PHYSICAL, SEXUAL, EMOTIONAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT AS DETERMINATIONS OF CHILD ABUSE AMONG PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
BY
Dada, Olubukola Christianah ph.D
Department of special Education
kwara state university, Malete, Kwara state, Nigeria
olubukola.dada@kwasu.edu.ng: bukkyyemmi@yahoo.com
Persons with disabilities are believed to be devoid of any form of abuse and neglect. Many people opined that persons with disabilities can not be abused physically, sexually and emotionally as a result of this, the study investigated physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect as determinants of child abuse among persons with disabilities. Two research questions were generated for the study. Ex-post facto research design was used for the study. A twenty-four item questionnaire was used to elicit responses from the respondent. Two hundred and fifty persons with disabilities in special schools in Oyo state were purposively sampled for this study. multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data collected. the analysis of data revealed that all the four variables accounted for child abuse among persons with disabilities. Most persons with disabilities suffer neglect more than physical, sexual and emotional abuse. However, physical abuse, neglect and sexual abuse contributed to the determinants of child abuse among persons with disabilities. Based on the findings of this study it was concluded that the utilization of training programs for persons, parents, families, and child abuse response and disability services providers will play a unique and critical part in the reduction of risk for persons with disabilities. Equally care givers and parents should engage in periodic monitoring of persons with disabilities to observe signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect as this would go a long way to reduce the menace in our society.
KEYWORD: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, persons with disabilities
