People with disabilities are at substantially higher risk for violence, abuse and criminal victimization than those in the general population. While there has been growing focus on abuse against women with disabilities, abuse perpetrated against men with disabilities (MWD) has typically been overlooked or minimized and little attention has been directed toward providing men with responsive safety-planning tools, options or community resources. In order to plan for safety, MWD need to be aware of options and have access to responsive community resources that support healing, support the men’s independence, and assist with the reporting of violence.
The purpose of The Development of a Safety-Planning Tool for Men with Disabilities Project is to develop a gender-appropriate Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (A-CASI) to ensure MWD have the skills necessary for effective safety-planning. To this end, we need to understand how MWD define their experiences of victimization and how they use language to describe their experiences of interpersonal abuse in order to develop a A-CASI program that is gender-appropriate in terms of content, tone, formatting, and style. We will work in close collaboration with men with disabilities to develop and pilot an A-CASI Safety-Planning Tool that will be universally accessible to men who experience a wide range of disabilities. The following major goals are involved in the project:

1). Work closely with MWD to identify safety-planning options for dealing with abuse. In Year One, 40 MWD will participant in key-informant interviews, nominal groups and member-checking activities. In Year Two, 10 additional MWD will act as A-CASI reviewers during the development of the men’s A-CASI. We will also begin recruiting 40 MWD for the Pilot. In Year Three, the Pilot will be completed and modifications made to the program based on Pilot findings. A broad dissemination campaign will also occur in Year 3.

2). Develop and pilot an A-CASI Safety-Planning Tool that builds upon our current research findings on the abuse experiences of men with disabilities and our development of a similar A-CASI program for women with disabilities.

The methods proposed to achieve these goals are based on the following assumptions:

The meaning of abuse is different for men with and without disabilities;
Only men with disabilities can describe the meaning of abuse in their lives;
Men with disabilities will define abusive experiences that are unique and not included in current definitions of abuse;
Culture is a lens that organizes experiences that affect men’s perceptions of abuse;
Men with disabilities have developed strategies for responding to abuse that must be identified and incorporated into practice strategies.

The Project will be conducted by the Regional Research Institute at Portland State University in collaboration with The Rural Institute at University of Montana. Project findings and technology will be comprehensively disseminated in partnership with disability, domestic violence, and criminal justice leaders and organizations. The project utilizes culturally-appropriate development and field-testing, methodologies involving individuals with disabilities in all phases, and focuses on the development of useful, practical, cost effective and accessible technology that will assist men with disabilities to enhance their safety, health, independent living and community integration.