Survey to Gather Information on Individuals with Disabilities Who Have Ever Been Sexually Abused in School

I used to follow my facebook news feed soooo closely and then I stopped. Randomly looked at it the other day. There are so many things I miss by not looking at that news feed... like this...

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/abuse_studentswithdisabilities

My name is Mary Lou Bensy, and I am a Doctoral Student and researcher at Hofstra University, located in New York. As part of my Doctoral Dissertation, this ground-breaking research and survey is being conducted to help us learn more about the sexual harassment and abuse of special education students in schools. We need this vital information to help protect this victimized population. The survey is designed primarily to gather information on individuals with disabilities who have ever been sexually abused in school.

Parents, guardians, advocates and caregivers of students with disabilities are asked to respond on behalf of ONE victimized student per survey. If an individual chooses to respond on behalf of more than one student, he/she can feel free to take the survey more than once. Adult survivors are asked to complete the survey for themselves.

At the beginning of the survey, you will be asked to answer questions about the student on whose behalf you are completing the survey. Then there will be questions about different kinds of sexual harassment and abuse that may have occurred. If you responded 'yes' to one of those types of abuse, you will automatically be asked to answer additional questions about that particular abusive experience. This survey is anonymous, so no one will know who the survey taker is. I do not ask for your name or contact information, or that of the victim, on this survey. When I report my research results, it will be done with no identifiable information from individual participants.

I know that many of these questions may be painful to answer, but please be as honest as you can in answering them. Please be sure to mark all responses that apply for each question. You can skip most questions that you do not want to answer. Your patience in completing this survey is very much appreciated.

Please understand that this research is not designed to provide therapeutic intervention or follow-up for the responder or the victim. If you feel the need for professional assistance on behalf of yourself or the victim, there is a link, at the end of the survey, to a list of resources available to you. To protect your anonymity, and that of the victim, please do not make an effort to reach me by phone or email.

Apologies for my Lateness: A Survey

I was just cleaning out my inbox and found a FB message from Beth of media dis&dat about her survey (which I pretested) that went live 2 weeks ago. OOOPS! Well, I am promoting it now...

GO TAKE IT. NOW.

There. Promoted. I feel better.

Here's a little blurbish:

Hi there. A colleague and I have created a survey about news and entertainment media so disability advocates can give their opinions about this important issue. I hope people with disabilities in general and those from disability organizations will take the survey. Can you take the survey and then send it to your contacts? Thanks!

Please forward the survey widely.

Tell everyone that we are happy to provide the survey results to anyone who wants them.

Here is the survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CQ8BLFG

ADAPT Community Media Survey 2010

To the disability community and allies:

Happy New Year! ADAPT is working to improve our outreach this year so that we can continue to organize like never before. Help us learn how to stay in better touch with you by filling out a short online survey. Understanding what people know about ADAPT and our communications will only help us all better work together. In addition, there is a space for any general feedback that you would like to give ADAPT.

One lucky survey participant will win a free Chicago ADAPT t-shirt with the original logo by Anna Stonum and the slogan “ADAPT or Perish!” If you want to be considered for the t-shirt prize, you MUST leave your e-mail or phone number in the comment box for survey question number 10.

To go to the survey online, please click on this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QTVMQXF. If you have trouble accessing the link or the survey itself, please contact Amber Smock of Chicago ADAPT at ambity@aol.com.

The survey will be open online until 5 pm CST Tuesday, JANUARY 26. We value your feedback and look forward to working with you to FREE OUR PEOPLE in 2010!

The ADAPT Community

PS: Please forward this email to anyone you may know who is interested in ADAPT's work!

LGBT Long Term Care Survey

Haven't looked at it at all, just passing along from FRIDA.

Dear Colleague:

The National Senior Citizens Law Center, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), are working together to raise awareness of the issues facing older adults who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") and live in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other long-term care facilities. We hope to identify areas where policy changes will improve care, and to find other older adults, advocates and providers interested in these issues.

