointing to rates twice that of hearing individuals. …
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A Conversation on Serving Deaf Survivors

Deaf individuals in the U.S. experience rates of domestic and/or sexual violence equal to or higher than hearing individuals, with emerging research pointing to rates twice that of hearing individuals. From 911 systems that only take phone calls to victim service providers not providing American Sign Language interpreters, Deaf survivors routinely face barriers when reaching out for help. Through this conversation with Deaf advocates, you will gain insight into the experiences of Deaf survivors, get a better understanding of the barriers they encounter, and practical information on how to better meet the needs of Deaf survivors.
Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) established a federal commission to draft national standards that address sexual abuse in confinement settings. PREA also required the U.S. Attorney General …
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Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) established a federal commission to draft national standards that address sexual abuse in confinement settings. PREA also required the U.S. Attorney General to promulgate regulations based on the standards that apply to all federal, state, and local confinement settings, including juvenile detention, lockups, and community confinement. The federal PREA standards require agencies to take a number of steps to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse. Among those steps are making sure that incarcerated people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate and benefit from all of the agency’s PREA efforts. Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities: An Implementation Guide for Practitioners on the Adult and Juvenile Standards provides strategies to correctional agencies that will aid their compliance with these PREA requirements. The strategies discussed in this guide draw on established practices used by victim service organizations—both community-based and those based in government agencies—to make their services more accessible for this population. By offering concrete recommendations on how to adapt these community practices to correctional settings, this guide aims to help adult and juvenile correctional facilities increase accessibility for people with disabilities.

Vera Institute of Justice
Supporting Deaf & DeafBlind Survivors

Deaf people are 1.5-5 times more likely than hearing people to experience domestic and sexual violence. Despite being at greater risk, they face significant barriers to accessing victim services. Many …
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Supporting Deaf & DeafBlind Survivors

Deaf people are 1.5-5 times more likely than hearing people to experience domestic and sexual violence. Despite being at greater risk, they face significant barriers to accessing victim services. Many mainstream hearing programs want to serve Deaf survivors, but are often unaware of the unique experiences and cultural values of Deaf survivors and are not prepared to provide sign language interpretation.

The Vera Institute of Justice brought together some of the country’s leading experts in supporting Deaf and DeafBlind survivors to answer the field’s most pressing questions about how to support survivors from these communities and best practices for finding and working with qualified interpreters. We created a series of videos about Deaf and DeafBlind culture, best practices for working with Deaf and DeafBlind survivors, and how to find qualified interpreters. There is also a panel discussion highlighting key factors that contributed to a successful partnership between a hearing and Deaf organization.

This video series features five leaders in the Deaf and DeafBlind communities: Roberta Eaton and Najma Johnson with DAWN, Liam Esposito and Amber Hodson with DeafHope, and Raylene Lotz with the Vera Institute of Justice. The videos were filmed in American Sign Language and created by a Deaf video producer, Elizabeth Sorkin.

To make them more accessible for a hearing audience, voice over audio was added. Closed captions are also available.

Resources

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

The toolkit includes:

Palm Card

Quick Reference Guide

Agency Readiness Guide

Tip Sheet

Poster

Demonstration Video:

Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities Online Training Toolkit

Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities Online Training Toolkit

Video Introduction to the Online Toolkit

Innovations at the Intersection: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault with a Survivor Support Packet

Innovations at the Intersection: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault with a Survivor Support Packet

Serving Survivors with Mental Health Disabilities

Serving Survivors with Mental Health Disabilities

Developing a PREA-Compliant Language Access Plan for Incarcerated Survivors

Developing a PREA-Compliant Language Access Plan for Incarcerated Survivors

Serving Survivors of Sexual Assault with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Serving Survivors of Sexual Assault with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Applying Trauma Informed Care and Disability Justice to Serving Survivors of Sex Trafficking with Disabilities

Applying Trauma Informed Care and Disability Justice to Serving Survivors of Sex Trafficking with Disabilities

A Conversation on Serving Deaf Survivors

A Conversation on Serving Deaf Survivors

Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

Supporting Deaf & DeafBlind Survivors

Supporting Deaf & DeafBlind Survivors

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