Disabled Kids Face More Abuse, Violence
Children with disabilities are up to four times as likely to suffer some forms of violence as children who are not disabled, researchers reported.
And those with a mental or intellectual disability appear to have a higher risk of sexual violence than either children with other types of disabilities or those without a disability, according to Mark Bellis, DSc, of Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, England, and colleagues.
And more than a quarter of children with disabilities are victims of violence over the course of their lifetimes, Bellis and colleagues reported online in The Lancet.
In adults, studies have shown that those with disabilities are at increased risk of violence, with the risk heightened among those with mental illnesses, the researchers note.
Violence against children in general remains a significant problem worldwide. Some 5% of children have either mental or physical disabilities, but evidence on violence against children with disabilities has been limited and unreliable, Bellis and colleagues noted.