The 2019 New Zealand Family Violence Study,69 reports that: “of 524 participants with disabilities, 177 (35.1%) reported that an injury or accident was the cause of their disability, and of this group, 33 (18.6%) reported that their injury was due to physical or psychological abuse or both”. The direct harms that accrue from sexual, physical, emotional and coercive violence (to victim/survivors), also affect the health and wellbeing of families. This [violence] has negative impacts on parenting skills, intergenerational wellbeing, and performance and achievement in education and employment. The harm and the costs, in every sense, can multiply with each generation.70 The magnitude of violence towards disabled people globally: higher risks In Aotearoa, as well as globally, it is very difficult to establish prevalence rates for the abuse of disabled people because of the lack of systematic data collection.71 As Thiara, Hague, Bashall, Ellis, and Mullender (2012) state: “The first thing the research literature tells us is that there is not very much of it in any country.72 The research that does occur globally provides indications of prevalence, but no definitive rates, as the studies are all methodologically different with different study populations.73 Global studies based on meta-analyses research yield conservative estimates that:74 • disabled adults face 1.5 times the risk of violence than the non-disabled population • adults with experience of mental illness and distress are at nearly four times the risk of experiencing violence • disabled women and girls are more likely to experience violence than disabled men and boys75 • disabled children are nearly four times (3.7 times) more likely to experience violence than non-disabled children • children with intellectual or psychosocial impairments are at even higher risk, particularly of sexual abuse, facing 4.6 times the risk of sexual violence than their non- disabled peers. This is partly because these children are particularly susceptible to the power of those they rely upon to provide the necessities of life. This was confirmed by a recent study by United Nations Population fund (UNFPA)76 which found that disabled children are almost four times more likely to experience violence than nondisabled children rising to five times more likely for children with intellectual disabilities. Within marginalised communities, experience of disability further marginalises. Unlike for other communities, disabled boys and men experience both physical and sexual violence in large numbers.77 The quote above exemplifies the risks and violence that disabled people experience worldwide. Men and boys, who are usually protected by some level of dominant privilege, become targets when they are perceived as less able and/or powerless in relation to nondisabled men. Women, tāngata whenua, Pacific peoples, LGBTQI+ people – those who are considered non-hegemonic – are at increased risks of violence and abuse. As can be seen in the above statistics, disability significantly exacerbates this risk. This trend is also obvious in Aotearoa. Acting now for a violence and abuse free future 29