July is Disability Awareness Month.
At Rise Above Violence, we’re taking this time to examine a difficult truth: People with disabilities experience abuse at far higher rates than the general population. But, why is that?
We like to think abuse is rare, sudden and obvious when it happens.
But, often, it isn’t.
It’s subtle, strategic and hiding in plain sight.
Because in abusive relationships, the goal is control. And control often starts with a calculation: Where is this person most vulnerable?
In a culture that prizes self-reliance, needing help can feel like failure. Many people with disabilities live on fixed incomes and rely on others for meals, transportation, medical care or mobility. But what happens when that help turns harmful?
If survivors speak up, they risk losing the very support they depend on.
If they stay silent, the abuse continues.
That’s not a real choice.
When daily life involves navigating barriers others may not see, needing help can quietly become a trap.
People with disabilities are five times more likely to experience domestic violence.
Women with disabilities face even higher risks — they’re three times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted.
And these statistics only scratch the surface. Studies estimate that 70 to 85 percent of abuse cases against disabled adults go unreported.
So, why is that?
Because when abuse presents not only as bruises or threats, but also as control or neglect — when what’s missing is as harmful as what’s done- it often goes unseen. And unreported. Sometimes abuse looks like:
• “Skipped” medications.
• A “broken” mobility aid.
• A “missed” ride to the doctor.
• A service animal threatened or harmed.
• “Forgetting” to help with meals or hygiene.
To someone causing harm, a person with disabilities may seem easier to isolate and harder to believe, not because disability makes someone weak, but because the world makes it easier by making basic needs hard to reach and control easier to take.
Many survivors with cognitive, communication or mental health disabilities know their credibility will be questioned before their safety is considered.
And when someone controls access to food, housing or medical care, they hold enormous power.
That power is reinforced by something harder to see — the quiet assumptions many of us carry without realizing it:
• That people with disabilities are less reliable narrators of their own lives.
• That care, even when harmful, is better than none.
Abusers count on this. They rely on people thinking:
• “They’re overreacting.”
• “They can’t manage on their own.”
• “It’s probably just a misunderstanding.”
So, survivors face impossible choices:
• Stay silent or risk losing stability.
• Report the abuse and lose their caregiver.
At Rise Above Violence, we believe:
• You shouldn’t have to trade independence for safety.
• You deserve care that centers your voice, not questions it.
• No one should be made to feel like a burden for needing support.
If you or someone you know needs help, we’re here 24/7. Services are compassionate, confidential and offer no judgment.
Call (970) 264-9075.
Because healing begins when someone listens — and believes.
>