This month, Founder of the Natalie Project, Julie Neward, shares her story, discusses statistics and causes of sexual assault in the disability community and tells us about how we can advocate for change with our siblings.
PLEASE NOTE: This podcast episode is about sexual assault and may contain content that is unsuitable for listeners under the age of 18 and may contain triggers for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.
Access the transcript of this episode here.
Acceda a la transcripción en español.
"I really do want to lean on our sib community to take action on this issue, because at the end of the day...we [siblings] will most likely have to face the issue of sexual abuse given the staggering numbers." —Julie Neward
Resources in this episode:
This month, Founder of the Natalie Project, Julie Neward, shares her story, discusses statistics and causes of sexual assault in the disability community and tells us about how we can advocate for change with our siblings.
PLEASE NOTE: This podcast episode is about sexual assault and may contain content that is unsuitable for listeners under the age of 18 and may contain triggers for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.
Access the transcript of this episode here.
Acceda a la transcripción en español.
"I really do want to lean on our sib community to take action on this issue, because at the end of the day...we [siblings] will most likely have to face the issue of sexual abuse given the staggering numbers." —Julie Neward
Resources in this episode:
This podcast episode is about sexual assault, and may contain content that is unsuitable for listeners under the age of 18 and may contain triggers for some listeners, listener discretion is advised. Welcome to the sibling Leadership Network podcast. The sibling Leadership Network is a national nonprofit whose mission is to provide siblings of individuals with disabilities the information support and tools to advocate with their brothers and sisters and to promote the issues important to us and our entire families. Hello, and thank you for joining us for another episode of the sibling Leadership Network Podcast. Today I am joined by the founder of the Natalie project. Julie newgard. Julie, thank you so much for being here with us today.
Julie Neward:Thank you, Chris. Happy to be here.
Chris Berstler:Can you please tell the audience about yourself and your sibling?
Julie Neward:Yeah, so I'm a native Californian, which is super fun. My dad is actually from India, my mom's from Indiana from Chicago area. And they migrated west to the San Francisco Bay area. So I'm the oldest of four siblings spanning over eight years. And currently, I live in beautiful North County, San Diego married I have two little girls who are 10 and six, and my career is actually managing shopping malls. So I've been managing properties for about 20 years, I took a business track in my life. But outside work and family, I'm a pretty big advocate when I can be and let me tell you with a full time job and kids, it squeeze it in everywhere I can because I'm just so passionate. So I'm co founder of The California Chapter of the National Sibling Leadership Network. And I'm also what I would say Project Director of what we're here today to discuss which is the Natalie project.
Chris Berstler:Please tell us about the Natalie project and why you founded it.
Julie Neward:Yeah, so Natalie, the Natalie project is the namesake of my sister Natalie, who's the second oldest. So Natalie, a little bit about my sister so you can get to know her she was born what we say typical. And then she fell into a coma that left her brain damaged when she was younger. And around that time, my mom, my amazing mother was pregnant with my brother. And so when Natalie fell in that coma and came out of it again, she was left brain damage, very, very high support names. And so a lot of attention went to her. And then a couple of years later, there was my beautiful surprise sister, Patricia, and the Natalie project. And just to cut to the chase here, before I dive in, I just want the audience to know, this is a really sensitive subject. And it's pretty traumatic. So I just want to make sure everybody here knows we're about to dive into some information and some details that may trigger you. So do whatever you need to do to you know, understand the impact of this heavy topic on the community and what to do about it. But also take time for your own mental health as we talk about these things. So again, to cut to the chase, April 2 2012, I learned that my sister Natalie was the survivor of of sexual abuse that are day program. So in regards to California SIBS is learned as I as soon as I learned that my sister was a survivor. I wanted to I quickly realized that one day I'll be taking care of her. So I you know, I Googled like everybody now I googled and I came across the National Sibling Leadership Network, because as life goes on, who am I going to trust to take care of her? So with that Google search result, I came across the National Sibling Leadership Network and thought, Heck, yeah, this is amazing. Let's look at California and California didn't have a chapter. So I got my brother to sign the initiating documents along with another sibling. And we started that California Chapter. And that was really driven out of the trauma of learning that my sister Natalie was very high support