Resources

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to …
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Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to them. There are a number of steps agencies can take to make their services more accessible and welcoming for survivors with disabilities and Deaf victims, including asking every victim if they need accommodations to participate in services or the legal system.

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities lays out four simple steps for providing accommodations to survivors with disabilities, and includes sample language you can use when talking to survivors. It also outlines what your agency needs to have in place for staff to be able to provide accommodations as soon as survivors request them.

The toolkit includes:

Palm Card

The palm card outlines four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, as well as sample questions to ask. It is designed to be carried with you or displayed on your desk and used while working with survivors.

Quick Reference Guide

A companion to the palm cards, the quick reference guide contains detailed information on the four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, including additional recommended language to guide your conversation with victims.

Agency Readiness Guide

These short guides offer recommendations to ensure your agency is prepared to provide accommodations, including creating or revising an accommodations policy, budgeting for access, and building relationships with disability and Deaf service organizations.

Tip Sheet

The tip sheet offers examples of common accommodations survivors may request.

Poster

Designed to be displayed in your office, the poster communicates to people with disabilities your agency’s commitment to providing accommodations. – Downloadable poster coming soon.

Demonstration Video:

Asking about Accommodations: An Instructional Video for Victim Advocates

Vera Institute of Justice
Innovations at the Intersection: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault with a Survivor Support Packet

In our first Innovations at the Intersection webinar, we will highlight the Survivor Support Packet, a support guide for survivors of sexual assault with disabilities. If you are looking for …
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Innovations at the Intersection: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault with a Survivor Support Packet

In our first Innovations at the Intersection webinar, we will highlight the Survivor Support Packet, a support guide for survivors of sexual assault with disabilities. If you are looking for a tool to help you serve survivors with disabilities, the Survivor Support Packet, developed by and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in collaboration with the rest of the Mass Rights for Change team, may be what you are looking for! The Survivor Support Packet includes a list of a survivor’s rights following sexual assault, a community resource list, scripts to help survivors reach out for help, self-care exercises, and tips for people supporting survivors with disabilities.

In this interactive discussion, we will talk about the need that led to the Survivor Support Packet, how it could be valuable in your community, and how you can create a similar, customized resource by partnering with self-advocates. You will also learn some of the strategies used in the Survivor Support Packet that could be helpful in working with survivors with disabilities you serve.
Developing a PREA-Compliant Language Access Plan for Incarcerated Survivors

Providing language access to incarcerated victims of sexual abuse honors their humanity and worth in the wake of an experience that may have left them feeling stripped of both. Drawing …
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Developing a PREA-Compliant Language Access Plan for Incarcerated Survivors

Providing language access to incarcerated victims of sexual abuse honors their humanity and worth in the wake of an experience that may have left them feeling stripped of both. Drawing on Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety’s work on the Office for Victims of Crime-funded Translating Justice Initiative, this guide offers concrete steps for how correctional agencies can craft language access plans and engage interpreters and translators that are consistent with the requirements in the National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape (commonly referred to as the “PREA Standards”).

Creating language access plans for PREA-related educational materials and services will contribute to safer correctional facilities and increase the likelihood that incarcerated people with limited English proficiency will report and seek help if they experience sexual victimization.
Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) established a federal commission to draft national standards that address sexual abuse in confinement settings. PREA also required the U.S. Attorney General …
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Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) established a federal commission to draft national standards that address sexual abuse in confinement settings. PREA also required the U.S. Attorney General to promulgate regulations based on the standards that apply to all federal, state, and local confinement settings, including juvenile detention, lockups, and community confinement. The federal PREA standards require agencies to take a number of steps to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse. Among those steps are making sure that incarcerated people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate and benefit from all of the agency’s PREA efforts. Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities: An Implementation Guide for Practitioners on the Adult and Juvenile Standards provides strategies to correctional agencies that will aid their compliance with these PREA requirements. The strategies discussed in this guide draw on established practices used by victim service organizations—both community-based and those based in government agencies—to make their services more accessible for this population. By offering concrete recommendations on how to adapt these community practices to correctional settings, this guide aims to help adult and juvenile correctional facilities increase accessibility for people with disabilities.

Vera Institute of Justice
Supporting Deaf & DeafBlind Survivors

Deaf people are 1.5-5 times more likely than hearing people to experience domestic and sexual violence. Despite being at greater risk, they face significant barriers to accessing victim services. Many …
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Supporting Deaf & DeafBlind Survivors

Deaf people are 1.5-5 times more likely than hearing people to experience domestic and sexual violence. Despite being at greater risk, they face significant barriers to accessing victim services. Many mainstream hearing programs want to serve Deaf survivors, but are often unaware of the unique experiences and cultural values of Deaf survivors and are not prepared to provide sign language interpretation.

The Vera Institute of Justice brought together some of the country’s leading experts in supporting Deaf and DeafBlind survivors to answer the field’s most pressing questions about how to support survivors from these communities and best practices for finding and working with qualified interpreters. We created a series of videos about Deaf and DeafBlind culture, best practices for working with Deaf and DeafBlind survivors, and how to find qualified interpreters. There is also a panel discussion highlighting key factors that contributed to a successful partnership between a hearing and Deaf organization.

This video series features five leaders in the Deaf and DeafBlind communities: Roberta Eaton and Najma Johnson with DAWN, Liam Esposito and Amber Hodson with DeafHope, and Raylene Lotz with the Vera Institute of Justice. The videos were filmed in American Sign Language and created by a Deaf video producer, Elizabeth Sorkin.

