Our History
From One Family's Journey to a National Mission
Nicole Moehring and her daughter, Maci, founded Voices of Change 2018 (“VOC18”) out of heartbreak, courage, and an unshakable refusal to let others suffer in silence. Their world changed forever when both Maci and her brother Evan, who lives with Fragile X Syndrome, Autism, and two heart conditions, became victims of sexual abuse and assault. In those moments, Nicole discovered a painful and devastating truth: the very systems meant to protect her children were never built with individuals with disabilities in mind.
VOC18 was born from that pain. It exists because no child, with a disability or not, should ever be left unheard, unprotected, or unseen.
Unlike organizations centered on a single diagnosis, VOC18 serves all individuals with cognitive, intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities, embracing people of every race, religion, ethnicity, and gender identity. This mission extends to their families and guardians, many of whom are desperate for someone to guide them through the fear, confusion, and isolation that come after abuse.
Before this trauma entered their lives, Nicole had no idea how vulnerable Evan truly was. No one warned her of the staggering statistics. No one explained the heightened risks. No one provided the preventive education her son desperately needed. She often reflects that with the right information, information that should be readily available everywhere, her family might have been better prepared, better protected, and better able to help Evan find safety before the unthinkable happened.
In the fight for justice, Nicole watched something no mother should ever witness: her son’s rights slowly disappear. Evan was doubted, dismissed, and discriminated against by the very systems designed to defend him. Because of his disability, his voice was never heard. His trauma was minimized. His pain was met with indifference.
Nicole was forced to fight alone, searching for answers, resources, and hope in a world that offered little of any of it.
VOC18 exists to make sure no one else has to endure that same loneliness.
Individuals with disabilities who experience abuse need more than support, they need a voice when they are silenced, advocates when they are dismissed, and education when the world fails to prepare them. They need clear steps, trusted guidance, access to healing, and a community that refuses to turn away.
VOC18 was created so families no longer have to navigate this darkness on their own. It was built to shine a light for every child, every parent, every survivor, and every person who has ever been told by systems, by society, or by silence that their voice does not matter.
VOC18 stands to prove that it does. That every voice matters. And that change begins when one family’s pain becomes a movement that refuses to be ignored.
VOC18 was born from that pain. It exists because no child, with a disability or not, should ever be left unheard, unprotected, or unseen.
Unlike organizations centered on a single diagnosis, VOC18 serves all individuals with cognitive, intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities, embracing people of every race, religion, ethnicity, and gender identity. This mission extends to their families and guardians, many of whom are desperate for someone to guide them through the fear, confusion, and isolation that come after abuse.
Before this trauma entered their lives, Nicole had no idea how vulnerable Evan truly was. No one warned her of the staggering statistics. No one explained the heightened risks. No one provided the preventive education her son desperately needed. She often reflects that with the right information, information that should be readily available everywhere, her family might have been better prepared, better protected, and better able to help Evan find safety before the unthinkable happened.
In the fight for justice, Nicole watched something no mother should ever witness: her son’s rights slowly disappear. Evan was doubted, dismissed, and discriminated against by the very systems designed to defend him. Because of his disability, his voice was never heard. His trauma was minimized. His pain was met with indifference.
Nicole was forced to fight alone, searching for answers, resources, and hope in a world that offered little of any of it.
VOC18 exists to make sure no one else has to endure that same loneliness.
Individuals with disabilities who experience abuse need more than support, they need a voice when they are silenced, advocates when they are dismissed, and education when the world fails to prepare them. They need clear steps, trusted guidance, access to healing, and a community that refuses to turn away.
VOC18 was created so families no longer have to navigate this darkness on their own. It was built to shine a light for every child, every parent, every survivor, and every person who has ever been told by systems, by society, or by silence that their voice does not matter.
VOC18 stands to prove that it does. That every voice matters. And that change begins when one family’s pain becomes a movement that refuses to be ignored.
Our vision and MISSION
OUR VISION
Voices of Change 2018 advances abuse-prevention efforts for individuals with disabilities by uniting education, healthcare, law enforcement, and community partners.
Building awareness, advocacy, and prevention education to help protect individuals with cognitive, developmental, and intellectual disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
OUR MISSION
Voices of Change 2018 empowers individuals with disabilities, their families, and the community through education, awareness, advocacy, and support to help prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation while creating a safer world where every voice is valued, protected, heard, and empowered.
Voices of Change 2018 advances abuse-prevention efforts for individuals with disabilities by uniting education, healthcare, law enforcement, and community partners.
Building awareness, advocacy, and prevention education to help protect individuals with cognitive, developmental, and intellectual disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
OUR MISSION
Voices of Change 2018 empowers individuals with disabilities, their families, and the community through education, awareness, advocacy, and support to help prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation while creating a safer world where every voice is valued, protected, heard, and empowered.