needs as a survivor of sexual abuse. And then with that, over time, I got connected to an amazing woman again through Google searches named Dr. Nora Ballard, Aryan. At that time, she was part of the disability and abuse project. Currently, she has a new partner, and it's the disability without abuse project, and I got to learn so much. So the year that we learned about Natalie's diagnosis of a sexually transmitted infection, which was 2012 it was the same year that I got married and it was the same year my brother got married and so I was very blessed. And a year later I had my first daughter nine months to the date of my wedding, and I took my maternity leave to attend Dr. Nora ballinderry and disability and abuse roundtable in LA we drove What is it seven hours from Northern California and then I learned I'm not alone. I learned all this staggering statistics. And so let me dial in on Natalie's case a little bit for the audience. And this is this is the fire that continues in me to this day. But with Natalie, again, she's very high support needs. We knew she was a victim at her day program. Because she only lived with women in the home. My parents are divorced. So it was my mom and my younger sister, Patricia. And, quite honestly, there was no help. So we took Natalie out of the program, we kept her home for four years straight, nobody filed the mandated report. I called the police. They came, they investigated. And to this day, I'm over 10 years later, that police report is still open. There was a civil suit, this lovely place where the executive director told us not to report it to the police came to us. And the facility settled this vendored facility with public funds settled with taxpayer dollars. And after a number of years, you know, the money was gone. And I will tell everybody, I had to manage those payments to my mom monthly out of a trust. And fees were part of that trust bonds are a part of that trust. I will tell you right now that the system burdens the victim and protects perpetrators. And I don't want any sibling to have to endure what our family has had to endure. And that is why the Natalie project started. And what I want to offer the community is based upon what I've learned, is a path to justice and healing. And I am still working on all of this. I'm not an expert. But the Natalie project was started about two years ago, we have about 40 advisory board members from across the nation. We have somebody in Canada, who's a self advocate with human trafficking experience, actually. And, you know, our goal really is to grow the awareness that abuse in the community is very high. It is very high. So a couple of years ago, Joe Shapiro, an investigative reporter with NPR, National Public Radio was looking for people to interview and so I found out that he was looking and I raised my hand. And basically, the result of that was his whole series, a week long series called abused and betrayed. Oh, man, and in that series, you know, we learned that people with disabilities, the risk of them being sexually assaulted is seven times higher than people without disabilities. We learned it's usually by somebody they know during daylight hours. We also learn that perpetrators target people with disabilities, because they understand that they're not going to testify later in court. And also district attorneys don't even want to take the cases because they're hard to prove in court. This really bothers me and this really upsets me. Because it's almost like a lose lose situation. So, you know, that's, that's not fair. So the Natalie project is here to say, Listen, we need we need to empower people, and we really need to empower families. My experience in this whole project is as of a sister, who is Natalie's care manager from a very high level. One day Natalie's caregiver, and I am Natalie's co conservator. Okay, and my sister has very high support needs. So that is the world in which I advocated. And I know there's a spectrum of disabilities and advocacy levels. And I've learned a lot over the past couple of years from several people, in particular about ableism discrimination accessibility, I do want to take a moment to apologize if I've ever offended anybody because I'm on this path learning. And I'm always here to to correct and get with the program. So. So with that, what we've learned is a lot of people with disabilities don't get sexual sex ed, they don't they don't get sex ed, which is very alarming given the statistics. And that's something that we're gonna dive deeper into. And, you know, they're viewed as childlike. They're not viewed as being able to engage, you know, in the act of sex. They are a part of a culture of compliance, because people are always trying to manage our loved ones behavior with some sort of reward system. And lastly, our siblings require support to some degree in their day to day life. They are relying and trusting others we as family members are relying and trusting others. And this is a whole mix of, of challenges that we have and you know, in talking with the one For a woman named Dr. Nancy Fitzsimmons, who authored a book titled combating violence and abuse of people with disabilities, which is currently out of print, but she's working on a new book, you know, our loved ones with disabilities are not vulnerable, the system is vulnerable. And the system is the one that we need to blame. And it is