Every T-shirt a story of disability and abuse

MAARTEN HOLL/ The Dominion Post

A LIFELINE: Lorri Mackness, left, and Bronywn Hayward peg out T-shirts to draw attention to the hidden abuse of disabled people.

A new campaign is using brightly coloured T-shirts to draw attention to the hidden abuse of disabled people.

It was time the problem came out of the shadows, project co-ordinator Wendi Wicks said. "Disabled people are subject to abuse and violence at shockingly high levels, which is poorly acknowledged."

The Disability Clothesline project encourages mentally and physically disabled victims of abuse to make a T-shirt telling their story.

The Disability Coalition Against Violence scheme was launched in Wellington yesterday, with a dozen T-shirts from survivors of abuse.

Disabled people who were killed or seriously hurt through violence were also remembered. They included deaf Christchurch woman Emma Agnew, who was raped and murdered by Liam Reid in November 2007.

An Australian study has shown intellectually disabled people are twice as likely to be assaulted and 10 times more likely to be sexually abused than the rest of the population, Associate Disability Issues Minister Pansy Wong said. "That is a chilling statistic. It's sickening to think offenders can prey on the most vulnerable."

There were no figures on the overall level of abuse among disabled people in New Zealand.

However, a Women's Affairs Ministry study has found that of almost 2000 female victims of sexual abuse, 31 per cent had a psychological or physical disability. It has been estimated that one in five people have some form of disability.

IHC New Zealand advocacy director Trish Grant said some intellectually disabled people found it hard to communicate about their abuse. "It is something the sector is becoming more and more aware of."

Disability advocate Bronwyn Hayward said people with physical disabilities were vulnerable to abuse when they had someone looking after their most intimate needs.

"That's not to say abuse happens in every case, but we want to draw attention to it. We'd love people to come in and do a T-shirt and tell their story."

- © Fairfax NZ News