National Statistics That Demand Action
Our Story Is Not Unique, And That's Why Change Is Needed
In the United States, disability touches every generation. And with it comes a level of vulnerability our systems are failing to confront.
Nearly 7.3 million children ages 3–17 live with a disability, representing almost one in six children in this country. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Survey of Children’s Health, 2019.)
Research consistently shows that children with disabilities are abused or neglected at rates two to three times higher than children without disabilities. When applied to these numbers, that means hundreds of thousands of children with disabilities experience abuse or neglect each year. (Sources: CDC; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; Sullivan & Knutson.) These children grow up but the danger does not disappear.
More than 61 million adults in the United States (25%) live with a disability. (Source: CDC, Disability and Health Data System, 2018.)
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, adults with disabilities experience violent victimization at more than twice the rate of adults without disabilities. In some disability categories, the rate is three to four times higher, resulting in millions of adults with disabilities experiencing abuse, assault, or exploitation over their lifetime. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), DOJ.)
And the most devastating truth is not just how often abuse happens but who commits it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that over 90% of abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted. A caregiver, a family member, a provider, or a professional. (Source: CDC, Violence Prevention Data.) But even these numbers do not tell the full story.
We must assume these statistics significantly underestimate the true scope of abuse. Abuse involving individuals with disabilities is profoundly underreported. Many victims lack the communication tools to disclose what is happening. Others fear retaliation, loss of services, institutionalization, or not being believed. Too often, when reports are made, they are dismissed, minimized, or mishandled.
The result is a devastating reality: much of the abuse never enters the data and therefore never enters the response.
Abuse does not discriminate. It happens in every socioeconomic setting, across all races, religions, and communities. And far too often, it continues unchecked.
These numbers represent people. They represent lives shaped by harm that could have been prevented. They represent systems that respond too late, or not at all. This is not inevitable. This is not acceptable.
This is a preventable public health and human rights crisis affecting millions of individuals with disabilities in the United States and globally.
Safety is not a privilege. Dignity is not optional. Protection is not negotiable.
The numbers demand action. The silence demands accountability. And the time to act is now.
~ Nicole Moehring
Founder
Nearly 7.3 million children ages 3–17 live with a disability, representing almost one in six children in this country. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Survey of Children’s Health, 2019.)
Research consistently shows that children with disabilities are abused or neglected at rates two to three times higher than children without disabilities. When applied to these numbers, that means hundreds of thousands of children with disabilities experience abuse or neglect each year. (Sources: CDC; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; Sullivan & Knutson.) These children grow up but the danger does not disappear.
More than 61 million adults in the United States (25%) live with a disability. (Source: CDC, Disability and Health Data System, 2018.)
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, adults with disabilities experience violent victimization at more than twice the rate of adults without disabilities. In some disability categories, the rate is three to four times higher, resulting in millions of adults with disabilities experiencing abuse, assault, or exploitation over their lifetime. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), DOJ.)
And the most devastating truth is not just how often abuse happens but who commits it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that over 90% of abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted. A caregiver, a family member, a provider, or a professional. (Source: CDC, Violence Prevention Data.) But even these numbers do not tell the full story.
We must assume these statistics significantly underestimate the true scope of abuse. Abuse involving individuals with disabilities is profoundly underreported. Many victims lack the communication tools to disclose what is happening. Others fear retaliation, loss of services, institutionalization, or not being believed. Too often, when reports are made, they are dismissed, minimized, or mishandled.
The result is a devastating reality: much of the abuse never enters the data and therefore never enters the response.
Abuse does not discriminate. It happens in every socioeconomic setting, across all races, religions, and communities. And far too often, it continues unchecked.
These numbers represent people. They represent lives shaped by harm that could have been prevented. They represent systems that respond too late, or not at all. This is not inevitable. This is not acceptable.
This is a preventable public health and human rights crisis affecting millions of individuals with disabilities in the United States and globally.
Safety is not a privilege. Dignity is not optional. Protection is not negotiable.
The numbers demand action. The silence demands accountability. And the time to act is now.
~ Nicole Moehring
Founder
Why Are Individuals with Disabilities at Greater Risk of Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation?
Greater Vulnerability Demands Even Greater Protection.
Caring for an individual with disabilities is often a labor of love that demands extraordinary strength, sacrifice, and resilience. Families give endlessly of themselves, their time, energy, finances, and hearts, to ensure their loved one is safe, supported, and able to thrive.
No family can do it alone. That is why many place their trust in a network of caregivers, educators, therapists, medical professionals, and support providers. These individuals become part of a circle of care that offers not only essential services, but also hope, understanding, and moments of relief in a journey that can otherwise feel overwhelming.
