Disability-Based Violence: Why Global Concern Is Growing as the UN CRPD Develops New Guidelines

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Disclaimer: This article is for educational, informational and awareness purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, safeguarding advice, medical advice or professional representation. Laws, reporting procedures and safeguarding systems vary between countries and jurisdictions. Anyone experiencing violence, abuse, exploitation or immediate danger should contact the appropriate emergency, safeguarding, police or specialist support service in their locality.

Disability-Based Violence Must Be Recognised as a Human Rights Issue, Not Dismissed as an Isolated Crime

Violence against disabled people is increasingly being recognised as a global human rights concern, extending far beyond conventional definitions of assault or hate crime.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) is currently developing guidelines on identifying and addressing disability-based violence. Its May 2026 report confirmed that this work is continuing as part of the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The guidelines are intended to complement the Committee’s existing work on independent living and deinstitutionalisation.

This is particularly significant because disability-based violence can occur in many different environments: inside the home, in relationships, hospitals, residential institutions, schools, workplaces, care settings, prisons, communities and increasingly online.

The CRPD Committee’s 35th session is taking place from 12–27 August 2026, with the Committee continuing its scrutiny of how countries implement the Convention. State reports currently under consideration include those of Chile, Lithuania, Qatar, Slovakia and Sri Lanka, alongside further lists of issues concerning other States.

The international concern, therefore, should not simply be interpreted as a claim that every recorded disability-related crime statistic is increasing. Rather, there is growing recognition that many forms of violence against disabled people have historically been hidden, normalised, misclassified or never reported at all.

What Is Disability-Based Violence?

Disability-based violence can broadly describe violence, exploitation or abuse that is directed at a person because of disability, facilitated by their disability, connected with disability-related prejudice, or made possible through an imbalance of power associated with disability or dependence on another person.

It is wider than the conventional concept of hate crime.

For example, an offender may deliberately target someone because they believe that person:

• Will have difficulty reporting the offence;
• Will not be believed;
• Is socially isolated;
• Depends upon another person for personal care, transport, medication or money;
• Has communication difficulties;
• Has limited access to police, courts or advocacy;
• Lives within an institutional environment;
• Does not understand financial transactions or contracts;
• Fears losing essential care if they complain; or
• can more easily be manipulated, intimidated or controlled.

The behaviour may therefore be motivated by hostility towards disability, but it may equally involve exploitation of disability-related circumstances.

Article 16 of the CRPD: Freedom From Exploitation, Violence and Abuse

Article 16 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires States Parties to take appropriate legislative, administrative, social, educational and other measures to protect disabled people from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, both inside and outside the home.

It also requires measures to prevent abuse, accessible support for victims, monitoring of services and facilities, and appropriate investigation and prosecution where abuse occurs.

This is crucial because violence against disabled people should never be treated as an unavoidable consequence of vulnerability.

Governments have positive responsibilities to create systems capable of preventing abuse, recognising warning signs, allowing people to report safely and ensuring perpetrators are held accountable.

Forms of Disability-Based Violence

1. Physical Violence

Physical violence can include hitting, kicking, pushing, burning, restraining, shaking, choking or deliberately inflicting pain.

For someone who requires assistance with mobility or personal care, violence may also involve rough handling, deliberately unsafe transfers, withholding mobility equipment or leaving someone in a dangerous position.

A person should never be expected to tolerate violence simply because the perpetrator is also their carer, relative, partner or support worker.

2. Sexual Violence and Abuse

Disabled women, girls, men and children can experience rape, sexual assault, unwanted touching, sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse.

Barriers to disclosure may be particularly serious where a survivor depends upon the perpetrator for care or communication.

Some victims may also face discriminatory assumptions about their capacity, sexuality or credibility.

Protection systems therefore need to be capable of communicating with people in accessible and appropriate ways, rather than assuming that difficulty communicating means somebody cannot provide valuable evidence.

3. Psychological and Emotional Abuse

Not every form of violence leaves a visible injury.

Psychological abuse can include:

• Intimidation;
• Humiliation;
• Threats;
• Deliberately frightening someone;
• Degrading comments about disability;
• Isolation from family or friends;
• Repeatedly telling someone they are incapable;
• Threatening institutionalisation;
• Threatening to remove care;
• Controlling access to communication;
• Destroying confidence; and
• Exploiting somebody’s fears or disability-related needs.

Long-term psychological abuse can substantially restrict a person’s independence even when physical force is rarely used.

4. Coercive and Controlling Behaviour

Disability can be weaponised within abusive relationships.

An abusive partner or family member may control appointments, medication, benefits, bank accounts, transport, food, mobility equipment or access to personal assistants.

They may tell the disabled person:

“Nobody else will look after you.”

They may threaten to abandon them, remove equipment or tell professionals that the victim is incapable of making decisions.

