Hey {{ FirstName | default: 'Advocate' }} - in this email we will share:
- upcoming workshops for youth & adults with disabilities and their parents!
- skills and info to keep your child safe from human trafficking
- resources for staying safe online, even when talking to people you haven't met IRL
- a reminder that you can still get prizes for any conversations you have with your family about sexual health topics by using #WeStartedTheConvo
- link to our calendar of upcoming relevant events
You can always connect with DSHN in other ways, too:
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Upcoming Programming by DSHN Partners:
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Sexual Health and Wellness Virtual Sessions for Youth with Disabilities (age 14-22)
These trainings are designed to increase an individual’s capacity for self-advocacy and decision-making.
Upcoming 2022 Sessions:
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm, held via Zoom
2/2 - Puberty
2/16 - Private and Public
3/2 - Social Media and Literacy
3/16 - Human Reproduction
3/30 - Pregnancy
4/6 - Romantic Relationships
4/20 - Safe and Healthy Boundaries
Click to register. Classes are free. Individuals under age 18 or under guardianship must be registered by parent or guardian.
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Let’s Talk About Sex: Sexual Health and Wellness Training for Parents of Students With Disabilities
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM, January 24 and January 31, 2022, live on Zoom
If you find it uncomfortable to talk with your child about sexuality and puberty, you're not alone. Most parents do. However, being comfortable talking about this with your child is so important, as these conversations are critical to your child’s health and safety. This training will provide information for parents/guardians and offer practical tools and strategies you can use along your child’s journey to adulthood.
This 2-part training session is for Parents only. Registrants must attend both dates.
Click to register. Classes are free.
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Ease (Empowerment, Advocacy, Sexuality Education)
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Human Sexuality 101 for 8-12th Graders with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities
Mondays from 6-7:30pm, 1/24 - 4/18/2022, virtual
Sexuality education and advocacy skills, paired with appropriate social skills, give teens the ability to make healthy choices, prevent abuse and see themselves as informed sexual beings.
3 parent meetings will address how to have the conversations, answer questions, and help parents feel more comfortable.
Cost: $850 - we offer sliding scale and payment plans, just ask!
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Human trafficking: youth with disabilities are vulnerable. Here's what you need to know.
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Human trafficking is compelling someone to engage in labor, services, or a commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.
Read on to find out the signs of trafficking, how to prevent it, and action to take if you think it may be occurring. Check out lots of additional resources in the next section.
Learn more about why disabled folks are at increased risk of trafficking in articles by Polaris and the Office for Victims of Crime TTAC.
WARNING SIGNS...
That someone is being trafficked or groomed: [1, 2, 3]
- Unexplained absences, skipping school or work, or isolation from friends and family
- Expensive gifts that would normally be out of budget, like designer handbags or clothes
- Spending a lot of time with an older person who didn't previously have a relationship with the potential victim
- Spending a lot of time online or playing video games, especially if being secretive when doing so
- Carrying a second phone
- Avoiding eye contact, social interaction, and authority figures or law enforcement
- Answers appear to be scripted and rehearsed
- Lacking official identification documents, employer holding identity documents
- Living with employer or at work, or are transported by guards between home and workplace
- Poor, dangerous, overcrowded, or isolated working and/or living conditions
- isolated from interacting with others outside of their work
- lacking proper safety gear, training, adequate breaks and other protections at work
- Inability to speak to individual alone, appear to be monitored by another person when interacting with others
- may have an older or controlling parent, guardian, romantic partner or “sponsor” who doesn't allow you to meet or communicate and who monitors their movements, spending, and/or communications
- Signs of physical abuse
- Submissive or fearful
- Unpaid or paid very little
- Were pressured/tricked into their job
- Want to leave their job or situation but feed scared or unable to leave
- Owe money to an employer or recruiter and/or not being paid what they were promised or are owed
- Are being threatened by their boss with deportation or other harm
That someone online could be dangerous:
"Grooming" is a slow process that predators use to build trust and find points of vulnerability that are eventually used to control and coerce an individual into trafficking. Learn more about what grooming can look like from Polaris and Internet Safety 101. Read below for signs that someone could be manipulating you – keep in mind that these are mostly signs for online grooming, but it can also happen with people you know, including your family members, friends, and romantic partners.
