Forced marriage blights the lives of scores of learning disabled people

More than 50 cases of people with learning disabilities being forced to wed were reported last year. And while the main motivation was to provide a carer, relationships are often abusive

Six years after her marriage finally ended, Sufia Ahmed has stopped biting her arms and using razors to cut herself. Her mother says she feels guilty, stressing repeatedly that she never would have forced her daughter to marry if she had known what would happen to her.

Ahmed, 33, had no idea what was going on when her family’s community decided she was a good match for a man who had recently arrived from India. He needed a visa, and, as Ahmed has a learning disability, it was felt no one else would want to marry her.

“Mum knows best,” Ahmed recalls. “[I thought] she’d marry me to a nice man. I would get married and be like my sister. I hoped my husband would think I’m pretty.”

Instead, a year into the marriage, her husband was taking all of her benefits and sending the money to his family, who lived abroad, and was regularly beating and raping her. When she became pregnant, his continued abuse caused her to miscarry, she says.

Ahmed’s is not an isolated incident. More than 50 cases of people with learning disabilities forced into marriage were reported to the government’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) last year. Many say they were repeatedly raped until they became pregnant. Many routinely faced physical and emotional abuse.

Rachael Clawson, a social work academic at the University of Nottingham, who worked with the Ann Craft Trust to carry out the research, says these figures are “the tip of the iceberg”. According to her understanding of the issue, hundreds of adults with a learning disability, such as Ahmed, could have been forced into marriage and abused.

“All types of abuse of people with learning disabilities are under-reported … and there is no reason to think the abuse of forced marriage would be any different. It is likely to be vastly under reported,” she says.

It is the first time that a practice hitherto associated with honour in Asian communities or with immigration issues has been found to endanger people with learning disabilities. In 2011, there were 1,468 instances where the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage. Of these, 66 instances involved those with disabilities, of which 56 had learning disabilities.

“People with a learning disability can be particularly vulnerable to forced marriage,” says Mark Goldring, chief executive of learning disability charity Mencap. “[Those] with a learning disability have a right to develop personal relationships, like anyone else … but the issue here is that incidences of forced marriage can involve people who are unlikely to have the capacity to consent to such a relationship.”

Any marriage where either party does not have the capacity to consent is legally classified as forced. However, Clawson found that many parents of children with a learning disability do not know this is the case. “They didn’t even realise what they were doing was forced marriage, ” she says. Some parents even told health professionals of their plans.

Although all the forced marriages she researched were from within communities where there is a cultural tradition of forced marriage, including families of Pakistani or Indian origin, and others from the Middle East, Africa and Europe, obtaining a visa for a foreign spouse was notably low down on the list of motivations. The main reason most parents gave for forcing their daughters, and sons, to marry was to provide them with a carer, says Clawson.

Mandy Sanghera, a human rights activist who over 20 years has dealt with more than 200 cases in the UK and Canada of people with a learning disability being forced to marry, and who worked on the FMU study, says for parents of adults with learning disabilities, forced marriage is often an act of desperation.

“Many are struggling with their caring responsibilities due to old age, poor health and even not being able to manage their child’s behaviour or disability,” she says. “Parents will try to access services such as education, health and social care without getting anywhere. Out of desperation, they’ll [even] take their child abroad to get a spouse-cum-carer.”

The stigma around disability in some communities is also a factor in many of the cases studied, according to Clawson. Marriage can be seen as a way to “normalise” people with learning disabilities. Others believe that taking on the role of husband or wife will somehow “cure” the disabled person, she says.

Sanghera is emphatic that such cultural beliefs are no excuse. “Even if families have the right intention, they are breaking the law,” she says. “No one has the right to make life-changing decisions on another person’s behalf.”

Teertha Gupta, a QC and barrister specialising in family law and forced marriage, says that as a result of forcing their children into marriages, parents are often “aiding and abetting” their subsequent abuse. “They are really forcing them into marriage. But also potential sexual offences are being committed … for an individual who doesn’t, who cannot, consent to sexual relations – [which parents are] aiding and abetting,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Face the Facts, which explores the issue in a programme broadcast on Wednesday.

Ahmed remembers begging for the abuse to stop. “I don’t like this game. I don’t want to play any more,” she says she told her husband. She couldn’t understand why it was happening. It continued for three years until, having acquired UK residency, her husband left.

In many marriages the spouse without the learning disability is the victim. The person may be unaware they are marrying someone who is unable to consent, Clawson points out. They are often used by their in-laws for chores and forced to care for elderly relatives, as well as their partner.

But the trap is much harder to escape for the spouse with the learning disability. The same factors that make people with learning disabilities vulnerable to being forced into marriage can make it difficult for them to leave. They are often reliant on their abusers for care. They may already be isolated and lack the communication skills to disclose their abuse. Ahmed’s situation only came to light when she was hospitalised for a miscarriage.

Worryingly, health visitors often fail to detect the warning signs, Clawson found. “Professionals are less likely to recognise abuse with people with learning difficulties for a whole range of different reasons such as reliance on the parent to speak on the disabled person’s behalf,” she says. In Ahmed’s case, her mother remained silent because she was worried about the family’s honour being disgraced should the abuse be disclosed.

David Cameron confirmed in June that forcing someone to marry is to become a criminal offence in England and Wales, leaving parents who coerce their children into a marriage facing the prospect of prison. The announcement included a £500,000 fund to help schools and other agencies to spot early signs of a forced marriage, and a major summer campaign to raise awareness of the risk of forced marriage abroad.

The FMU, which is a joint initiative between the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, says it is working with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services to emphasise the issue of people with learning disabilities being forced into marriages. A Home Office spokesman says the government aims to “ensure this issue is continually highlighted among those with responsibility for safeguarding vulnerable adults”.

The reality is, even if abuse is detected, victims face real difficulties getting out. There is just one refuge in the UK equipped to support forced marriage victims who have learning disabilities. “There is a terrible lack of options for people with learning disabilities who are escaping abuse and forced marriages,” says Asha Jama, manager of Beverley Lewis House refuge, east London.

The problem, she says, is “compounded by social care cuts. Statutory authorities are placing [victims] in a supported living service or care home. These services are not geared up to provide the specialist support needed to address the abuse the woman has faced.”

As a result of her abuse, Ahmed’s mental health deteriorated and she began to self-harm. “I have ruined my daughter’s life,” says her mother. “I will live with the guilt of what I put her through. Sufia put up with the abuse for my izzat [honour]. I am the one picking up the pieces. Where is my community now?”

• Some names have been changed. Face the Facts is on BBC Radio 4 on 1 August at 12.30pm and repeated on 5 August at 9pm