For many families, this support is not simply helpful. It is life changing.
But it also carries risk.
Every additional caregiver, every new helper, every unfamiliar person granted access widens the door for someone with harmful intentions to enter. Not because families are careless but because they are doing everything they can to survive and support the person they love.
For families already under extraordinary pressure, this truth is heartbreaking.
And yet, that same network can also be a powerful layer of protection. More eyes. More hands. More caring hearts. When properly supported, multiple caregivers can notice injuries, behavioral changes, or subtle signs that something is wrong. Shared care can lift the crushing weight placed on primary caregivers.
Protection, however, is only possible when caregivers are carefully screened, thoroughly trained, and consistently supervised. Unannounced check-ins, open communication, and the willingness to accept a hard truth that any individual can be abused, disability or not are critical to safety.
Why Individuals with Disabilities Are Especially Vulnerable
Vulnerability does not come from disability itself. It comes from how the world responds to disability.
Individuals with disabilities face risks others rarely consider:
The true danger lies in a world that has failed to protect, educate, and honor the humanity of individuals with disabilities and to uphold their fundamental right to safety.
No family can do it alone. That is why many place their trust in a network of caregivers, educators, therapists, medical professionals, and support providers. These individuals become part of a circle of care that offers not only essential services, but also hope, understanding, and moments of relief in a journey that can otherwise feel overwhelming.
For many families, this support is not simply helpful. It is life changing.
But it also carries risk.
Every additional caregiver, every new helper, every unfamiliar person granted access widens the door for someone with harmful intentions to enter. Not because families are careless but because they are doing everything they can to survive and support the person they love.
For families already under extraordinary pressure, this truth is heartbreaking.
And yet, that same network can also be a powerful layer of protection. More eyes. More hands. More caring hearts. When properly supported, multiple caregivers can notice injuries, behavioral changes, or subtle signs that something is wrong. Shared care can lift the crushing weight placed on primary caregivers.
Protection, however, is only possible when caregivers are carefully screened, thoroughly trained, and consistently supervised. Unannounced check-ins, open communication, and the willingness to accept a hard truth that any individual can be abused, disability or not are critical to safety.
Why Individuals with Disabilities Are Especially Vulnerable
Vulnerability does not come from disability itself. It comes from how the world responds to disability.
Individuals with disabilities face risks others rarely consider:
- Conditioned compliance — Being taught from a young age to follow instructions during therapies, interventions, and routines, even when something feels wrong.
- Constant exposure to numerous adults, increasing access while reducing protective barriers.
- A deep capacity for trust — a desire for connection, approval, and kindness that can be exploited by those with harmful intent.
- Harmful societal myths — false beliefs that individuals with disabilities are asexual, unaware, or incapable of understanding abuse, which silences safety conversations.
- Dependence on others for intimate care, creating repeated opportunities for touch to be misused or normalized.
- Social isolation from typical peers, limiting opportunities to compare experiences or recognize unsafe behavior.
- Communication barriers, making it difficult to describe what happened or ask for help.
- Lack of body safety education, leaving individuals unaware of boundaries or what is inappropriate.
- Caregiver fear and discomfort around puberty and relationships, often delaying or avoiding critical conversations about consent and safety.
The true danger lies in a world that has failed to protect, educate, and honor the humanity of individuals with disabilities and to uphold their fundamental right to safety.
The Conversations We Cannot Afford to Avoid
Because Silence Increases Vulnerability.
Many families live in a place our founder, Nicole, once lived to the quiet belief that “it could never happen to my child because they have a disability.” It feels like protection. It feels like hope. It feels like the one thing we can hold onto in a world that already demands so much from us.
But that belief is not safety. It is silence. And silence is rarely born from indifference. More often, it grows from fear and from not knowing where to begin.
Most parents are never taught how to talk about body safety: how to explain boundaries, consent, secrets versus surprises, safe and unsafe touch, or how to help their child identify who is truly safe. Without those conversations, individuals with disabilities are left unprepared not just once, but repeatedly.
Because abuse involving individuals with disabilities does not often happen only one time.
Research shows that individuals with disabilities are far more likely to be revictimized harmed again, and again, often by multiple people especially when they are not given the tools, language, and support to understand what happened or how to speak up. Silence after the first harm does not heal. It leaves the door open for the next.
Parents and caregivers are a child's first line of protection and their most important teachers of safety, trust, and self-advocacy. But these lessons cannot be taught in a single conversation. They must evolve with the individual, be tailored to their level of understanding, and be reinforced throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Safety is not a one-time discussion. It is an ongoing commitment.