The survey is only 16 questions. It should take no more than ten minutes to fill it out. The survey completely protects your confidentiality. (However, we are looking for volunteers willing to be interviewed, so please consider checking that box!)

Click here to fill out the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=UPQXC5Gub99IvdRNz83Hwg_3d_3d ; or if you would like to fill out this survey manually, you can print it out from the link above and mail it to:

Nancy Arevalo
National Senior Citizens Law Center

1330 Broadway, Suite 525
Oakland, CA 94612

The deadline for responding to the survey is December 15, 2009.

Whether you are an older adult living in a long-term care facility or a family member, caretaker, social worker or friend, your answers to these questions will help as we work together to fight discrimination, abuse and neglect against LGBT older adults. Specifically, you should fill out this survey if you are:

· A lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender older adult who lives or has lived in a long-term care facility;
· A caregiver of an LGBT older adult who lives or has lived in a long-term care facility;
· A family member or friend with knowledge of an LGBT older adult's experience in a long-term care facility;
· A social worker or other helping professional who works with older adults.

Long-term care facilities include nursing homes, assisted living communities and senior living facilities.
Again, click here to fill out the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=UPQXC5Gub99IvdRNz83Hwg_3d_3d ; and share the survey with your colleagues!

SURVEY RESULTS: Disability & Prostitution

Here are the results of my poll. I know some of you were waiting on the edge of your seats. I got 30 responses over 6 days. 26 people were from the US, 2 people were from Canada, 1 person was from Austrailia, and 1 person's country is unknown. I need to go write the paper now. Did this first because I thought it would help me organize my thoughts.

Do you have a disability?

Yes: 20

No: 8

Are you for or against the legalization of prostitution (for everyone)?

For: 14

Against: 3

Undecided: 11

Have you/would you ever pay for a prostitute?

Yes: 6

No: 17

Maybe: 7

Do you have a moral objection to prostitution?

Yes: 4

No: 15

Who am I to say?: 11

If you could get government subsidized prostitution (reduced cost) would you partake in those services?

Yes: 4

No: 21

Maybe: 5

If the government would cover all costs of prostitution would you partake in those services?

Yes: 5

No: 21

Maybe: 4

It has been proprosed that the government of the Netherlands pay for prostitution for men with disabilities. I feel this is sexist. Do you?

Yes: 21

No: 6

Maybe: 3

Do you think that men or women with disabilities feel more sexually inadequate?

Men: 7

Women: 1

Both: 22

SELECT RESPONSES

Why do you think that some disabled people feel that resorting to prostitution is their only option? (22 people answered)

Lack of social connections and the fact that this is a topic that is not widely discussed.

For many potential sexual partners, a disability seems like an immediate turn-off in that they look at the disability and see defect first. I believe that disability makes people confront their own mortality and that makes them uncomfortable, so the chance for a person with a disability to express themselves sexually is harder...

They feel insufficiently appealing to get sexual partners voluntarily. it might be too much work.

because able boddied people look apon me with pitty or as a Buddy but rarly as a Person with sexual needs

Resorting to prostitution as an only option is felt by the disabled for many of the same reasons as the able-bodied resort to prostitution; availability, low-to-no rejection rate, discretion, release, and finally, and maybe most importantly, feeling a bit of passion, warmth, sensuality...feeling like a real man or woman...

What could be done to change these views? (21 people answered)

Legalized prostitution services for the disabled seems to be the only way to change the situation for the disabled since you can't force women to be with men they don't find sexually attractive.

If you want crips to have a higher self-esteem and to feel sexier, then get the question to Madison Ave add companies and to Hollywood. It's all about marketing and messaging. Happy, confident people are just sexier...

Self help group, counseling, meeting other disabled individuals who changed their lives.

EDUCATION , SEX IS NOT ONLY ABOUT ORGASMS SEX CAN BE EXPRESSED IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS!

Disability education for the able. Exposure to disabled people. I love to answer questions from children, they're just curious. I will give rides in my power chair with their parent's permission.

If I knew I would do it!!