This can create an extraordinary imbalance of power.

5. Financial and Economic Abuse

Financial abuse can include stealing benefits, wages or savings, taking control of someone’s bank account, forcing them to make purchases, obtaining credit in their name or pressuring them into changing wills, property arrangements or financial agreements.

It can also involve so-called friendship exploitation.

Someone may deliberately form a relationship with a disabled person before gradually obtaining money, accommodation, possessions or access to their finances.

In the UK, this behaviour has sometimes been described as “mate crime“.

A UK government evidence review published in June 2026 highlighted concerns that incidents fitting descriptions of mate crime can be under-recorded and under-recognised as disability hate crime.

6. Neglect

Neglect can also amount to serious abuse.

Examples include deliberately failing to provide:

• Food or water;
• Medication;
• Hygiene support;
• Medical treatment;
• Appropriate clothing;
• Heating;
• Communication assistance;
• Mobility equipment;
• Personal care; or
• Protection from known dangers.

Neglect becomes particularly serious where someone has responsibility for another person’s care and knowingly leaves them at risk of harm.

7. Institutional and Systemic Violence

One of the most important aspects of the CRPD’s work is recognition that violence does not occur solely between individuals.

It can also occur within institutions and systems.

People living in hospitals, psychiatric facilities, residential institutions, detention facilities or other segregated environments may be particularly isolated from independent witnesses.

Concerns identified through CRPD monitoring internationally have included violence, neglect, humiliation, inappropriate restraint, sexual abuse, insufficient monitoring and inadequate mechanisms through which residents can complain safely.

The Committee’s existing deinstitutionalisation guidelines have already highlighted violence, abuse, neglect, ill-treatment and the use of chemical, mechanical and physical restraints experienced by some disabled people living within institutions.

Independent monitoring is therefore essential.

An institution should never be allowed to investigate serious allegations against itself without appropriate external scrutiny.

8. Disability Hate Crime

Some violence is explicitly motivated by hostility or prejudice towards disability.

This may include:

• Physical attacks;
• Threatening behaviour;
• Verbal abuse;
• Harassment;
• Stalking;
• Property damage;
• Intimidation; and
• Targeted online abuse.

However, not every disability-based offence will necessarily be recorded as a hate crime.

This distinction matters.

If somebody targets a person because they believe their disability makes them easier to manipulate or exploit, the motive may be considerably more complicated than openly expressed hostility.

9. Online Disability-Based Abuse

The digital world has created another environment in which disabled people may be targeted.

This can include:

• Threatening messages;
• Cyberstalking;
• Targeted harassment;
• Humiliating photographs or videos;
• Impersonation;
• Financial scams;
• Exploitation through social media;
• Blackmail;
• Doxxing; and
• Coordinated abuse.

For people who rely heavily upon the internet for communication, employment, education or social contact, telling them simply to “go offline” is not an adequate safeguarding response.

The responsibility should remain with those perpetrating abuse.

Why Disabled People Can Face Additional Barriers to Justice

Reporting violence can be difficult for anyone.

For disabled survivors, additional barriers may include inaccessible police stations, inaccessible websites, lack of sign-language interpretation, communication difficulties, inability to travel independently, dependence upon the perpetrator or fear that professionals will not believe them.

Others may fear losing:

• Housing;
• Financial support;
• Medication;
• Personal assistance;
• Family relationships;
• Access to children;
• Community care; or
• Independence.

There may also be discriminatory assumptions about intellectual, psychosocial or communication disabilities.

A person should never be regarded as an unreliable witness simply because they communicate differently.

Access to justice must include the adjustments necessary to allow people to participate effectively.

Women and Girls With Disabilities

The intersection between gender and disability remains a major concern within international human-rights monitoring.

The CRPD Committee repeatedly calls for particular attention to women and girls with disabilities, including access to accessible domestic-abuse services, shelters, complaint mechanisms and appropriate remedies.

The Committee has also raised concerns internationally about violence against women with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities and women living within institutional environments.

A domestic-abuse service cannot genuinely describe itself as inclusive if a wheelchair user cannot enter the building, a deaf survivor cannot communicate with staff, or someone requiring personal assistance cannot safely access its accommodation.

Accessibility is part of safeguarding.

Disabled Children Must Also Be Protected

Children with disabilities may face violence within families, schools, institutions and communities.

UNICEF states that children with disabilities can face stigma, negative attitudes, violence and neglect throughout their lives, emphasising the importance of recognising and preventing violence from childhood onwards.

Children who communicate non-verbally or have intellectual disabilities may be particularly dependent upon adults recognising changes in behaviour or other warning signs.

Safeguarding systems must therefore avoid equating an inability to make a conventional verbal disclosure with an absence of abuse.

What Is Happening in England and Wales?

Disability hate crime remains a significant concern closer to home.

