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According to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, personal safety is defined as “an individual’s ability to go about their everyday life free from the threat or fear of psychological, emotional or physical harm from others”(Suzy Lamplugh Trust, n.d.). While ‘threat of harm’ is something many individuals are free from in their regular day-to-day, certain groups of people are more likely to experience risks to personal safety. For example, Adults with disabilities are 1.5 times more likely to be a victim of violence (Jones et al., 2012). Additionally, children are more likely to be exposed to violence than adults, and children with disabilities are 3.44 times more likely to be a victim of abuse than their peers without disabilities (“Facts about Children and Violence”, 2017; Davis, 2011).
Abduction is one type of threat to personal safety, particularly when it comes to the personal safety of children and children with disabilities. While most child abductions are committed by family members, child abductions by strangers are more dangerous and often result in more serious consequences such as abuse or even death (Kurt & Kutlu, 2019). According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), over 1,300 cases (known to the NCMEC) of attempted or successful abduction occurred between January 1st, 2019 and December 31st, 2019 (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, n.d.).
While there are not many statistics available on what percentage of abductions involved a child with a disability, the NCMEC has published data on children with disabilities who have gone missing. According to the NCMEC, 952 children who were reported to have autism or Asperger syndrome as a medical condition, a mental health condition, or a special needs condition were reported missing between January 1st, 2007 and December 31st, 2016(Missing Children on the Autism Spectrum, 2016). The NMEC report did not list the reasons the children went missing; however, most missing cases were likely caused by wandering. While this paper does not directly address wandering, it should be noted that according to Ledbetter-Cho (2016) states that 50% of children elope from safe places which could potentially increase abduction risk.
While less at-risk than children, adults with disabilities are still 1.5 times more likely to be victims of violence than non-disabled adults. The likelihood of experiencing violence varies based on different types of disabilities (Jones et al., 2012). Jones et al. found that adults with intellectual disabilities were 1.6 times more likely and adults with mental illness were 3.86 times more likely to experience violence than non-disabled adults.
As with any survey data on controversial topics, the results from the above study may not capture the full extent of exposure to violence for individuals with disabilities. Finding statistics on violence towards individuals with disabilities has proven to be challenging. According to Sullivan (2002), chi