title: A "dirty secret": the abuse of children with disabilities.
abstract: The media and professional and lay literature are replete with the tragic stories of the abuse and neglect of children. Limited references, however, are made to the even more unbelievable reality that children with disabilities are maltreated at a rate that may be as great as four to ten times that of children without disabilities. The characteristics that make children with disabilities more vulnerable to abuse, the nature of the abuse, the variation by gender, the financial costs of abuse and the reality that this abuse may occur in the "best of families" are reviewed in an effort to increase practitioner awareness of the "dirty secret."
authors.affiliation: Department of General Dentistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook 11794-8706, USA.
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Waldman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Swerdloff
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Perlman
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D019140:Dental Care for Children; D003730:Dental Care for Persons with Disabilities; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States