IDA Magazine Vol 39 Iss 2 (Jun 2018)

PROMOTING PERSONAL SAFETY AND PREVENTING ABUSE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY
Implications of this knowledge
The four elements in the safety model underline the complex interplay between young people being
protected by having their safety needs met and being active agents participating in determining what
they want and need to feel and be safe.
Young people’s experiences and views about safety intersect with important gaps in policy and practice
frameworks in youth, disability and violence settings. Their priorities offer a new way of approaching
longstanding problems in safety and harm.
This new knowledge reveals an emphasis on the importance that young people placed on relationships,
particularly in having people who they trust as stable parts of personal networks. It also highlights
tensions and constraints in the way that these relationships are known and expressed – such as the
ways in which movement of key people in and out of young people’s networks is often out of their
control.
For too long, discussion about safety for young people with disability has focused rather too much on
abuse, and rather too little on what it takes to be a safe and confident person in the world. Finding ways
to make safety a part of conversations with young people, families, workers and managers is a priority.
For this to happen in ways that are not restrictive of young people’s rights to participation and inclusion,
their priorities and preferences need to be promoted – notwithstanding the support that many people
need from day to day. A natural jumping off point for considering personal safety are open dialogues
which are part of the opening up of the world that happens (or should happen!) in young adulthood.
Taking Action
To read the Safety Project report in full, summary and plain English versions, follow this link:
www.rcypd.edu.au/safety.
References
Jones, L., Bellis, M., Wood, S., Hughes, K., McCoy, E., Eckley, L., Bates, G., Mikton, C., Shakespeare, T.
& Officer, A. (2012). Prevalence and risk of violence against children with disabilities: A
systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Lancet, 380, 899-907.
Llewellyn, G., Wayland, S. & Hindmarsh, G. (2016). Disability and Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional
Contexts. Sydney, Australia: Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual
Abuse.
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. (2017a) Final Report: Preface
and Executive Summary. Commonwealth of Australia.
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. (2017b) A brief guide to the Final
Report: Disability. Commonwealth
18 www.asid.asn.au