Keeping Safe, Feeling Safe, is an initiative of People First: Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi, a selfadvocacy organisation for people with learning disability. People First ran focus groups in Auckland with people with learning disability, to find out about people’s lived experiences of abuse and barriers to accessing services and support. The findings reported that: • all 29 participants in the focus groups had experienced some form of abuse or sexual violence in their lives • 4 of the 29 participants who took part in the focus groups had attempted suicide as a result of the abuse • participants had encountered many barriers accessing help from the Police • all of the participants were unaware of any specialist sexual violence services or stopping violence services they could access to stop the abuse and to address the harm caused by the abuse.89 Older disabled people Not all elder abuse is abuse of disabled people. However, as disability increases with age, and there are many similarities between the abuse of disabled and older people, including the significantly higher rates of abuse of older men in comparison to non-disabled men, statistics about elder abuse and neglect is an important 32 indication of prevalence. In 2015, the Office for Senior Citizens reported that one in ten people surveyed as part of the New Zealand Longitudinal Study of Ageing** disclosed some form of abuse.90 In the year July 2019 to June 2020, 1805 elder abuse and neglect cases were identified†† by Age Concern Elder Abuse services.91 Adults at risk It is difficult to understand the prevalence of violence against adults at risk as situational risk is poorly understood and very few services are collating these statistics. It is not known how many people in situations of risk are participating in mainstream surveys and research. Waitemata District Health Board collates statistics for the ‘vulnerable adults’ that it works with. In 2018, 15% of people seen were under 50, with 6% under 40 and 85% between 60-late 90s. In 2020/2021, 14% were under 50.‡‡ People lived in institutional settings, residential services, were homeless or lived in their own homes alone or with others. They suffered physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse, intimate partner violence, discrimination, institutional abuse and neglect.92 ** This research was from the New Zealand Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NZLSA). The research was based on a national random sample of 2,987 New Zealanders aged between 50 and 86 years in 2010 and 2012. Within this group 1,699 people aged 65 and over were administered an elder abuse scale as part of the survey. †† Of the 1805 elder abuse cases, 63% were female and 37% male. 37% were aged over 80. Victims identified as Pakeha – 71%, Māori – 15%, other, 14%. The abuse was primarily psychological 88% and financial 44%, but also physical abuse 19%, neglect 14%, sexual violence 1% and institutional abuse 5%. 22% of the abuse had been going on for more than two years . These statistics are taken from the Age Concern New Zealand database from the elder abuse services run by 20 Age Concerns operating MSD funded Elder Abuse and Neglect contracts. This covers most of New Zealand but in the Bay of Plenty region, Tararua district and Wellington region other agencies have EARS contracts so their data is not included. ‡‡ Across the 2018 – 2021 statistics people were primarily NZ European (approx. 70%) Māori 14-18%, Pacific peoples 6-10%, and (gender) 52-60% were women. Human Rights Commission