People with disabilities are also particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Exploitation can take many forms, including:
- Sexual exploitation. For example, women with disabilities are forced into prostitution. Trafficking is becoming an enormous issue among young teens.
- Financial exploitation. For example, individuals with disabilities may be paid less than other workers or have personal funds removed from their accounts without their permission. Although the practice of peonage, or “involuntary servitude,” was abolished in 1865 under the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, people with disabilities continue to be forced to work under dangerous, sometimes inhumane circumstances at little or no pay. This is often disguised as a lower wage offset by “room and board.”
- Entertainment. Being used as a source of entertainment, such as being physically assaulted by a group or being forced to engage in demeaning activities for the amusement of others.