hard to change a system, it is not easy to change a system. So what we have to do is really empower and give families tools. And so in the state of California, where I live, and I will share with you the work of the Natalie project is across the nation, but I have to start local, you know, Think global, act local. And so in California, we have a regional center system. And something that we're going to advocate for is in every meeting with your, you know, your social worker, they need to start talking to people about this epidemic of abuse and that it's happening and printer, Dr. Nora Ballard Aryan, we need an individual response plan. For before, during, and after abuse. What do you want to do before, you want to make sure your loved one knows if they're able to communicate how they communicate various details and practice that. Because if they do come to you stating that they're abused, you want to be able to understand those communications and take that information over to the authorities. You also want to make sure that they know the names for body parts, you know, and we don't need to go through those details, but you want to make sure your loved one knows that. And then you also really want to know we talked about communication, my sister communicates through her behavior. And so something important to mention here is Natalie's behavior told us for over six months that she was being sexually assaulted in her day program. And this is where there's a trigger. So please, if you if you need to mute or take a moment do so. But six months prior Natalie had was bleeding from her anus. She had fecal matter in her armpit. She wasn't urinating in her diaper. And she was on her haunches at night. And she was moaning because that's how she communicates through various voice inflections, which would be recognized by the public as moaning and, and she does that for when she's hungry, tired. And so looking back, all the signs were there, and we as her loved ones, we as her guardians, we are the ones and trusted with her life missed it. We missed it because we didn't think this could happen in Walnut Creek, California. We took her to the doctor multiple times, they didn't think it could happen. Nobody tested her for STDs, they, they diagnosed her with yeast infections, they diagnosed her with urinary tract infections. Every time I think my sister's diaper was changed, she was being violated and she couldn't tell us with words. Or her behavior was very clear. And that's where I get very compassionate for our sibling population for our sub population, because we need to be able to understand and see these behaviors and know what they mean given. And given the amount of abuse in the community that that's written off as a behavioral issue. And then people are given anti-psychotics. And in talking with a wonderful woman named Dr. Susan Abend of the right care now project, that's that's what happens. People with disabilities have behaviors because of the trauma and the abuse. And it goes unrecognized. Because we think it's just a behavioral issue. And really, at the end of the day, they're asking for help. And we have to be able to read that. And that's what the Natalie project is here for because my sister couldn't tell me, I need to take that knowledge and information when everybody listening. No, we have to empower ourselves because the system is there to protect itself. The system is not there to protect us. We already know there's a caregiver crisis. We already know about the high rate of abuse. And we have to feel empowered, because I don't accept this as a losing battle. A lot of my advocacy over the years led to a governor appointed position on the State Council for Developmental Disabilities in California. And I'm, and I'm so pleased to share that that safety is one of our priorities. And I do look forward to working with the council and really prioritizing the awareness of this issue on a grander scale. My term is up in about a year and a half. And so I have 18 months to get this done. So what else am I working on? That empowers us, right? Oh boy. So I did have a resolution. I had an advocacy partner named Marysol Rubio and a little plug. She's running for State Senate up in the Bay Area, and she has a daughter with a disability. She and I worked together and we had the California Democratic Party, prioritize a resolution which I, you know, it's not a law yet, but we prioritize a resolution. And I'm new to this whole game. And basically what we said is, anytime there is a settlement of abuse, with a person with a disability in their family, and an entity that is funded by taxpayers, we need accountability and transparency. So on a systemic level, what we're looking at is anytime there's a case, there needs to be some sort of report where that entity is documented. So for example, if my sister's let's say it's ABC facility, ABC facility would say we're settling a claim for abuse, it was sexual abuse, this is the date we settled, okay, we don't need to know who the victim is. And we don't need to know the amount of money those are the rights of the people that are partying, the settlement. But the organization needs to own up and know that abuse happens even under their nose. And they need to tell us their corrective action plan, because this is happening. As a business woman, the settlement agreements are a tool to manage risk and liability. All