One of the most difficult realities to accept is that abuse often comes from someone known and trusted. Yet avoiding that truth does not make individuals safer. It leaves them more vulnerable. When we remain silent, we create space for abuse, stigma, and revictimization to continue.
Awareness is not enough. We must have the conversations, teach the skills, and create environments where every individual feels empowered to speak up, be heard, and be protected.
We no longer have the luxury of staying quiet not when prevention is possible, not when education can interrupt cycles of abuse, generational abuse, and not when systems have already failed so many.
Protecting our children and loved ones is not just instinctual, it is a responsibility. And that responsibility begins at home, with courage, honesty, and conversations that feel uncomfortable but are absolutely necessary.
Change does not begin after the harm. It begins before.
It begins with us.
But that belief is not safety. It is silence. And silence is rarely born from indifference. More often, it grows from fear and from not knowing where to begin.
Most parents are never taught how to talk about body safety: how to explain boundaries, consent, secrets versus surprises, safe and unsafe touch, or how to help their child identify who is truly safe. Without those conversations, individuals with disabilities are left unprepared not just once, but repeatedly.
Because abuse involving individuals with disabilities does not often happen only one time.
Research shows that individuals with disabilities are far more likely to be revictimized harmed again, and again, often by multiple people especially when they are not given the tools, language, and support to understand what happened or how to speak up. Silence after the first harm does not heal. It leaves the door open for the next.
Parents and caregivers are a child's first line of protection and their most important teachers of safety, trust, and self-advocacy. But these lessons cannot be taught in a single conversation. They must evolve with the individual, be tailored to their level of understanding, and be reinforced throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Safety is not a one-time discussion. It is an ongoing commitment.
One of the most difficult realities to accept is that abuse often comes from someone known and trusted. Yet avoiding that truth does not make individuals safer. It leaves them more vulnerable. When we remain silent, we create space for abuse, stigma, and revictimization to continue.
Awareness is not enough. We must have the conversations, teach the skills, and create environments where every individual feels empowered to speak up, be heard, and be protected.
We no longer have the luxury of staying quiet not when prevention is possible, not when education can interrupt cycles of abuse, generational abuse, and not when systems have already failed so many.
Protecting our children and loved ones is not just instinctual, it is a responsibility. And that responsibility begins at home, with courage, honesty, and conversations that feel uncomfortable but are absolutely necessary.
Change does not begin after the harm. It begins before.
It begins with us.
Our Journey, Our Purpose, Our Promise
A Mother's Promise. A Family's Mission. A Legacy of Change.
Most people believe abuse will never happen to their loved one. They believe it happens somewhere else, to someone else. The reality is that abuse does not discriminate. It crosses every boundary, every diagnosis, every age, every family, and every community.
Raising an individual with a disability already requires extraordinary advocacy, strength, and vigilance. When abuse enters that reality, the challenges become exponentially greater, leaving families to navigate trauma, fear, uncertainty, and a system that is often unprepared to respond.
Our family knows this firsthand.
When Nicole's son became a victim of abuse, our family changed forever. In the moments when we needed guidance, support, and protection the most, those resources were often absent. Instead of finding a clear path forward, we found ourselves navigating unimaginable heartbreak, isolation, and overwhelming obstacles alone.
The impact of abuse extends far beyond a single moment. It affects individuals, families, relationships, mental health, trust, and the very foundation of safety. The pain can last a lifetime.
No family should have to face that journey alone. No individual should be left without a voice. And no system should fail those it is meant to protect.
That is why we chose to turn our lived experience into purpose.
We built this foundation so others would not have to walk the same path alone. Through our work, we provide:
Raising an individual with a disability already requires extraordinary advocacy, strength, and vigilance. When abuse enters that reality, the challenges become exponentially greater, leaving families to navigate trauma, fear, uncertainty, and a system that is often unprepared to respond.
Our family knows this firsthand.
When Nicole's son became a victim of abuse, our family changed forever. In the moments when we needed guidance, support, and protection the most, those resources were often absent. Instead of finding a clear path forward, we found ourselves navigating unimaginable heartbreak, isolation, and overwhelming obstacles alone.
The impact of abuse extends far beyond a single moment. It affects individuals, families, relationships, mental health, trust, and the very foundation of safety. The pain can last a lifetime.
No family should have to face that journey alone. No individual should be left without a voice. And no system should fail those it is meant to protect.
That is why we chose to turn our lived experience into purpose.
We built this foundation so others would not have to walk the same path alone. Through our work, we provide:
- Preventive education for individuals with disabilities, parents, guardians, medical and mental health professionals, and law enforcement because prevention and awareness can stop harm before it happens.
- Guidance, resources, and support for victims and their families because healing requires compassion, understanding, and a community that believes and stands beside you.
Nicole Moehring, Founder Maci Moehring, Co-founder