self-defense

WEST BOCA— Grab his shirt. Slam your elbow in his face. Kick him in the groin!

A dozen disabled women are learning these self-defense techniques at the Levis Jewish Community Center west of Boca Raton, in a class designed to boost their confidence in the stressful situations they regularly encounter. The women, who have physical and neurological impairments, have been bullied, groped, stared at and stalked. Many lack friends and spend most of their time in the house, leaving them vulnerable during their contacts with the outside world.

Judy Goldes, 50, who reads on a third-grade level, said she was inappropriately grabbed by a nursing home resident. Torri Bandel, 32, a Publix employee with an attention disorder, said she was cornered by a man who was about to attack her and has contacted the police about a man who was following her.

“If someone attacked me now, I’d be ready,” Bandel said.

Marianne Jacobs, the JCC’s special needs director, said she frequently hears stories from families whose disabled adult children have been victims of physical aggression. Studies confirm her observations: More than 80 percent of disabled women and 32 percent of men have been sexually assaulted, according to the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Almost half of the victims will experience 10 or more incidents, another study found.

Last year, the special needs program received a grant from the Jewish Women’s Foundation, an arm of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, to create a self-defense program called SAVVY. The class is geared toward women ages 17-50 with impairments such as Down syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy.

The twice-weekly sessions offer a half-hour discussion with Denise Brody, a licensed clinical social worker who offers detailed safety tips, and a half-hour of self-defense instruction based onKrav Maga, the Israel Defense Forces martial arts technique, led by certified instructor Stephanie Mahler.

“They are learning safety skills for real life,” Jacobs said. “They are generally not equipped to handle abuse and dangerous situations.”

Among the skills: how to carry a purse and take out a wallet in public; how to answer the front door; when to help someone who is seeking aid; and how to maintain a friendship.

These social skills complement the physical prowess the women develop as they learn to kick, punch and grab. Mahler said she combines jeet kune do, a martial arts system created by Bruce Lee, with a branch of Krav Maga called Haganah. The women are given boxing gloves and practice punching skills on a focus mitt. They also learn three- and six-step techniques for striking back at attackers and running away.

“I hear a lot of ‘I can’t do this,'” Mahler said of her students with disabilities. “I modify the way I teach it, but they are learning the same skills I teach to my other classes. Every week they learn one more step.”

The classes, which teach the importance of privacy and physical boundaries, appear to be building assertiveness in the participants, sometimes in unexpected ways. Gail Bohm said daughter Rachel, who has Down syndrome, criticized her recently for walking into her room without knocking.

“It makes me feel better that she can be out in the world, out at the mall with friends, and have knowledge that will make her safer,” Bohm said.

Parents say their adult children’s disabilities often lead to isolation. They are too old for school and there are few ways for them to maintain friendships and develop social skills. They say that makes their irregular interactions with the world potentially more perilous.

Stephanie Ballard’s daughter, Elizabeth, who has Asperger’s syndrome, spends most of the day at home in Parkland. Elizabeth, 22, has been searching for a job for the past two years with help from a job coach. Her mom said the family has been in awe as Elizabeth’s verbal and interpersonal skills have developed in the past few months. She credits SAVVY.

“She never had a lot of opinions before, and now she is voicing opinions on politics,” Ballard said. “She finally has a sense of empowerment. And the physicality of it makes her feel strong.”