Sexualised violence in the life world of girls and women with a mental handicap - Results of a research project

Subject of the study is the situation of 12- to 25-year-old girls and women from Berlin with a mental handicap who have experienced sexualised violenc e. 367 residential institutions of the Behifidertenhilfe Berlin (aid for th e handicapped) as well as 15 selected advice and consultancy facilities wit h amongst others a range of offers on problems of sexual violence. The retu rn from the residencies was 68,7%. The gained individual data for the first time show the belonging to a sex for the residents, The group that was rel evant for the study - altogether 147 girls and young women - was cared for in 31 institutions, The heads of the institutions provided information abou t more than 116 of these inhabitants. Every third to fourth resident (32 ou t of 116) was concerned by sexualised violence. This high extend of experie nce of sexualised violence in mentally handicapped female residents is dire ctly opposed to an utterly insufficient psychosocial care situation, On one side the access to the questioned advice and consultancy centres is consid erably limited for this clientele. Furthermore, heads of institutions of th e Behindertenhilfe rather fall back on experts with medical-psychiatric kno wledge, but not necessarily with knowledge of the handling of problems of s exual violence. Suggestions for the necessary improvement of the care situa tion of concerned girls and women with a mental handicap are being made.