Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation

Disabled people face high rates of:

Domestic and intimate partner violence
Caregiver abuse and neglect
Financial exploitation
Institutional and state violence

This page offers hotlines, signs to watch for, and possible responses, knowing that options vary by country, immigration status, and available supports.

⚠️ In immediate danger?

Call 911 (US/Canada)
Call 999 (UK)
Call 000 (Australia)
Call 112 (Europe, most countries)
Go to the nearest safe place — hospital, police station, a friend’s house

For some people, involving police increases danger. If that is your situation, the hotlines below can help you think through options that do not involve law enforcement.

Crisis hotlines for abuse

Domestic violence

United States: 1-800-799-7233 (24/7, free, confidential)
Canada: 911 or local domestic violence hotline
UK: 0808 2000 247 (24/7, free, confidential)
Australia: 1800 737 732 (1800 RESPECT, 24/7)

Sexual assault

United States: 1-800-656-4673 (RAINN, 24/7, free)
Canada: Local sexual assault services
UK: 0808 500 2222 (Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Line, 24/7, free)
Australia: 1800 737 732 (24/7, also handles sexual assault)

Other violence

Find your country →

Where abuse can happen

Family homes
Group homes, institutions, nursing facilities
Schools, residential programs, and “therapeutic” settings
Workplaces and sheltered workshops
Hospitals and psychiatric units
Guardianship and conservatorship arrangements

Abuse may be physical, emotional, sexual, financial, digital, or medical (forced treatment, withholding meds or equipment).

Warning signs

Some possible signs:

Someone controlling your money, benefits, documents, or phone
Being threatened with loss of housing, care, or custody if you speak up
Being punished for incontinence, communication differences, or meltdowns
Being restrained, secluded, or medicated as punishment or convenience
Staff or family refusing to follow access plans or medical orders
“Care” that ignores your consent, boundaries, or pain

If you are unsure whether a situation counts as abuse, it may help to speak with a trusted friend, advocate, or hotline.

Disability-specific abuse

Abuse aimed at disabled people often takes forms that are easy to miss:

Threatening to remove assistive technology or equipment
Withholding medications
Threatening to place you in an institution
Threatening to report you as “noncompliant”
Not providing needed accommodations or care
Isolating you by controlling access to disability community
Using disability against you — “no one will believe you”

This is abuse. It is not your fault, and your disability does not make you deserving of it.

Why abuse happens

Abuse happens because the person doing it wants power and control. It is a choice, and they could choose differently. Some people who abuse learned it somewhere — that may explain it, but it does not excuse it.

It does not happen because:

You did something wrong, or provoked it
You are not good enough, or are “too sensitive”
You should have tried harder
Your disability makes you deserve it, or makes you a burden

Disabled people are often told that mistreatment is the fair price of being cared for, or that no one else would put up with them. That is not true, and it is a thing abusers say. The person abusing you is responsible for it. You are not.

Possible responses

What is safest will depend on your context. Options may include:

Talking with someone you trust outside the situation
Contacting a disability-informed domestic violence or sexual assault service
Reaching out to an independent living center, advocacy organization, or ombudsperson
Documenting incidents (dates, times, witnesses, photos if safe)
Seeking legal advice about guardianship, tenancy, or benefits
Filing a police report, pressing charges, or asking a court for a protection order

For some people, involving police or state agencies increases danger. This page does not assume that calling authorities is always the best answer.

It is still your option to take. In most places you have the right to file a report, press charges, go to court, and ask for a protection order — and you can start that process and later decide not to continue. Choosing not to involve police is equally legitimate. Neither choice makes the abuse your fault, and neither is a precondition for getting help: hotlines and services on this page do not require you to report.

Safety planning

A safety plan helps you get out safely if you decide to leave. You can make one even if you are not ready to leave, or if you decide to stay for now.

Recognize warning signs — the specific words, behaviors, or tension that come before abuse escalates.
Have an exit strategy — know where you would go, keep a bag packed somewhere safe, know the routes out.
Memorize emergency contacts — hotline, a trusted person, doctor, shelter. Written notes can be found.
Plan for children — a code word for danger, where to go, emergency care arrangements.
Plan for work — a trusted coworker, a signal, documents kept at work.
Financial safety — a separate account if possible, savings kept safe, copies of financial documents.
Document the abuse — a hidden journal, photos of injuries, saved threatening messages, appointment records.

Documents to gather (keep copies outside your home): ID, birth certificates, Social Security cards or numbers, proof of income, bank and insurance details, lease or mortgage, custody agreements.

