LGBTQIA+ Issues: Domestic Violence in the LGBTQ+ Community: A Silent Pandemic
The history of violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community has been originally tied to the notion of disparate identities. Stereotypes permeate popular perception associating homosexuality with criminal activity, mental illness, and deviance. These views, despite some progress in awareness about the LGBTQ+ community, have resulted in a continued cycle of ridicule, harassment, discrimination, trauma, and even death.1 Among all forms of violence faced by the LGBTQ+ community, domestic violence is often overlooked.
Trauma and Diversity: Ableism in Psychological Trauma Clinical Research
Over 70% of the population will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime (e.g., Benjet et al. 2016). This includes people with disabilities, who are disproportionately excluded from clinical treatment research that may help alleviate psychological trauma sequelae. This group comprises individuals with a wide range of difficulties in various domains of functioning that affect one or more major life activities. Approximately one billion people worldwide live with some form of disability (WHO, 2021). According to a large population survey, an estimated 20,269,500 people have an ambulatory disability, 11,118,100 have a hearing disability, and 7,016,600 have a visual disability (Erickson & von Schrader, 2022). Despite these statistics, scant studies have examined the efficacy of trauma-focused treatment
amongst disabled populations (Post & van Leeuwen, 2012; Rogers & Read, 2007). The majority of trauma-focused treatment studies to date have focused on veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and PTSD (e.g., see review, Monsour, Ebedes, & Borlongan, 2022). Yet, the rates of mental health disorders amongst people with physical disabilities are disparately high in contrast to physically healthy individuals (e.g., see review, Mintz et al., 2022). For example, one study found women who experienced sexual assault and were visually impaired had higher PTSD prevalence rates compared to the general population (Bonsaken, Brunes, & Heir, 2022). Overall, there also has been a larger focus on studies of people with acquired (TBI) versus congenital disorders (e.g., cerebral palsy).
Trauma and World Literature: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Twenty-three years after publication of her classic novel,
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison wrote in an afterword that the primary mission of her book (if I understand her correctly) was to resolve a question. That question was: How could her African American schoolgirl friend not have experienced the beauty that she already possessed and have wished for blue eyes, with the implicit “racial self-loathing” of that wish? Morrison wonders, “Who made her feel that it was better to be a freak than what she was?” (Morrison, 1970, p. 210). In her afterword, Morrison recounts that the book was initially not generally well-received. Thankfully, it has since been recognized for its superb literary and social value. This is not just in that it answers Morrison’s initial question, but also in that it provides the kind of insights into human experience as a whole—and in this case, especially social and racial relations—that are the special province of great literature.