A Complementarity of Social and Legal Perspectives on What Is Abusive Practice and What Constitutes Abuse

Abstract

Is taking the arm of a woman with an intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD) and pulling her along in order to carry out a routine domestic task an abusive practice? In spite of the existence of some approved definitions, the interpretation of the situation observed may lead to different opinions about what is considered abuse.With this in mind, the authors compare social and legal points of view via an exploratory study. A vignette was submitted to a legal adviser, two groups of parents of people with I/DD (n = 11 and n = 7) and two groups of direct-care professionals (n = 12 and n = 11). The vignette portrayed a realistic scenario in which a care professional, bristling with impatience at the slow pace of activity of a middle-aged woman with I/DD, urges her—in what may or may not appear to be an excessively forceful manner—to attend to a task. The corpus is composed of the legal adviser’s analysis, data from the focus group and questionnaires filled out by the focus group participants. The legal analysis concludes that although they are not trivial, it is quite unlikely that the facts subjected for review would lead to legal proceedings. On the other hand, from the social perspective, both the parents and direct-care professionals saw the actions as an unacceptable infringement and a violation. The authors address the risk of the legal system only being concerned with more extreme “caregiving” practices. The application of a case study approach showed the usefulness of looking at “borderline” situations that are not actually covered by existing laws. The results indicate the need for more pronounced action, specifically in devising professional codes of practice

Victimisation and Social Vulnerability of Adults with Intellectual Disability: A Review of Research Extending beyond Wilson and Brewer

“…Although definitions vary (Atkinson & Ward, ), for our purposes, social vulnerability occurs when individuals are at risk of being unable to avoid adverse events that could affect their emotional, physical, or financial well‐being (Jawaid et al., ; Ticoll, ). These adverse events include many types of victimisation, including physical and sexual assault, personal or property crimes, psychological abuse such as bullying or coercion, discrimination, neglect, and financial abuse (Fisher, Moskowitz, & Hodapp, ; Jawaid et al., ; Petitpierre, Masse, Martini‐Willemin, & Delessert, ; Ticoll, ; White et al., ).…”

Child Developmental Disabilities, Caregivers’ Role in Kenya and Its Implications on Global Migration

“…The acts of violence in educational settings have also been reported in European countries such as Switzerland [44]. However, Switzerland is going a step further by creating a proper legal framework for what constitutes abuse and abusive treatments especially within the educational milieu [45]. The aim is to hold any perpetrator accountable.…”

Préface

“…La première recherche (Masse & Petitpierre, 2011 ;Petitpierre, Masse, Martini-Willemin & Delessert, 2013) (Masse, Petitpierre, Vidon & Jossevel, 2009). Ce matériel a soutenu la réflexion des groupes de participant•e•s durant les trois moments clés de l'étude, qui ont été : 1) l'identification des critères qui permettent de décrire la maltraitance ;…”