of the vendors in the system are businesses, they are managing risk, liability, their reputation, and it takes a strong one to say yes, we acknowledge it's 90%. And yes, this happens. And this is what we will do about it. The Natalie project would one day like to have a list of criteria for a vendor or an agency to have like a little seal, right that they've gone through internal steps, that would be a nice goal to have. Even more important is for a family to say listen, I've done a workshop on the abuse, the epidemic of abuse amongst people with disabilities, and I'm aware it happens. And here's my checklist of things that I've done to be proactive to make sure you know that I know, right? It's all about communication and acknowledgement. So that's systemic. That's what we'd love as a federal law, and I will be pursuing that. But But what are we doing? What else are we doing? So the Natalie project is working on a disability and abuse survey because we need data? We don't have data. We don't really have a report on this issue. We all acknowledge it's, it's pretty alarming. But what are we doing to be proactive? And I know there's more research that I need to do. But high level we're working with the disability without abuse project. We're working with Arizona State University, who also looped in Stanford University. And we have a Qualtrics survey that we are going to be administering as soon as we have it translated into American Sign Language. Because the deaf community needs to be included in this survey. Dr. Nora Ballard Darian did the original survey. This is her project that I am supporting. And the last survey was 10 years ago. And I think she had over 7000 responses, pre social media, that was all done through email. So we would like to get the word out about this survey, because I'm hoping for 50,000 responses. And I'm hoping that we all come together around this issue as a community. Because this survey will be anonymous, it will be anonymous, and we hope people come together to share their story. And don't live in fear if you signed a settlement that there's going to be some type of backlash. Secondly, a former employer of mine did donate a significant sum of money and I produced a film. So the film is called Natalie. Natalie turned 40 last year, and I am so excited to share that the film is about Natalie's life. And there's it's a very beautiful film that was actually it's an inclusive film. It was filmed by options for all in San Diego, who has a film and media studio. And our amazing, amazing director, David F. Fortune, was seeking to do a short film and I shared Natalie's story. And he committed to this film. And so we filmed last year. We're putting the final touches on the film in regards to music. I'm happy to share that Brian Donovan who is a sibling who did the film. Kelly's Hollywood is my advisor on this and has been doing an amazing job. And hopefully he's listening to this. But we have a film coming out because really people don't know about how often this happens. And there's very little awareness around the issue. And our goal with the film is to let people know in the community in society, that's a big issue, and we need to address it. And the nally project wants to address it. And the film is only 24 minutes long, right? It's not a long film, although we filmed 12 hour days, seven days. So that's a lot of content that's in there. I'm also starting to deliver what's called the s to workshop. So I'm offering and I'm starting starting in two weeks, but I'm offering workshops to families and various agencies. I'm like the pediatric epilepsy surgery Alliance who's a new partner of ours for California sibs and the Natalie project, we are going to be doing a workshop on the US to issue and I and I call it us too because the me to movement, I think it's a great movement. I did meet Tirana Burke, when she spoke at my alma mater, I handed her a letter with Natalie story and her greatest advice in that presentation she did at St. Mary's was know your lane and drive it. And so this is my lane and I'm going to drive it. But we really do need to focus on on people with disabilities. And that's why I call it the US to actually had a sibling on subnet helped me name it. There's four takeaways from the workshop. And it's please know that sexual abuse is at epidemic levels and why Understand, understand the signs of sexual abuse and how to respond which is tough because we have to educate responding agencies, and then learn how to reduce the risk of sexual abuse and create a plan. And then lastly, and more importantly, we need to take collective action on this issue. Us as siblings, you know, I really do want to lean on our sub community to take action on this issue, because at the end of the day, as life's going along, and our parents and various guardians have focused on the person with a disability, we have to focus on the end game and later in life, we will be involved later in life, we will most likely we will most likely have to face the issue of sexual abuse given the staggering numbers. We as siblings cannot keep saying siblings. We sibs should not accept this because it is a public health emergency. And it needs to be recognized and an emergency is Joe Shapiro with NPR said we can do better, and we have to do better. It is not fair that our loved ones have to suffer. And it's typically in silence and isolation.
