Information for professionals.
This is general information for legal professionals. If you want research articles there is a list of current research in the field on this website.  We are happy to provide you with any information we have collected and can come to do training with you and your organisation.

In the Australian context Professor Susan Hayes (2009) defines intellectual disability as:  Substantial limitations in BOTH -

• Intellectual functioning - reasoning, memory, and
  Adaptive behaviour - communication, literacy, daily living skills, social and recreational skills.
  
  
• She adds that intellectual function usually means an IQ or a standard score (SS) of less than 70 (average IQ is 100).
  
  
• A psychologist or psychiatrist will diagnose intellectual disability.
  
  
• About 2-3% if Australians have an intellectual disability (IDRS, 2008)
  
  

• They may take longer to learn things
  
  
• They may have been to a special school or in a special class
  
  
• They have difficulty understanding abstract concepts
  
  
• They can have trouble with problem solving
  
  
• They are often exclude from developing freely given relationships
  
  
• They often live in poverty
  
  
• They may receive a disability support pension
  
  
• They often work hard to look like they understand everything that you say and do – when they have difficulty making sense of this.
  

Often at your first meeting with a person you will have some indications that make you suspect that a person has some cognitive limitations.  These can include but are not limited to -

• That they have slow and steady speech.
  
  
• That they are keen to please you – acquiescence.
  
  
• They may have difficulty in reading and writing.
  
  
• They may not maintain eye contact and have a short attention span.
  
  
• They may ask you a lot of personal questions or talk about things not related to your meeting.
  
  
• They may talk about things that do not seem to follow a logical order.
  
  
• Sometimes you will notice physical characteristics that mark their body.
  
  
• Most people work very hard at covering their intellectual difference and will not tell you if they have this label.
  

Sexual assaults
The first research done in this field which continues to be quoted in all literature relating to the sexual assault of people was done by Sobsey and Doe in 1991.  Sobsey (1994) examined the rates of sexual abuse in institutional care in Canada, these are seen as transferable to Australia and no similar study has been undertaken here.  The rates of abuse are very high but people also experience other crimes at a higher rate than people without disabilities.
 
What we know about the incidence of crime against people with intellectual disability in Australian is sketchy and needs some detailed research at a national level to gain a greater understanding of the true picture (Frohmader, 2010 www.wwda.org.au/WWDASubFVL2010.pdf).  Some of the difficulties in assessing this information is that when people report a crime they do not necessarily state that they have an intellectual disability and there is no screening of people on making a statement to assess rates of victims with intellectual difference.  Not all crime reported proceeds to a court process and it is generally agreed that crime is under reported against people with an intellectual disability (French 2007)

A Victorian study Building the Evidence, has scoped the current literature, (Healy, Howe, Humphrey's, Jennings and Julian, 2008) this study focused on women and children so the research in relation to men remains unclear, however, anecdotal evidence suggests they also are over represented as victims of crime – this is of sexual and violent crime as well as robbery theft and exploitation. www.whv.org.au/vwdn/violence.htm

• Of children who are physically abused, approximately 17.2% have a disability.
  
  
• Of children who are sexually abused, approximately 15.2% have a disability.
  
  
• 68% to 83% of women with disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, which is two times greater than women without a disability.
  
  
• Among adults who are developmentally disabled, as many as 83% of the females and 32% of the males are the victims of sexual assault.
  
  
• Research has established that women with disabilities experience violence at a higher rate (Chenoweth 1996), for longer periods (Young, Nosek et al 1997), and are less likely to report the abuse (Hassouneh-Phillips & Curry 2002), than women without disabilities.
  
  
• Women with disabilities experience the same types of violence as other women in the community - that is physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse.   Women with disabilities also experience forms of violence particular to their situation.   Women with disabilities are often not respected or valued for who they are; in general they are poorer than other women; they experience more isolation and can be more dependent on partners, family members or carers.   Because of this, women with disabilities can be vulnerable to forms of abuse that do not fit traditional definitions of violence.   Withholding equipment, food and medication; limiting access to communication devices; and threats of institutionalisation are some forms of disability related abuse that may go unreported.
  

• 251 incidents of emotional and psychological abuse and neglect identified among 9 people.
  
  
• 147 incidents of other forms of abuse and neglect and crimes identified, such as theft, physical assault, sexual assault, chemical restraint, injury with unknown cause and inadequate staffing

Note – some of these were ‘double counted’, if two forms of abuse were contained in the one incident

Useful links

New South Wales - www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lrc.nsf/pages/R80CHP2

Department of Communities Queensland  - www.disability.qld.gov.au/contact

Intellectual Disability Rights Service - www.idrs.org.au/

• Desire to please authority figures.
  
  
• Have t he inability to abstract from concrete thought.
  
  
• Watch for cues from interrogators.
  
  
• Have a longing for friends.
  
  
• Relate best to children and the elderly.
  
  
• Bluff having a greater competence than one possesses.
  
  
• Have an all to pleasant façade.
  
  
• Have an abhorrence for the term intellectual disability.
  
  
• Have real memory gaps.
  
  
• Have a quickness to take the blame.
  
  
• Have impaired judgement.
  
  
• Have an inability to understand rights court proceedings or punishment.
  
  
• Have problems with receptive and expressive language.
  
  
• Have short attention span and uncontrolled impulses.
  
  
• Have an unsteady gait and struggling speech.
  
  
• Suffer exhaustion and surrender of all defences.
  
  

These are some tips for communication techniques in an interview.  You will find a number of useful articles on recourses page of this website.

• Allow people to tell their information about being a victim without being interrupted the first time and then go back and check for detail (Hayes, 2009)
  
  
• This is often referred to as doing a narrative interview.
  
  
• Ask them to tell you if they don’t understand – many people will try and appear more competent than they are… this is know in research as the “Cloak of Competence” (Edgerton 1967).
  
  
• Use short sentences
  
  
• Use concrete rather than abstract concepts
  
  
• One idea at a time
  
  
• Don't use jargon
  
  
• Keep checking during the interview that people understand what is happening.  E.g. “Martha I just want to check that you understand.  Can you tell me what we have just discussed….”
  
  
• Say it’s ok, for them not to understand – you take the blame and say ‘I didn’t explain that very well did I, let me ask that again.’   
  
  
• Slow down
  
  
• Use open questions and encourage them to tell you their story their way
  
  
• Wait don’t interrupt.  People can take a long time in the process of recalling information and memories.  If you keep asking a question when they are trying to remember an event that you have asked a question about, then you ask another one you will confuse them and this will mean that the interview takes longer.
  
  
• Don’t finish their sentences.
  
  
• Remember that they will be reading your body language for clues about what answer they think that you want them to give.  They  will try and give you the answer that they think will please you… this is called acquiescence
  
  
• Take a break
  
  
• When you finish, go back and say what you will do, what they will do and what is next.
  

You can contact us to come and undertake a training session with you and we can also offer support to a person with an intellectual disability and their support networks by providing information and referrals on proceeding through the court process. 

To book training call 3862 4066 or email info@wwild.org

You will find a number of useful articles on this website and we will keep adding to these as we find them.