- check their account, and be wary of anyone with:
- 0 or very few posts
- posts all posted on the same day or in a few day period
- posts with very few likes or comments
- no posts of themselves or of people in their life
- very few followers
- no or very few mutual friends or followers (if there are mutuals, reach out to those people and see what they know about the person and if they've ever met them in real life)
- posts that look very pixelated
- offer you a situation that seems too good to be true (earning money fast, earning money without doing anything, people who rush into offering things like money or gifts or vacations
- asking you for information about yourself without giving information about them
- trying to get you to open up, for example by saying things like "You seem sad. What's wrong?" or telling you "I love you" after just talking for a short amount of time
- asking you for pictures - especially if they're asking for pictures of specific things, like you in a certain pose, in your underwear, or of your private parts.
- asking to talk in private or get your phone number when you've never met or talked before, or after talking for a short amount of time
- refusing to call or video chat
- threatening to share information or pictures of you if you don't do what they ask
- keep in mind: Human traffickers may pose as legitimate job recruiters or agents for modeling companies or employment agencies misrepresenting their true intentions to victims. Traffickers groom victims online by offering opportunities for a better life and providing fake employment opportunities. [6]
That a job opportunity is false or concerning:
- You are offered a job without a clear explanation of the conditions of your work
- You are offered a job by a stranger
- Your identification documents are taken away from you, or you are asked for them (especially the original version)
- Your travel, accommodation, and travel documents are paid for
- You are forced to sleep and work in the same place as your employment
- You are forced to do work you didn’t agree to do
- You are not allowed to talk to your family or friends
- You are treated in an aggressive manner, physically or verbally
- You are not allowed to take breaks while working
- You are not allowed to move freely or leave the workplace
- You do not receive adequate compensation for the work you do
- You are taken to a job location in a location that is different from where you agreed to work
- You cannot find any information about your job/company when you look it up online
- You are not given a contract for the work
- Safety tips for a new job:
- know the minimum wage in your state/city
- ensure there's a contract
- hold onto your personal ID documents - don't give them to anyone in any context (you can give them copies, but hold onto the originals)
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PREVENTION
Parents:
Talk with your children/teens about trafficking, fair pay and working conditions, bodily autonomy and rights, boundaries, and safe and unsafe touch, secrets, online communication, and relationships. These conversations not only give them the information and skills to recognize when a situation may be unsafe, but it also builds trust so that your child is not afraid to come to you if they aren't sure about something or think they may be in danger. And if you don't know about something, that's ok! Let your child know you will find out and get back to them. Check out Baylor University's many tips for having these conversations with your kids based on their age and development level.
You can open up the conversation with something like the following, offered by A21's Parent Kids Guide to Preventing Human Trafficking: "I want to make sure you are safe and are able to live your life as comfortably as possible. But, I’m concerned because there are people who may act like they care for you, and want to give you the world, but these are just ways to get you to do things for them. There may be times when you meet someone who promises to love you, buy you things, or be a listening ear, but then asks you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable. Then, you may feel scared to tell me once these things have happened. I want to help you avoid these situations and work through things together so, let’s talk!"
Young people:
Don't post about financial hardship, emotional/relationship/self-esteem struggles, or family problems online. Human traffickers will pretend to support you in these struggles as a way to manipulate you.
