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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.”

The next time when your kids refrain from going to school, all you need to remember is the keyword ‘Akshay Kumar’. No, Akshay has not got into teaching, but he has aggressively started approaching schools in Mumbai and other metros to incorporate martial arts in curriculum. So aggressive is he about this ‘mission’, that he has even declared that he wants every child to have access to schools and private classes teaching martial arts and until that happens; he won’t call it a day.

Readers maybe aware that last year, he was busy with his incessant efforts of talking with many government bodies of various states to include karate, judo, kung fu and other such fighting styles in school and college curriculum. This resulted in Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi agreeing to make martial arts a mandatory subject in state’s schools. A hopeful Akshay said he is aware that it’s a long struggle because it’s a challenge to make changes in the existing education system, but he is confident that by next year, he will have more schools in Gujarat and a couple of institutions in Mumbai involved.

On the home front, Akki says that he doesn’t plan to push his nine year old son Aarav (who is training professionally in martial arts) to pursue a career in martial arts. He added that his son is training to be fit and healthy, and defend himself whenever he needs to.

Akshay is also busy with the next edition of ‘The Akshay Kumar Karate Championship’, which is most likely to take place this October. Talking about it, Akki said that, with it becoming a mega event by now, he has now planned to have knee-high fighters from other countries participating too. He also added that from this year, they are planning to extend the number of days for the contest and incorporate more categories, so more kids can take part.

With so much on his platter, there seems to be no stopping this ‘Khiladi’ Kumar!

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y.—One might think it would be hard to scare former mixed martial arts fighter Larry Byrnes, but he is very forthcoming about his biggest and most frightening fear.

“Six years ago I had my first child, and your life changes quickly,” Byrnes said. “My worst nightmare in life is that something is going to happen to my son, and I know every parent is the same way.”

Because of this fear, Byrnes, who grew up in Yorktown and now lives in Yonkers, created the CHILDSAFE program for kids and parents in his Tiger Schulman’s Karate and Mixed Martial Arts studio in Mount Kisco. On Saturday, the program was attended by local parents and children, the room filled with curious and intent listeners.

“The thing about kidnapping is that kidnappers figure out ways to get kids to come with them that aren’t obvious, that will trick them,” says local parent Madeline Finesmith. “Things that a parent won’t think of. What this program will help is it will make kids aware that it’s not always the obvious signs, and any adult can take them some place.”

Byrnes agreed with his program’s instructions theme of collaboration between parent and child. “[We’re talking about] basic awareness things: don’t talk to strangers, don’t walk away from your parents in a crowded place,” he said. “If you’re home by yourself…don’t answer the door. If you have to answer the phone, don’t let it known that you are alone in the house.”

While the kids were willing to pay attention to their teacher for the afternoon, parents’ ears were stung with some frightening statistics that Byrnes gave them.

“46 percent of kids who are abducted are sexually abused…31 percent are physically abused…40 percent of kids kidnapped are killed. Four percent are never found,” he said, with others that followed. “And most abductions happen within a quarter-mile of the house.”

One of the basic tactics Byrnes advised parents and kids to use is the use of a code word. If the child says it to a stranger and does not get a response back, they should know not to follow them and stay put until the parent returns. Hailing from northern Westchester, Byrnes knows the stigma that can be placed on the environment, which he hopes to dispel.

“The further you go up from the city, people continue to think they’re safer, because we’re in a nice area,” Byrnes said. “But in the world we live in, you’re kids aren’t safe just because they’re upstate.”