NORMAL — The assault of a disabled man by four people broadcast live on Facebook earlier this month was met with predictable anger and repulsion by viewers, but the story behind the beating has yet to be fully explored, says Illinois State University professor Paula Crowley, author of a recent book on prevention of abuse of disabled children.
"We have to think more deeply about what's going on here. You wonder what's the bigger story," said Crowley, author of "Preventing Abuse and Neglect in the Lives of Children with Disabilities."
What is known is that disabled children are abused three to four times more frequently than their non-disabled peers, said Crowley. 
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 518,278 children were abused or neglected in 2013. Illinois reported 29,719 abuse cases, with 2,172 involving children with a disability.
In the Chicago case, the 18-year-old victim was a classmate of one the attackers who took him to a location where three others joined in an hours-long assault that was shared on Facebook. Police think the man was targeted because of his mental disabilities, schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder. The backgrounds of the assailants could shed light on what other factors may have been involved, said Crowley.   
Crowley, whose work at ISU involves training students who plan to become special education teachers, said society's lack of understanding of mental health conditions is a contributing factor to the stigma that sometimes leads to violence against disabled children. 
"We've accepted physical disabilities more readily than emotional and psychological conditions," she said.
For many people, the brain is viewed differently — independent and mysterious — and set apart from other parts of the body. The assumption that a broken limb or a chronic health condition like diabetes requires ongoing care does not apply equally to mental health conditions, said Crowley.