BackgroundThe aim of the study was to quantify levels of violence and discrimination among people with disabilities and analyze the effects of gender and the type and degree of disability.MethodsThe study analyzed data on self-reported violence and discrimination from a Danish national survey of 18,019 citizens, of whom 4519 reported a physical disability and 1398 reported a mental disability.ResultsIndividuals with disabilities reported significantly higher levels of violence than those without. Specifically, individuals reporting a mental disability reported higher levels of violence and discrimination. Significant gender differences were found with regard to type of violence: while men with disabilities were more likely to report physical violence, women with disabilities were more likely to report major sexual violence, humiliation and discrimination. Neither severity nor visibility of disability was found to be a significant factor for risk of violence.ConclusionsThis large-scale study lends support to existing research showing that people with disabilities are at greater risk of violence than people without disabilities. Further, the study found that people with mental disabilities were significantly more likely to report all types of violence and discrimination than those with physical disabilities. The findings also show that gender is significant in explaining the type of violence experienced and the experience of discrimination.

Research has paid attention to how deaf identity affects life outcomes such as psychological wellbeing. However, studies are often carried out with small samples and without including other variables. This study examined how different forms of identity -deaf, hearing, bicultural (deaf and hearing), and marginal (neither deaf nor hearing) -were associated with levels of psychological well-being, including a number of other variables. The sample was 742 adults with hearing loss in Denmark. The study found that identifying as deaf, hearing, and bicultural was associated with better psychological well-being compared to those with a marginal identity. Further, it found that additional disability, educational level, and feeling discriminated against because of hearing loss significantly explained the degree of psychological well-being. Results are discussed here with respect to social identity theory and current deaf identity themes.

The degree to which individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) experience communication difficulties has implications for social participation and identity development. However, few studies have examined the relationship between cochlear implantation, identity, and social participation. Using data from a Danish national survey of deaf adults, the authors examined the significance of having (or not having) a CI in regard to identity (categorized as deaf, hearing, bicultural, and marginal) and various related factors concerning social participation and experiences of being deaf. Cochlear implantation was found to be associated with type of identity, type and quality of friendships and social activities, and feelings of limitation attributed to hearing loss. Age was a significant factor: These associations were mainly found among participants older than age 25 years. The authors discuss the results in dialogue with the concept of social identity and the history of the bilingual/bicultural tradition in Denmark.

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This qualitative study examines narratives of identity among deaf adults in Denmark who were raised within the Bilingual–Bicultural programme of education. At a time of threat to sign language and the Deaf community, the study explores the distinctiveness of a minority cultural identity rooted in sign language and elaborated through Deaf norms and values. Applying the social psychological theories of social identity and social representations, the analysis shows that while Deaf identity is developed through and against forces of marginalisation and the medicalising system of representation that cochlear implants reify, it both celebrates Deaf culture and embraces cross-cultural dialogue and exchange. The findings run against existing models of deaf identity that posit discrete Deaf (immersive) and bicultural identities. They also disclose the importance of studies of social identity that retrieve the theory’s original emphasis on cultural systems and context to explain identities and intergroup dynamics. Finally, the study has resonances for disability and other minority studies and movements that seek to pay attention to socially creative processes of critiquing normativity and enlarging understandings of culture and identity.