Chris Berstler:On the Natalie Project website, it says that 90% of people with a disability experienced some form of sexual assault in their lifetimes. Why is that number so high?
Julie Neward:Oh, wow, that gives me chills. I mean, I used to love a 90% on my schoolwork. But I don't like this 90% Um, you know, there's 7 million people with intellectual developmental disabilities in the United States. And if you multiply that times the average family size, it's like 13 million people who will probably involved in this ridiculous issue but not getting enough. Enough attention. And again, people with disabilities are viewed as childlike asexual. I mean, I, I gotta tell you, love my mother. She's amazing. But like she's a medical model. She was a nurse at Northwestern prior to my sister getting sick. And, you know, be part of us thinks that her diagnosis is due to vaccines, too many proteins in a reaction. But, you know, my mom still views my 41 year old sister is childlike. My sister you know, she'll eat a leaf, she'll pick a leaf out. And I've met an amazing sibling named Diana, Pastorek Carson. And amazing sibling named Rachel Cuesta. They both teach disability and Sandy and society at San Diego State University. And they've really given me a whole new lens on my sister. I mean, I grew up with a medical model. And they've introduced me to the societal model. And so, you know, my sister is not a child, she's she's an adult woman, you know, unfortunately, she's had sex that looks like and she had no sex ed, even on her own level and level of communication. And so again, people with disabilities, they are not getting sex ed and there are wonderful, wonderful people out there trying to address the issue like Katherine McLaughlin of elevate us who does a train the trainer program, which I would love to start getting subs trained on this issue and assisting me with that because I can't do this alone. You have Nelly golembo, who has her own company? And then you have Katie Thune of Mad Hatter wellness, who wrote an amazing book sexuality for all abilities. So there's people out there who are trying to offer people with disabilities sex ed and really comes from a healthy relationship standpoint because that's what this is about. You know, that's that's kind of where it needs to stem from and a lot of that focuses on people who are lower support needs. I know Kathryn just put out curriculum for people with higher support means there's a you know, you're relying on others for support Natalie needed somebody to change her diaper. You know, I call it adult underwear, but it's her diaper. And in the police report, gentleman who worked in her classroom said they changed her diaper one on one. And again, it's down to that culture of compliance. But you wonder what the bigger issue is. And I learned this from an amazing survivors advocate, Christy. Hi, Scala, who's on my advisory council. It's good Passing the trash. And that happens in the education system. And it happens in the disability services field, you may have substantial evidence against somebody and say they need to, you know, they need to have this on their background check, you know, but sometimes that doesn't happen. And so people just go from employer to employer, and I'm told the very small number of perpetrators, who are just getting recycled in the system, and they just keep going around, I will tell our sub community background checks are, it's a false sense of security. 97% of fingerprints, do not identify perpetrators. And then you also have a culture of grooming, right? And we're learning about that as well. People are groomed, that's the nice guy, right? They're not going to do this. You know, even with my young daughters, who are six and 10, I'm doing all this work for the disability advocacy community, but I even have to worry about my own children. So you know, it's everywhere, unfortunately. So the numbers high, because we rely on a system of support and perpetrators know that and they know they can take advantage and they know, people won't speak up. And so Christy and I worked very closely together on my s to workshop, and something that's really, really important that I need to point out, you know, predators rely on a lack of action. They don't want you aware of this stuff. They don't want people disclosing that they're, they've been abused. They don't want you reporting the authorities. And even better and listen, we all get uncomfortable in life confronting people we do that when I was talking with Christie, she said, I'd rather have an adult defend themselves, then not confront somebody who might be the perpetrator or something's going on, I would rather go to the police, let them investigate, let that adult defend themselves. We need to support our siblings and our loved ones and make sure they're protected. You have to trust your gut, you have to look for red flags. And we don't want to make other people uncomfortable. And sometimes you have to advocate for yourself,
Chris Berstler:Are sexual assault cases underreported in the disability community?