I think peoples views of disabled needs to change. Disabled people have the same sexual wants and needs as any able bodied person.

Old-fashioned, sexist, conservative views will never change, until this country catches up with, say, European views on sexuality, prostitution; and then maybe these views WILL change, for the better for all of us.

Is there anything else I forgot to address? Comment here. (12 people answered)

The proposed dutch law is sexist, but it is also discriminatory. There are plenty of able bodied people who find it difficult to form romantic relationships - why are only the disabled singled out for financial assistance.

I would separate those disabled from birth and those disabled in an accident in your study. Those disabled later in life generally have developed normal social skills which greatly help them in relations with other people, while the disabled since birth usually have been ostracized during their youth and also protected by their parents and thus have not had a very good chance to develop the proper social skills necessary to win friends and influence people.

To me, prostitution is just another form of social work. (that one cracked me up!)

Help me with a Paper: Survey on Disability & Prostitution

*EDIT: SURVEY IS CLOSED* Thank you if you have already responded.

For my human sexuality course this semester we have to write a paper on a contriversial topic having to do with sex. For my paper I'm choosing to focus on the legalization of prostitution for men with disabilities. For my personal view on the topic view my post from July. What's cool is that we need six sources for our paper, but they do not have to be "academic". I can use blog posts and newspaper articles! I've decided to poll my readership on the topic as one of my sources. I was just over at Micro Preemie Twins and noticed that Billie posted a poll using Poll Daddy. Cool! Great timing! Unfortunately, as I created a survey as opposed to a poll, I cannot figure out how to embed it into this post. Can anyone help? They say that you can put in code to make the survey appear as a javascript popup. HELP! In the mean time, here is the direct link to the poll:

http://www.polldaddy.com/s/3D0B29317B809D7D/

Here are the "rules" for a lack of a better word:

1. Your responses will be kept strictly confidential. I do not ask for identifying information ANYWHERE and you are identified only by a number, such as 1819175.
2. For the first 7 questions I will only be using precentages in my paper, and I may use one or two of the responses to other 3 questions. Or maybe not. I'll see.
3. I will be posting the precentages on another post here on Disaboom for curiosity's sake, but again, NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION WILL BE USED. See #1. I don't have any.
   
4. The paper is due on December 1. The survey will not take answers after December 1. But please be kind and answer the survey in enough time to include the results in my paper. Sorry I posted so late!
5. I really prefer that you answer the survey via Poll Daddy. It just makes things easier on me. BUT I'm not sure if Poll Daddy works with screen readers or not. If you are visually impaired, please PM me here on Disaboom. Here are the questions for you:

1. Do you have a disability?
• Yes
• No
2. Are you for or against the legalization of prostitution (for everyone)?
• For
• Against
• Undecided
3. Have you/would you ever pay for a prostitute?
• Yes
• No
• Maybe
4. Do you have a moral objection to prostitution?
• Yes
• No
• Who am I to say
5. If you could get government subsidized prostitution (reduced cost) would you partake in those services?
• Yes
• No
• Maybe
6. If the government would cover all costs of prostitution would you partake in those services?
• Yes
• No
• Maybe
7. It has been proprosed that the government of the Netherlands pay for prostitution for men with disabilities. I feel this is sexist. Do you?
• Yes
• No
• Not Sure
8. Do you think that men or women with disabilities feel more sexually inadequate?
• Men
• Women
• Both
9. Why do you think that some disabled people feel that resorting to prostitution is their only option?
10. What could be done to change these views?
11. Is there anything else I forgot to address? Comment here.

Thanks so much for helping me out!

Here are my other sources if you are curious:

The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability (GREAT book! HIGHLY reccomend it!)

Is it OK for Disabled People to go to Brothels?
School Helps Disabled Teens Find Love & Sex
Hospice Helped Man With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Lose His Virginity

Can Disabled Be Sexy?

What I really want is to get blog posts on the topic. Do you know of any other crips that have addressed the issue on their blogs? Please post the URL in the comments section. Thanks!