Disability-specific safety planning

Identify safe places that are actually accessible
Keep backup medication and equipment
Plan how to bring mobility aids if you leave quickly
Keep contact details for disability services
Find out which local shelters are accessible
Plan care for a service animal

Barriers you might face: an abuser who controls your mobility aids or medications, limited accessible housing, fear of losing disability benefits, medical abuse, inaccessible shelters. You still have rights and options.

If you are dependent on the abuser for care

Disabled people may depend on an abuser for personal care, transportation, mobility aids, medications, or housing. Dependence does not mean you have to stay.

Options include:

Adult Protective Services
Disability rights organizations
Domestic violence advocates who understand disability
Accessible shelters with care available
Community care alternatives

If the person abusing you is a service provider — a personal care attendant, residential staff, healthcare provider, or case manager — you can report to the agency’s oversight body, the state or provincial disability authority, Adult Protective Services, a disability rights organization, or police.

Leaving

Before you leave: make a safety plan, gather documents, tell someone you trust where you are going, line up support, get your money together, plan childcare and pet care, memorize important numbers.

What to take: ID and documents, cash if possible, phone (consider a new one — phones can be tracked), medications and medical equipment, clothes, children’s items, anything irreplaceable.

First 24–48 hours: get to a safe place, call a hotline for support and resources, get medical care even if injuries seem minor, tell one trusted person where you are, contact a shelter if you need housing. Reporting to police is your choice.

You do not have to make big decisions right now. Focus on safety.

Longer term: protection orders, custody arrangements, separation or divorce, new locks, changed routines, safe communication.

After abuse: healing and support

Abuse causes trauma, and healing is not linear. Flashbacks, hypervigilance, trouble trusting people, anxiety, depression, physical symptoms, and PTSD are normal responses to abnormal situations.

Support that helps many survivors:

Trauma-focused therapy (TF-CBT, EMDR), individual or group
Survivor support groups, in person or moderated online
Peer support specialists and survivor-led organizations
Disability justice community

Many of these are free or low-cost.

Specific situations

If you have children. Witnessing abuse is itself harmful to children. Courts consider child safety and abuse history in custody decisions, and you have rights even without legal custody yet. Get legal help.

If the abuser is disabled. Abuse is not acceptable regardless. The same supports and protections apply.

If you are undocumented. In many places you can call police, get a protection order, and use shelters without being asked about status — but this varies significantly by country and region. Call a hotline to ask about your specific situation before acting.

If you are LGBTQ+. Abuse may come from partners, family, or community. General domestic violence hotlines are trained to help, and some areas have LGBTQ+-specific services.

If you are a teenager. Dating violence, coercion, controlling behavior, sexual pressure, and digital abuse are real. A school counselor, crisis hotline, teen-specific service, or trusted adult can help.

Child abuse can be reported to child protective services, police, a school counselor or teacher, or a child abuse hotline.

Elder abuse can be reported to Adult Protective Services, police, an elder abuse hotline, or — for someone in a facility — the long-term care ombudsman.

Institutional abuse in nursing homes, group homes, hospitals, prisons, or schools can be reported to facility administration, the state oversight agency, an ombudsman, disability rights organizations, or police.

Financial abuse

If an abuser controlled your money, regaining independence usually means: getting legal advice (free legal aid if needed), opening your own bank account, getting your own ID and documents, accessing your income, getting free financial counseling from a nonprofit, checking your credit report for debt taken out in your name, and — if you go through the courts — filing for restitution.

This takes time. Be patient with yourself.

Disability-specific organizations

United States

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (TTY available)
National Disability Rights Network: 202-408-9514

Canada

DisAbled Women’s Network Canada (DAWN Canada)

Disability Rights UK: 0330 995 0400

Australia

Disability rights services; many domestic violence organisations are disability-trained

Global

Disability Rights International
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Supporting someone who is being abused

If you’re supporting another person:

Believe them, even if the abuser is a respected professional or family member.
Ask what they want, rather than making plans over their head.
Help them map options: immediate safety, medium-term housing or income, long-term legal support.
Be realistic about your own capacity and safety.

Contribute to This Page

Have lived experience or expertise that could strengthen this page? We especially welcome perspectives on models not well represented here, including those from the Global South and Indigenous communities.

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This page centers disabled people’s expertise and is informed by disabled-led organizing globally. For questions or to suggest additions, see How to Contribute.

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