Interpersonal Violence Against People With Disabilities: Understanding the Problem From a Rural Context

Abstract

Interpersonal violence against people with disabilities is a significant social problem. Little attention has focused on the rural context and the relevance for understanding violence. Given the dearth of literature exploring interpersonal violence, disability, and rurality, a review of rural-focused literature on domestic violence, sexual violence, and elder abuse was conducted to identify themes that could provide insight into this problem for people with disabilities. Themes include geographic isolation, traditional cultural values and norms, lack of anonymity, lack of resources, and poor response of systems. Implications for understanding interpersonal violence against rural people with disabilities and for social work practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• disabilities
• domestic violence
• elder abuse
• interpersonal violence
• rural community
• rural culture
• sexual violence