Interpersonal violence is a leading cause of death and a prevalent public health issue in the United States, affecting millions of individuals each year (Sumner et al., 2015). Those with disabilities are more greatly impacted, with higher rates of exposure to interpersonal violence and neglect than their nondisabled peers (Nosek, Foley, Hughes, & Howland, 2001). One unique subpopulation of individuals with disabilities, the Deaf1 community, is two to three times more likely to experience physical violence, sexual violence, bullying, and crime than their non-Deaf, non-disabled peers (Anderson & Leigh, 2011; Anderson, Leigh, & Samar, 2011; Barrow, 2007; Francavillo, 2009; Obinna, Krueger, Osterbaan, Sadusky, & DeVore, 2006; Pollard, Sutter, & Cerulli, 2014; Weiner & Miller, 2006).

One factor that many contribute to Deaf people’s increased exposure to interpersonal violence is a limited understanding of healthy relationship dynamics and nonviolent sexual relations (Anderson & Kobek Pezzarossi, 2012; Elliott Smith & Pick, 2015; Francavillo, 2009; Gilbert, Clark, & Anderson, 2012). These commonly observed health literacy gaps are primarily caused by lack of health education available in American Sign Language (ASL), as well as reduced incidental learning throughout Deaf people’s lifespans – e.g., an inability to communicate with hearing parents, hearing healthcare providers, or understand spoken health information on TV/radio/public service announcements (Francavillo, 2009; Pollard & Barnett, 2009; Pollard, Dean, O’Hearn, & Haynes, 2009).

Stemming from such information deprivation, literature suggests that Deaf individuals are more likely than their hearing peers to possess beliefs that align with common rape myths; i.e., “a specific set of attitudes and beliefs that may contribute to ongoing sexual violence by shifting blame for sexual assault from perpetrators to victims” (Iconis, 2008, p. 47). Compared to rates of rape myth acceptance among hearing individuals, a greater proportion of Deaf people believe that people falsely report rape in order to draw attention to themselves (Francavillo, 2009); that sex within a romantic relationship is one’s obligation and sexual coercion perpetrated by one’s partner is not rape (Anderson & Kobek Pezzarossi, 2012); and, that experiences of sexual violence are better classified as miscommunication or bad sex, rather than rape or sexual assault (Elliott Smith & Pick, 2015).

Although some empirical evidence exists to substantiate Deaf people’s health disparities in interpersonal violence exposure and violence myth acceptance, most prior research on these topics was conducted with college student samples using written English survey measures (for instance, Anderson & Kobek Pezzarossi, 2012; Anderson & Leigh, 2011; Elliott Smith & Pick, 2015); this may be a significant methodological limitation given Deaf people’s median fourthgrade reading level (Gallaudet Research Institute, 2003). Even research efforts that have evolved to data collection via ASL surveys (for example, Pollard et al., 2014) have largely been conducted in the Rochester, New York metropolitan area, where high levels of educational attainment fail to mirror the characteristics of the Deaf community at large and the resulting data, therefore, likely underestimate reported health disparities (Barnett et al., 2011).

To address these limitations, the current secondary analysis leveraged data collected via an ASL survey instrument across a statewide population of hearing individuals and grassroots2 Deaf individuals in Ohio. We hypothesized that Deaf participants would report higher rates of interpersonal violence exposure than hearing participants, and that Deaf participants would be more likely to endorse common violence myths than hearing participants.