To make them more accessible for a hearing audience, voice over audio was added. Closed captions are also available.
Meeting the Needs of Immigrant Survivors with Disabilities

Survivors with disabilities who have immigrated to the United States face challenges in reporting victimization and receiving services. Language barriers, a lack of a support network in the United States, …
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Meeting the Needs of Immigrant Survivors with Disabilities

Survivors with disabilities who have immigrated to the United States face challenges in reporting victimization and receiving services. Language barriers, a lack of a support network in the United States, difficulties accessing services, and lack of knowledge of the criminal justice system or services available will pose barriers for immigrant survivors. When the survivor also has a disability, they face additional challenges to services and healing. This webinar reviews some best practices for service providers working with immigrant survivors with disabilities.

Vera Institute of Justice
People with Disabilities COVID-19 Survivor Impact Brief

The Center on Victimization and Safety hosted three listening sessions on COVID-19 and its impact on survivors with disabilities. From these listening sessions, we created a COVID-19 Survivor Impact Brief …
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People with Disabilities COVID-19 Survivor Impact Brief

The Center on Victimization and Safety hosted three listening sessions on COVID-19 and its impact on survivors with disabilities. From these listening sessions, we created a COVID-19 Survivor Impact Brief that summarize the issues and strategies that emerged.

Vera Institute of Justice
Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates, Attorneys, and Law Enforcement Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to …
Continue reading "Just Ask: A...
<< Back

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates, Attorneys, and Law Enforcement Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to them. There are a number of steps agencies can take to make their services more accessible and welcoming for survivors with disabilities and Deaf victims, including asking every victim if they need accommodations to participate in services or the legal system.

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates, Attorneys, and Law Enforcement Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities was created in response to conversations with professionals working with survivors, many of whom are open to asking about accommodations, but don’t know how and are worried about saying the wrong thing. The toolkit lays out four simple steps for providing accommodations to survivors with disabilities, and includes sample language you can use when talking to survivors. It also outlines what your agency needs to have in place for staff to be able to provide accommodations as soon as survivors request them.

What’s Available

Just Ask is comprised of three audience-specific toolkits:

Advocate Toolkit

Attorney and Prosecutor Toolkit

Law Enforcement Toolkit

Asking about Accommodations: An Introduction

Acknowledgements

This toolkit was shaped by people with disabilities and disability advocates. Vera would like to thank Max Barrows, Leigh Ann Davis, Jasmine D’Addario-Fobian, Roberta Eaton, Suzanne Hopkins, Jo Johnson, Keith Jones, Shell Schwartz, and Olga Trujillo for their insights and contributions as Expert Workgroup Members for the National Resource Center on Reaching Victims. Nancy Smith and Katie Allen with the Vera Institute of Justice were also instrumental in developing this toolkit.

A Note About Language

The terms victim and survivor are used interchangeably throughout this toolkit, based on the different ways in which people who have experienced crime identify. When working with people whose lives have been touched by crime, best practice is to reflect the language they use to identify themselves.

Vera Institute of Justice
Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Attorneys and Prosecutors Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to …
Continue reading "Just Ask: A...

<< Back

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Attorneys and Prosecutors Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to them. There are a number of steps agencies can take to make their services more accessible and welcoming for survivors with disabilities and Deaf victims, including asking every victim if they need accommodations to participate in services or the legal system.

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Attorneys and Prosecutors Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities lays out four simple steps for providing accommodations to survivors with disabilities, and includes sample language you can use when talking to survivors. It also outlines what your agency needs to have in place for staff to be able to provide accommodations as soon as survivors request them.

The toolkit includes:

Palm Card

The palm card outlines four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, as well as sample questions to ask. It is designed to be carried with you or displayed on your desk and used while working with survivors.

Quick Reference Guide

A companion to the palm cards, the quick reference guide contains detailed information on the four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, including additional recommended language to guide your conversation with victims.

Agency Readiness Guide

These short guides offer recommendations to ensure your agency is prepared to provide accommodations, including creating or revising an accommodations policy, budgeting for access, and building relationships with disability and Deaf service organizations.

Tip Sheet

The tip sheet offers examples of common accommodations survivors may request.

Poster

Designed to be displayed in your office, the poster communicates to people with disabilities your agency’s commitment to providing accommodations. – Downloadable poster coming soon.

Demonstration Video

Asking about Accommodations: An Instructional Video for Attorneys
Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Law Enforcement Personnel Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to …
Continue reading "Just Ask: A...

<< Back

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Law Enforcement Personnel Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities

People with disabilities and Deaf people experience violent crime at three times the rate of people without disabilities, yet healing services and the legal system are often not accessible to them. There are a number of steps agencies can take to make their services more accessible and welcoming for survivors with disabilities and Deaf victims, including asking every victim if they need accommodations to participate in services or the legal system.

Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Law Enforcement Personnel Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities lays out four simple steps for providing accommodations to survivors with disabilities, and includes sample language you can use when talking to survivors. It also outlines what your agency needs to have in place for staff to be able to provide accommodations as soon as survivors request them.

The toolkit includes:

Palm Card

The palm card outlines four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, as well as sample questions to ask. It is designed to be carried with you or displayed on your desk and used while working with survivors.

Quick Reference Guide

A companion to the palm cards, the quick reference guide contains detailed information on the four steps for asking about and providing accommodations, including additional recommended language to guide your conversation with victims.

Agency Readiness Guide

These short guides offer recommendations to ensure your agency is prepared to provide accommodations, including creating or revising an accommodations policy, budgeting for access, and building relationships with disability and Deaf service organizations.

Tip Sheet

The tip sheet offers examples of common accommodations survivors may request.

Poster

Designed to be displayed in your office, the poster communicates to people with disabilities your agency’s commitment to providing accommodations. – Downloadable poster coming soon.

Demonstration Video

Asking about Accommodations: An Instructional Video for Law Enforcement

Vera Institute of Justice