Developmental Disabilities and Sex Trafficking: How They Coincide
Brenna Wallace | September 22 | 11:45 am-12:45 pm
Topic: Conceptual, Experience | Knowledge Level: Beginner
Children with developmental disabilities are ostracized from peer groups at early stages of childhood development. "Normal" children will single out those viewed as different. Brenna Wallace was bullied in elementary school all the way to high school. Brenna was expelled from high school by a principal who also bullied students. All throughout school, Brenna was viewed as different, leading to a variety of concerning behaviors: violence, excessive use of imagination ("lying" others would say), and an obsessive need to feel loved and accepted. During this period, due to Brenna's disability, her mother wound up abusing her physically, mentally, and emotionally. Brenna, angry, frustrated, and alone at the age of 17, sought out relationships that made her feel accepted. Due to Brenna's vulnerabilities, she wound up in a personal sex slave relationship at the age of 19. Brenna was pimped, used, and was to be sold at the time of her escape. Brenna met her trafficker, through another disabled youth. Brenna's trafficker used the promise of a true family, love, and acceptance in order to expand Brenna's boundaries. Brenna would have sex for money, be used to bring in other females, and do whatever was asked of her. Brenna's life of trafficking ended by her own self-awakening through a real friendship. She has been free for 10 years. At the end of this presentation, attendee’s will be able to identify signs of abuse in neurodivergent populations, know what questions to ask and how to ask them, and how to help these people.
Presentation Objectives:
· Expose how vulnerable people with developmental disabilities are to trafficking
· Show through personal experience how people with autism are affected by trafficking
· Demonstrate how traffickers can target people with developmental disabilities