Unknown:100% Yes. We don't know the signs of abuse. You can report the abuse and law enforcement has to investigate. And it could not be seen as substantial because a lot of people with disabilities, their credibility is questioned. However, most of the times when sexual abuse is revealed it is it is a fact. It is a fact. Most of the time, yeah.
Chris Berstler:Are members of the BIPOC community more at risk of sexual assault?
Julie Neward:So this is a great question. And it's one that hasn't come up before. So thank you. You know, we're gonna find out once that disability and abuse survey comes out with with Dr. Alan Colburn of ASU and Dr. Nora Bolivarian, we'll find out. And we'll get back to you with the results of that that would probably be another episode as the results of this survey.
Chris Berstler:Are there cases where the perpetrator is also a member of the disability community?
Julie Neward:I've heard? Yes. And I know there's a lot of concern about that. When I was bringing these issues up with the State Council, they are very aware that it could be, you know, each person with a disability, you know, could violate each other's right, like bodily rights. And so yes, there is I don't have experience with that. So I believe it does, it does happen. And that's why education is so key. And it's learning about, you know, if you if you can learn about boundaries, learn about your body, I am constantly, constantly telling my daughters about consent. And I think just personally, and we've all encountered this where you have to hug the uncle that you don't want to hug and they want to kiss too. We are of a culture now of consent. And so I've told my daughters if you don't want to and this is hypothetical, but you know, if you don't want to hug uncle owl, you don't have to you can say thank you a high five, because we need to have control over our bodies and have consent over how our bodies Yeah, and have consent to any type of physical situation.
Chris Berstler:Given such alarming statistics. Are there any movements in Congress or elsewhere to change the situation?
Julie Neward:Yeah, you know, there's a wonderful woman named Cheryl Ryan chan in Massachusetts who did Nikki's law and it wasn't about sexual abuse. But they started like an abuse, abuse caregiver registry because her son was being abused, and she's very public about it. She's amazing, and I'm so glad to have her on on my advisory council. We did talk to Disability Rights California and the State Council about an abusive caregiver registry and because we have the regional center system in California, it's a little bit tougher. I am very aware that other state councils and other leadership entities in the states have done, you know, updated reports about abuse. And I think sexual abuse usually covers all abuse, and then sexual abuse as a part of that. I want to dive more into those reports. But what I will share with you is those reports sometimes sit on a shelf and collect dust. So the last report the state of California has, which was delivered to the state legislature was 2002. Over 20 years ago, come on, guys, I live in California for crying out loud, like we charge you for plastic bags, and everybody has to have an Eevee here. So I view this as an opportunity. Right? And so I did meet with Assemblyman man shines office on Monday, timings a little bit off on my side, but Shaarei are offshore, another advisory council member and I got together and ask them, like, what do we need to do to get updated reporting on this issue? We were very pleased to find out that the staffer we met with spent two years on the East Coast working with adults with disabilities and knows our population and understands what the needs are. So the Natalie project, we're going to be having the results of that survey published for free probably, you know, on a website, and that data will can be used for systemic change. And that that is the goal of that data. Right? I really think that each state needs to have a bi annual report and an A in a roundtable or a worksite or workgroup on this issue. We have to show action, right? Almost like it's a public company with shareholders like we need to start showing action because people with disabilities do need support advocating at these levels. And that again, comes from us sibs, I firmly believe that,
Chris Berstler:On that note, how can we as sibs get involved in these movements for systemic change?
