Survey to Focus on Students With Disabilities Sexually Abused in Schools
Posted by | Posted on 04-08-2010
A doctoral student at Hofstra University in New York is conducting an anonymous survey of students with disabilities who have been sexually abused in a school setting. Parents and caregivers can also respond on behalf of the victim.
I spoke to doctoral candidate Mary Lou Bensy, who is a former director of special education in Malverne, N.Y. In 2007, she was awarded $100,000 by a federal jury for emotional distress after accusing a former acting superintendent of the district for sexual harassment. She “barely survived” emotionally after the experience, she said. But the situation also prompted her to wonder how students with multiple disabilites, whom she had taught for most of her career, might be emotionally affected by sexual abuse or harassment.