PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Molly Senack, Representative of Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, on Comprehensive Sex Education for People with Disabilities
3:16:07
·
4 min
Molly Senack testifies on behalf of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, highlighting the disproportionate rates of sexual violence against people with disabilities and emphasizing the crucial role of comprehensive sex education in prevention. She strongly supports Resolution 94, which advocates for mandating comprehensive sex ed in New York schools from kindergarten through 12th grade.
- Presents statistics showing people with disabilities are 4-12 times more likely to experience sexual violence
- Explains how informal education can make people with disabilities more vulnerable to abuse
- Argues that comprehensive sex ed, including topics like consent and bodily autonomy, is vital for reducing sexual violence against people with disabilities
Molly Senack
3:16:07
Good afternoon.
3:16:08
My name is Molly Senec, and I am testifying on behalf of Center For Independence of the Disabled New York.
3:16:10
So in 2021, the Bureau Independence of the Disabled New York.
3:16:13
So in 2021, the Bureau of the United States
Quadira Coles
3:16:15
Bureau of Justice Statistics published a
Molly Senack
3:16:15
report that said people with disabilities are 4 times likelier to experience sexual assault or violence in their lifetime compared with nondisabled people.
3:16:29
This is a low number compared to other studies.
3:16:32
In 2018, NPR found that there are certain demographics of the disabled population who are 12 times likelier to experience sexual violence.
3:16:40
In 2018, the University of Michigan did a study that found that 40% of women with disabilities will experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetime.
3:16:50
And in 2015, a study done by Wilczynski et al found that 40 to 70% of women with disabilities will experience sexual abuse before the age of 18, as will 30% of boys.
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And what is more startling is that this data is not only consistently documented across many severe undercount.
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People with disabilities have been reported to, despite being at least 4 times likelier to experience sexual violence, half as likely to report it.
3:17:23
Comprehensive sex ed is a sexual violence prevention measure because the reason these numbers are so high usually do not have anything to do with physical disabilities, but or rather physical vulnerabilities, but rather and they're born from an education.
3:17:40
People with disabilities receive a systemic but informal education that they need to endure their own discomfort.
3:17:48
People with disabilities are taught that nondisabled people often need to help them, meaning that they are taught that people will be touching their bodies without their permission.
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They learn that people are more willing to accommodate them when they are polite or obliging, which means that they are less likely to question things or complain.
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They are taught that there is safety, social safety, in saying yes to things that other people are saying yes to even when they do not necessarily feel comfortable with that.
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They are taught, even by those who mean well and do not intend this lesson, that their discomfort makes other people uncomfortable and are conditioned to believe that treating other alleviating other people's discomfort is not only their responsibility, but should be their priority.
3:18:38
When informal education is this dangerous, formal education is lifesaving.
3:18:44
So resolution 94 advocates for new a New York statewide, mandating requirement that schools teach comprehensive sex ed, starting in kindergarten and continuing through 12th grade.
3:19:00
The evidence based curriculum is based on medically accurate and age appropriate programs that refute the narrative that one's discomfort must be endured.
3:19:11
Thanks.
3:19:12
A comprehensive sexual sex sexuality education means that students are prevent taught about not only disease prevention and contraception, but also about consent, communication, human development, healthy relationships, and personal boundaries.
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Students are taught about bodily autonomy, how to recognize it, how to voice it, and how to value it.
3:19:31
The more classrooms in which comprehensive sex ed is taught, the more effective that education will be because the majority of students with disabilities spend more than 80% of their date school day in general education classrooms.
3:19:42
As of now in New York state, as we all hear today, those classrooms are not required to provide sex ed, at least beyond certain instruction in HIV and AIDS.
3:19:52
These bills are often called controversial, but what is indisputable is that there exists a population that has a 70% chance of being sexually abused or assaulted before reaching adulthood.
3:20:03
There is no controversy about the fact that this, one of the highest rates of sexual assault in America, is the reality for young people with disabilities, and it is avoidable.
3:20:14
So thank you so much for your time and effort, and we very much support the passage of this resolution.
