Including measures of disability in prevalence studies

Abstract

It is increasingly understood that people with disabilities may be more vulnerable to human trafficking victimization than those without disabilities. This important line of scholarship has been, to date, informed by a small number of studies focusing mostly on minor females identified as having experienced sex trafficking. This study adds to the discourse by presenting findings from a larger study aimed at estimating the prevalence of labor trafficking victimization among construction workers in Houston, Texas, in which we also measured the presence of a disability among respondents. Though only a small number of respondents identified as having been diagnosed with a disability (n = 12), these respondents were more likely to have experienced labor victimization in their lifetime than other respondents who did not report having been diagnosed with a disability (n = 891). Other patterns in victimization experiences among respondents with a disability are explored, and considerations for differentiated opportunities for intervention and prevention are discussed. Lessons learned include the importance of measuring disability status in human trafficking research and a more careful consideration of how to capture and measure disability so findings can be meaningfully translated to preventive action.