Home Office statistics recorded 10,224 disability hate crimes in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025, excluding Metropolitan Police Service figures from the year-on-year trend analysis because of changes to its recording system.

That represented an 8% recorded decrease from the previous year.

However, the Home Office itself warns that police-recorded hate-crime figures should not be regarded as a reliable measure of prevalence, because many offences are never reported to the police and recording practices can change.

Stalking and harassment were the most commonly recorded offence types among disability-targeted hate crimes.

Therefore, falling recorded figures must not automatically be interpreted as proof that disabled people are becoming safer.

Reporting, recording and actual prevalence are three different things.

Disability-Based Violence Is Broader Than Hate Crime

This is perhaps one of the most important points for policymakers.

A disabled person could experience:

• Domestic abuse;
• Coercive control;
• Assault;
• Sexual offences;
• Theft;
• Fraud;
• Stalking;
• Harassment;
• Neglect;
• Exploitation; or
• Institutional abuse without the incident necessarily being classified as a disability hate crime.

“Disability-based violence” provides a wider human-rights framework through which authorities can examine why disabled people are targeted, what barriers prevent them from escaping and whether systems themselves contribute to abuse.

It does not necessarily constitute one standalone criminal offence. The precise criminal law will depend upon the jurisdiction and conduct involved.

What Should the New CRPD Guidelines Address?

The development of international guidelines creates an opportunity to establish clearer expectations for governments.

Effective guidance should encourage States to:

Improve Data Collection

Governments need reliable, disaggregated data showing who is experiencing violence, where it occurs and what happens after an incident is reported.

Without reliable data, people can effectively disappear from statistics.

Create Accessible Reporting Mechanisms

Police, safeguarding bodies and complaint organisations should provide multiple accessible communication methods.

Reporting should not depend exclusively upon telephone calls or inaccessible online forms.

Provide Accessible Domestic-Abuse Services

Shelters, counselling, advocacy and emergency accommodation must be accessible to people with physical, sensory, intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.

Independently Monitor Institutions

Hospitals, residential facilities and other institutions caring for disabled people require genuine independent oversight.

Improve Police and Judicial Training

Police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, healthcare professionals and safeguarding practitioners need appropriate disability awareness and communication training.

Protect Legal Capacity and Autonomy

Having a disability does not automatically remove someone’s right to make decisions.

Safeguarding should protect individuals without unnecessarily removing autonomy from the person supposedly being protected.

Provide Effective Remedies

Justice should not stop at recording an incident.

Survivors may require investigation, prosecution where appropriate, compensation, rehabilitation, psychological support, housing assistance and measures preventing further abuse.

Include Disabled People in Policymaking

Guidelines concerning disability-based violence should be developed with meaningful participation from disabled people and organisations representing them.

Policies designed without listening to the people affected risk reproducing the very barriers they are intended to remove.

Safeguarding Must Never Become Another Form of Control

There is also an important balance to maintain.

Governments have a responsibility to protect people from violence, but safeguarding should never become justification for unnecessarily restricting a disabled person’s liberty, autonomy or legal capacity.

Protecting someone should not automatically mean institutionalising them, removing decision-making rights or forcing treatment upon them.

The human-rights model requires authorities to ask:

What support does this person need to exercise their own rights safely?

rather than:

How can we take control of this person’s life?

That distinction is fundamental to the philosophy behind the CRPD.

From Invisible Abuse to Accountability

For generations, some forms of violence against disabled people have been hidden behind closed doors, dismissed as “care issues”, attributed to someone’s impairment or overlooked because victims encountered barriers when trying to report what happened.

That needs to change.

Violence does not become acceptable because the victim requires care.

Exploitation does not become less serious because the perpetrator calls themselves a friend.

Neglect does not cease to be harmful because it occurs inside an institution.

And somebody’s testimony should not become less valuable simply because they communicate differently.

The CRPD Committee’s work on guidelines addressing disability-based violence represents an important opportunity to strengthen international expectations and establish that governments must do more than condemn abuse after it happens.

They must build systems capable of preventing it, identifying it, investigating it and providing meaningful justice when it occurs.

For disabled people worldwide, the fundamental principle should be simple:

Disability must never be treated as an invitation to exploit, control, neglect, abuse or harm another human being.

Protection from violence is not charity.

It is a human right.

Sources and Further Reading

United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – 34th Session Report, including development of guidelines on disability-based violence: UN CRPD Session Report

United Nations CRPD: Current 35th Session: CRPD 35th Session Documentation

UK Home Office: Hate Crime, England and Wales, Year Ending March 2025: Home Office Hate Crime Statistics

UK Government: Disabled People’s Experiences of Harassment and Victimisation: Government Evidence Review

UNICEF: Violence and Children With Disabilities: UNICEF Disability and Violence Data