By Andrea Nichols, Ph.D., Professor St. Louis Community College Forest Park, Lecturer Washington University in St. Louis, Gateway Alliance Against Human Trafficking Member.
Human trafficking of people with disabilities (PWD) is an understudied area of research and practice, and is often neglected in anti-trafficking community education and professional training efforts. This is troubling, as research shows PWD experience increased risk of human trafficking and are among the population of human trafficking survivors seeking assistance.
While experiences vary considerably among PWD depending on the nature of their disability, social support networks, and other important contextual factors, there are structural and interpersonal risk factors that may heighten vulnerability to sex and/or labor trafficking. Child abuse and neglect are known risk factors for sex trafficking of minors, and because children with disabilities are abused and neglected at higher rates than the general population it follows that children with disabilities are at heightened risk of sex trafficking. Structural oppressions may include heightened difficulty accessing living wage employment, being able to maintain employment, and financial difficulties related to ongoing costs of healthcare needs. On an interpersonal level, and depending on the disability, PWD may experience reduced social capital, communication related challenges, and/or increased experiences with isolation and loneliness, which creates conditions for exploitation by traffickers as well as barriers to accessing assistance.
Much of the available research focuses on sex trafficking of people with an intellectual disability/ those with an IQ lower than 70. Among calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 6% of sex and labor trafficking instances involved survivors with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Researchers find an overall higher rate of both sexual abuse and sex trafficking victimization of youth with intellectual disabilities. People with an intellectual disability are less likely to receive sex education, including education about healthy relationships, body autonomy, sexual boundaries, and the right to decline sex, which create vulnerability to sex trafficking. Researchers find youth with intellectual disabilities were more likely to feel isolated from their peers or experience bullying, making them targets for traffickers offering friendship, companionship, and affection. One study focusing on minors in children’s services in Florida found 28% of sex trafficking cases involved survivors with an intellectual disability, which is disproportionately high, as the national prevalence of people with an intellectual disability was 1-3%. Intellectual disability is also the most common disability found in state and federally prosecuted cases of human trafficking. A nationally representative school-based study of adolescents found those with low cognitive ability were nearly 5 times more likely to experience sex trafficking compared to those who did not have low cognitive ability. Another representative student survey found sex trading prevalence was twice as high among students who received special education services.
While much of the research in this area focuses on intellectual disability, some research focuses on physical disabilities. A representative student survey in Minnesota found those with physical disabilities experienced sex trafficking at a higher rate than the general student population. National school based data showed girls with a severe physical disability were nearly 6 times more likely to experience sex trafficking compared to girls without severe physical disabilities. Overall, the research examining the intersection of human trafficking and disability is limited. Research exploring disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, mental health, deaf/hard of hearing, learning, and other disabilities is significantly lacking. Research exploring labor trafficking of PWD is also limited to case studies that are the subject of investigative journalism.
Furthermore, anti-trafficking community education and professional trainings are often not inclusive of PWD, and survivor voices are marginalized in these anti-trafficking efforts. Anti-trafficking professionals identify what they are trained to identify, and lack of inclusiveness of PWD in trainings may result in under preparedness to identify human trafficking of PWD when confronted with it. Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge about working with sex and labor trafficking survivors with disabilities. A recent needs assessment in the state of Missouri found training in disability support services related to human trafficking was a very high level training need, and disability support services related to human trafficking was a high level service need. Practical guides and training materials for anti-trafficking professionals that focus on human trafficking of PWD are limited. Research is needed to enhance the knowledge bases in these areas to better serve human trafficking survivors with disabilities, and specialized collaborative workgroups dedicated to developing and disseminating this information in the state of Missouri are needed.
Resources:
State of Missouri Disability Resource Portal. https://disability.mo.gov/
Human Trafficking Specific Resources
Freedom Network. Serving Human Trafficking Survivors with Disabilities in Housing Programs (youtube.com)
National Human Trafficking & Disabilities Work Group (NHTDWG . Disabilities and Human Trafficking Archives – IOFA.org
Futures Without Violence. Human-Trafficking-and-Disabilities-Resources-List-merged.pdf (futureswithoutviolence.org)
Sources:
Franchino-Olsen, H., H. Silverstein, N. Kahn, and S. Martin 2020. “Minor Sex Trafficking of Girls with Disabilities.” International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare 13, no. 2: 97–108.
Hershkowitz, I., M.E. Lamb, and D. Horowitz. 2007. “Victimization of Children with Disabilities.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 77, no. 4: 629-635.
Polaris. 2021.” Polaris Analysis of 2021 Data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline.” Polaris. Polaris-Analysis-of-2021-Data-from-the-National-Human-Trafficking-Hotline.pdf (polarisproject.org)
Polaris. 2018. “Individuals with Disabilities May Face Increased Risk of Human Trafficking.” August 15. https://polarisproject.org/blog/2018/08/individuals-with-disabilities-may-face-increased-risk-of-human-trafficking/.
National Human Trafficking and Disabilities Working Group (NHTDWG). 2018. “Human Trafficking and Disabilities 101 Webcast.” International Organization for Adolescents, November. https://iofa.org/2018/11/human-trafficking-and-disabilities-101-webcast-recorded/.
Martin, L., G. N. Rider, K. Johnston-Goodstar, B. Menanteau, C. Palmer, and B. J. McMorris. 2021. “Prevalence of Trading Sex Among High School Students in Minnesota: Demographics, Relevant Adverse Experiences, and Health-Related Statuses.” Journal of Adolescent Health 68, no. 5: 1011–13.https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(20)30504-8/abstract.
Nichols, A. J., and E. C. Heil. 2022. “Human Trafficking of People with a Disability: An Analysis of State and Federal Cases.” Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence. DOI: 7. 10.23860/dignity.2022.07.01.01.
Perrigo, J., L. Berkovits, J. Cederbaum, M.Williams, and M. Hurlburt. 2018. “Child Abuse and Neglect Re-report Rates for Young Children with Developmental Delays.” Child Abuse & Neglect 83, no. 0145-2134: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.05.029.
Reid, J. 2016. “Sex Trafficking of Girls with Intellectual Disabilities: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study.” Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment 30, no. 2: 107–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063216630981.
Reid, J. A., J. Strauss, and R. A. Haskell. 2018. “Clinical Practice with Commercially Sexually Exploited Girls with Intellectual Disabilities.” In Social Work Practice with Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation, ed. A. J. Nichols, T. Edmond, and E. C. Heil, 218–38. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wissink, I. B., E. van Vugt, X. Moonen, J. M. Stams, and J. Hendriks. 2015. “Sexual Abuse Involving Children with an Intellectual Disability (ID): A Narrative Review.” Research in Developmental Disabilities 36: 20–35. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.09.007.