Julie Neward:Email me, and let's talk because that's what we want. And that's what we're working on is a path for families to justice and healing. We still haven't seen justice as a family. We need a system where your walkthrough from before, during and after abuse, just like Dr. Nora Bala Darian says, we all need to be made aware of the issue, we all need to be empowered with information. Unfortunately, abuse will happen and it will come up. It is a very tough topic. I along with some other sibs out there have probably list lived everybody's worst nightmare to some extent with different factors involved. But you we, we just have to really care about this issue, because a lot of sibs will be having to manage their third their siblings case, and they're gonna feel probably as lost as we did. And it's not fair because we deserve better. I will tell you, and I think about this often, you know, my parents met, they, you know, they had children, and I'm sure they had dreams, and all of a sudden they have a child who has high support needs, and their life completely changes, right. And so all the focus is on that child. And that's, and that's fine. But then you layer on victimization on top of a family, who already has to advocate for day to day needs and supports and care. It's like when can you when I feel like we're playing whack a mole here. It's not it's not fair. And so I'm here to help partner and collaborate to make sure we have a better system of support. And I encourage everybody, if you're interested in this topic, please reach out to me, because I would love to put together a workgroup on this. I am not the expert. I'm just an organizer. And I invite you to the table.
Chris Berstler:Tell us a little bit about the healing process and what listeners can do for or should know about a victim of sexual assault.
Julie Neward:Yeah, for my sister with high support needs. I mean, I think it's still respecting her individuality and her trauma. I don't know what she what she went through. I am her co conservator. So I do feel a duty to make sure she's protected and has the services she needs. From what I know right now, there are not a lot of therapists who treat people with disabilities who are sexual assault survivors. I believe there's a big need in the community. I know there's a couple of people. So what I'll share with you is when Natalie when I learned that Natalie was a victim, I reached out to her support coordinator at the regional center. That person emailed me back, talked about hours of support like I HSS and respite care, and said these are the solutions my supervisor and I came up with and that's as high level as that situation got. They didn't even do a special incident report. They didn't call the police And so the the state's regional center system is in charge of public money to support and offer services to people with disabilities. But they have no victim services. Yet people with disabilities have the highest rate of sexual abuse. So can we can we kind of like dive into that for a second. So there is no healing. My healing is through advocacy. My healing is through this work, knowing that I, the only thing I can control is the information I give people. And the information I really want to give people is to empower them. And that is how I am healing. Healing is hard. And I think healing comes from siblings coming together.
Chris Berstler:How can we as siblings help prevent and protect our loved ones with disabilities from sexual assault?
Julie Neward:Yeah, two things. Let's keep it quick, right? Knowledge is power. Knowledge is power. So as I mentioned, I'm going to be doing us two workshops, sign up, learn a little bit, and then give me feedback on what else you'd like to see. Number two, I really do need champions on this journey. I am one person with an amazing, amazing, amazing advisory board. But I am one person and I need I need help. You know, we need to come together on this issue. Dr. Nancy Fitzsimmons and her book again, the Combating violence and abuse of people with disabilities, which has sticky notes all over it like I'm back in grad school. You know, she talks about community groups coming together to talk about this issue. And so that's information I would I would love to get out to the community as well.
Chris Berstler:What words of advice and or encouragement do you have for self advocates and their siblings who are listening?
Julie Neward:Hi, self advocates and siblings know this happens and know you can be empowered. I am working on a toolkit just to let everybody know, I am working on a toolkit. It's open in my Canva in front of me right now. And so I want to make sure this toolkit gets endorsed and disseminated to all siblings. I'll probably go ahead and do that on subnets. If you're not on subnet, please get on there. Emily Hall has been a huge supporter of the Natalie project. She's on my advisory council, or advisory board. But I'm going to be putting information in your hands. And I do encourage you dive into this toolkit to really empower you that 60 minutes invested will hopefully help you not have as much trauma and anguish as our family had.
Chris Berstler:All right. Thank you so much, Julie. It has been a pleasure and it's been very inspiring speaking with you. Thank you for joining us today.
Julie Neward:Thank you, Chris, and thank you to the team with the sibling Leadership Network podcast.
Chris Berstler:any resources that Julie's mentioned during the podcast, please find in the descriptions below. Thank you so much for listening. Find resources, tools and information about the sibling experience on sibling leadership dot for the sibling Leadership Network is a nonprofit, and we rely on support from our audience. Find the donation button on our homepage and contribute to the ever growing sibling movement.