Let's Talk About Sex…and Disability Baby!

Abstract

This paper explores male and female perspectives on disability and sexuality. The topic of male disability and sexuality focuses mainly on men who have spinal cord injuries and use wheelchairs, and though important, this focus is due to the fact that not much information pertaining to men with other disabilities and their sexual experiences is available. The female section mostly concerns the abuse of women with disabilities, because they are seen as vulnerable by society. This paper is not a manual about sex for people with disabilities, but it discusses many of the fallacies that society has about people with disabilities and their sexualities.

The Romantic and Sexual Experiences of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in Ontario, Canada.

“…However, people with intellectual disabilities have commonly been seen as being incapable of having sexual desires and as being 'eternal children,' and many are shocked that people with intellectual disabilities have sexual desires or are sexually active. On the other hand, people with intellectual disabilities are also understood to have deviant and 'excessive' sexualities, which often leads to calls for restrictions on their sexual rights (Albertz and Lewiecki-Wilson 2008;Esmail et al 2009;McRuer 2015;Shakespeare 2014).…”