Half of the population justifies violence against a woman with a psychosocial disability, according to a survey

Half of the population condones violence by a partner or spouse against a woman with a psychosocial disability, according to a survey commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman’s Office published on Tuesday.

According to the public opinion and market research center “Vilmorus” survey, seven out of ten residents justify the financial control of a partner or spouse when a woman has an intellectual disability, half – when a woman with a psychosocial disability experiences violence.

A similar trend can be seen in the survey when it comes to social control – 51 percent respectively. and 38 percent of those interviewed agree that a man can decide with whom and when a woman meets.

According to the research, 41 percent respondents believe that women with intellectual disabilities often provoke their partner’s violence themselves. More than a third have the same opinion about women with psychosocial disabilities. Almost half of the respondents believe that women with these disabilities tend to exaggerate and “thicken the colors” when they experience violence.

“We see that strong myths about intellectual and psychosocial disability still prevail in society. It is wrongly assumed that those of us who experience these disabilities are fundamentally different, as if less human. That’s why clearly unacceptable behavior is justified,” Aurelija Auškalnytė, the project manager of the non-governmental organization “Mental Health Perspectives”, is quoted in the report.

Mintautė Jurkutė, an expert at the Office of the Equal Opportunities Controller, says that the results of the survey are related to the general situation of domestic violence in the country.

“Statistics show that violence against women is a widespread phenomenon, and when disability contributes, it becomes even more vulnerable, because it is covered by concern for an allegedly incompetent person. For example, a ban on work, use of finances, restrictions on meetings and other freedoms. In this way, people are pushed to the fringes of society even more. This especially applies to intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, which, as the survey showed, are particularly stigmatized in Lithuania, compared to, for example, hearing or movement disabilities,” she said.

A representative survey of the Lithuanian population was conducted on March 15-23, 2024. 1 thousand people were asked. persons over the age of 18, living in the 31st municipality of Lithuania.