She endured 15 years of violence as a child and her abuser told her she was stupid and no one would believe her if she tried to report it. Her violence stopped when she finally went to live with her grandmother. Sheri says her grandmother did her best to help her deal with her “waking nightmare,” which now turns out to be a flashback.

Sherri tried to gain access to the service twice more in the decades that followed. The research and energy spent helping survivors steadily increased, she says, but she still faced resistance.

Three years ago, Sheri was able to get the help she needed thanks to the Southern Arizona Center for Sexual Assault Prevention, known as SACASA.

Sheri has been diagnosed with complex PTSD and uses a mobility scooter. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, she’s a member of a community three times more likely to experience rape or sexual assault than she is.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that more than 80% of women with disabilities had been sexually assaulted, and 50% of those had been assaulted 10 or more times. Additionally, research shows that women with disabilities experience more frequent and more severe acts of violence.

Thanks to joining SACASA, the tools and knowledge she’s gained from staff and other survivors, Sherri says she’s been able to do things she’d never done before in her life.

Hoping to raise awareness about the prevalence of sexual violence and the inequalities that exist among victims, local authorities and service providers met Wednesday to promote April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

This year’s local campaign theme is Demanding Equality: Sexual Assault Affects Everyone. Participating organizations call on all individuals, communities and institutions to move towards building racial equality and respect.

According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), someone is sexually assaulted in America every 68 seconds, but the violence isn’t evenly distributed. Sexual assault disproportionately impacts underserved and more vulnerable minority groups.

According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 47% of transgender people surveyed reported being sexually assaulted at some point in their lives.

According to the Office for Victims of Crime, 77% of Latino women surveyed say sexual harassment in the workplace is a major problem.

According to RAINN, American Indians are twice as likely to experience rape/sexual assault compared to all races.

According to RAINN, among adult women, recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that the lifetime prevalence of rape is about 1 in 5 (22%) among African Americans, compared to 1 in 5 among Caucasians. Women are reported to be 19%.

“Sexual assault is common in marginalized communities,” Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said. It’s hard. It’s hard to find the courage to report an assault when others are trying to demean your gender identity, ethnicity, language, or legal status.

According to Merriam-Webster, microaggressions are comments or actions that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally express prejudiced attitudes toward members of marginalized groups.

Adelita Grijalva, a Pima County supervisor who worked in the local school for 28 years, said she saw microaggressions set in at a very early age.

“You see a lot of discourse because there are young people who enter elementary school, middle school, high school and start exploring relationships,” she said. There is an opportunity to make them understand that they must have autonomy over their bodies, that they should be able to say no, that they should be able to create boundaries. It’s okay within the acceptable range.”

Grijalva hopes that with more education on these issues, there will be fewer cases where people feel they have no right to leave a toxic situation or relationship.

She referred to a longtime employee of the Pima County Assessor’s Office who was allegedly murdered last weekend.Maria Acedo was found dead in her home on Sunday, April 2. Jesus Andres Gutierrez, 42, was arrested on Tuesday.

“I don’t know all the details, but I hope people in difficult situations know that they have a support network to get help,” Grijalva said. “When you see this kind of behavior in your family or community, it affects your whole life.”

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said it’s not enough to just talk about the problem, solutions must also be part of the conversation.

“You can’t pull out a policy manual for traumatized people and make them think about what to do,” she said. “It’s up to us, ours, to spend April learning what to do when someone who has just been assaulted comes to us.”

Conover said there are five steps people should take if and when that happens. Be quiet and listen with compassion. don’t leave them alone. Call 911 if possible. Visit the SACASA website to access our 24/7 bilingual helpline.

Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmer details his department’s commitment to survivors and addressing current and cold case sexual assaults from a victim- and trauma-centric approach. He said the Tucson Police Department recently received a grant for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.

$1.5 million will support sexual assault investigations and prosecutions following the completion of testing of previously untested sexual assault kits in 2019. Working with the Pima County Attorney’s Office, TPD will use advanced DNA testing methods to identify and arrest criminals, Kasmar said. The grant will be used to support staff, maintain an inventory of sexual assault kits and evidence for unsolved cases, review and prioritize cases for advanced testing, and conduct follow-up investigations.

“Sexual violence is preventable,” said SACASA Director Caitlin Monje. “Our attitudes and actions, our votes and voices, our privileges and power must be used together to demand equality for all and an end to sexual violence. .”

Sherri found SACASA via the Veterans Administration and received services from the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center. An Army veteran, Sheri served statewide during the Vietnam War, working with chief psychologists and soldiers returning from the war.

In August 2020, her recovery advisor suggested she seek out a support group, and after two days of researching various programs across the country online, she discovered SACASA.

“I knew what I needed, but I was speechless,” she said, adding that she was blown away by the staff and service from the start.

According to Sheri, the first question the SACASA receptionist asked her was, “What do you need?” — a question she said she had waited almost her whole life to hear.

“In three other attempts to seek treatment and get help, not once in decades have I been asked, ‘What do you need?'” I’m talking about questions.

The call receptionist’s next question was whether she was safe and needed a place to stay.

The call receptionist set her up with an intake call with a therapist and said she would expect a call by the next day. I asked about She asked Sheri to provide “quick highlights” of what her life was like, she said, without going into details.

The following week, Sherri enrolled in SACASA’s class on safety and security in relationships.

“I was really blown away by the candor of this therapist and other clients,” Sherri said.

She ended up enrolled in a third group dealing with shame and trauma and is still in a safe relationship group. “

“I cannot adequately describe the service they have provided us and the difference it has made in my own life,” Sheri became emotional. If you ask, they’ll have the answer, and if they don’t, someone else in the office will.

Sheri said her unwillingness to give up on herself was the only thing that kept her going over the years, and a message she wanted to share with other survivors.

“You deserve help. You are important, you are always important, but you have to make yourself important first,” she said. Take a step…that’s 90% of the healing process.”

She echoed Grijalva’s feelings about educating children at a young age about consent.

And when it comes to bystander intervention, she said, “it’s all about action.”

Sheri has been with SACASA for nearly three years and says she knows the day will come when support groups won’t be needed.

“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “I have participated in philosophy discussion groups and knitting/crochet groups. I am doing things I have never been able to do in my life.”