Starting a new job? Keep these Safe Employment Tips from A21 in mind:
- Know the minimum wage in your state/city
- Ensure there's a contract
- Hold onto your personal ID documents - don't give the original documents to anyone in any context (you can give them copies if you have originals)
- Put safeguards in place:
- Maintain contact with your family and friends and provide them with updated location information. Continuously sharing your location with your guardian when you start your new job can be a good idea - this is available on some phones (how to do this with Android and iPhone)
- Give family and friends an updated photo of you
- Create a code word or phrase that will let your family know if you are in a dangerous situation
- If you have doubts about your potential employment, find a lawyer who you trust and show him a contract
- Be aware of your rights in a country where you are going to be employed
- Have a small amount of money with you at all times in case of an emergency
- Memorize a few useful phone numbers: the number of the agency dealing with human trafficking, as well as emergency numbers
- Don't assume that a recruitment agency is legitimate because it is licensed in the country in which it resides. Licensed recruiting agencies can and have engaged or facilitated human trafficking.
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ACTION
How to Help Children and Adolescents in Trouble (Baylor)
If you suspect a child or adolescent in your care may be a victim of trafficking, connect them to counselors or local organizations who can provide immediate and discreet assistance.
Human Trafficking Hotline is a well-equipped resource to handle known instances of human trafficking, especially as they can help make sure that the response does not exacerbate the situation or put the victims in danger.
Call: 1 (888) 373-7888 (always call them before 911)
Text: 233733 (Text "HELP" or "INFO")
Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week
Languages: English, Spanish and 200 more languages
Website: http://humantraffickinghotline.org
Questions to Ask [1]
Assuming you have the opportunity to speak with a potential victim privately and without jeopardizing the victim’s safety because the trafficker is watching, here are some sample questions to ask to follow up on the red flags you became alert to:
- Can you leave your job if you want to?
- Can you come and go as you please?
- Have you been hurt or threatened if you tried to leave?
- Has your family been threatened?
- Do you live with your employer?
- Where do you sleep and eat?
- Are you in debt to your employer?
- Do you have your passport/identification? Who has it?
If someone else is within earshot but not watching, try to ask the individual questions silently using a phone or piece of paper. Yes/no questions are the fastest way to get information.
Two important notes:
This is an invitation to have these conversations with your child and help them build the skills to recognize when relationships are harmful, and to build trust so they will come and talk to you if something comes up. Keep in mind that eliminating your child's privacy and becoming overly protective can break trust between you, make them more secretive, prevent them from learning skills, and - most importantly - can make them upset search for an escape which makes them more susceptible to trafficking.
Given the isolating conditions that many young folks are in due to disability and exacerbated by the pandemic, more young people are making real friendships online. Hard and fast rules about not talking to people you've never met in person can be unrealistic, and it's much better to provide people with the info and skills to interact with new friends online safely. This is another moment in which building up trust for your child to talk to you about these things is so necessary.
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Resources for staying safe online & preventing human trafficking
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Young people:
Parents:
Schools/Teachers/Providers:
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It's time #WeStartedTheConvo and got a prize for it!
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- 87% of teens say it would be easier to delay sex and avoid pregnancy if they could have more open conversations about it with their parents. [1, 2]
- Teens who report having good conversations with their parents about sex are more likely to delay sex, have fewer partners, and use condoms and other birth control when they do have sex. [1, 3, 4]
A little information can turn what appear to be awkward and intimidating conversations into opportunities for connection and empowerment.
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If that's not enough of a reward, DSHN will send swag to anyone who shares about their conversation and tags #WeStartedTheConvo and @dshn_va. (if on private, email dshn@jmu.edu a screenshot)
In your post or story on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, we welcome you to share whatever you're comfortable with...here are some prompts:
- what sparked/motivated the conversation
- how it felt to talk about this
- what you learned by both listening and informing
- pictures of you both before and after the conversation
- screenshot of a video you watched or a powerful quote that came out of the convo
- a meme with your feelings before and after the convo
- what parents' parents told them about sex vs. what you discussed
This is a great opportunity to celebrate and learn from each other as we have conversations that may be new for many of us!
(Description of image below in alt text and in full article)
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Follow our Google Calendar to view upcoming events in the disability and sexual health space!
Are you aware of or hosting an event you think would be relevant? Send/forward event info to dshn@jmu.edu!
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