The idea intellectually impaired people feel less trauma is a myth

At the Central Criminal Courts yesterday, a man is jailed for 20 years for raping his intellectually impaired son and using him in pornography for internet circulation. With the judge, Mr Justice Hunt saying, ”it was perhaps fortunate for him that he didn’t understand what happened to him”.

I am hoping Mr Justice Hunt is not trying to also say, “so will not be harmed by it”.

Many young children with no intellectual impairment do not ‘understand’ what happened to them during sexual violation. They are, however, very seriously harmed by it. This is no less true for a person with intellectual impairment. Indeed, it is the case in not being able to process their experience, due to intellectual incapacity, they are even more traumatised.