Accessible summary• This paper talks about what a group of people with intellectual disabilities in Ireland had to say about their experiences of relationships and sexuality, and the type of support they might like in this area of their lives. • Many people did not get enough information about sexuality. There were lots of things they did not understand properly and they wanted more information. • Many people wanted to have boyfriend and girlfriend relationships, but relationships were not allowed in their service. Some people had to have relationships in secret. • In Ireland it is against the law to have a sexual relationship with a person who cannot live without support, or protect themselves from abuse, unless you are married. • The law needs to be changed because some people with intellectual disabilities who need support in their lives are still capable of having sexual relationships and protecting themselves from abuse. • People with intellectual disabilities need better sexual information and need support to have their voices heard by government.
SummaryHow to translate the right of people with intellectual disabilities to a full sexual and intimate life into proactive support remains a challenge for disabilities services in Ireland. Little formal research has been undertaken in this country into what people with intellectual disabilities think about these issues and what they would like to see happen in this area of their lives. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the first author's PhD research into the views and experiences of a small group of Irish people with intellectual disabilities in the area of sexuality and relationships. Initial findings suggest that people with intellectual disabilities are getting insufficient sex education and that changes are needed at a disabilities service level to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities can express their sexuality in an open and supportive climate. At a government level, changes will need to be made to Irish legislation concerning the sexuality of vulnerable adults so that this country is
Delivering access to sufficient food, energy and water resources to ensure human wellbeing is a major concern for governments worldwide. However, it is crucial to account for the ‘nexus’ of interactions between these natural resources and the consequent implications for human wellbeing. The private sector has a critical role in driving positive change towards more sustainable nexus management and could reap considerable benefits from collaboration with researchers to devise solutions to some of the foremost sustainability challenges of today. Yet opportunities are missed because the private sector is rarely involved in the formulation of deliverable research priorities. We convened senior research scientists and influential business leaders to collaboratively identify the top forty questions that, if answered, would best help companies understand and manage their food-energy-water-environment nexus dependencies and impacts. Codification of the top order nexus themes highlighted research priorities around development of pragmatic yet credible tools that allow businesses to incorporate nexus interactions into their decision-making; demonstration of the business case for more sustainable nexus management; identification of the most effective levers for behaviour change; and understanding incentives or circumstances that allow individuals and businesses to take a leadership stance. Greater investment in the complex but productive relations between the private sector and research community will create deeper and more meaningful collaboration and cooperation.
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