‘Love makes me feel good inside and my heart is fixed’: What adults with intellectual disabilities have to say about love and relationships

Abstract

Background Adults with intellectual disabilities have historically been hindered, rather than supported, in their desire to form loving relationships. This paper sought to explore with them what kinds of support they wanted in the 21st Century. Method Semi‐structured in‐depth interviews were conducted with 40 adults with intellectual disabilities in the United Kingdom. Results Participants placed a high value on having a partner and being supported to maintain and develop a loving relationship. The factors which constrained them in achieving this included a lack of social opportunities, barriers created by social care services and limits on them exercising autonomy. Facilitating factors included access to specialist dating agencies, strong family and staff support and opportunities to learn about relationships. Conclusions The importance of a loving relationship as a source of pleasure and meaning in the lives of adults with intellectual disabilities who are often disadvantaged in many other spheres of life is emphasised.

Couples with intellectual disability where one partner has dementia – a scoping review exploring relationships in the context of dementia and intellectual disability

“…All three articles from Israel were conducted by the same researcher and explored couple relationships from the perspectives of people with intellectual disability, family members or professionals (Neuman, 2020a(Neuman, , 2020c(Neuman, , 2020b. Likewise, three of the UK publications included the same researchers, with two focusing on the perspectives of people with intellectual disability (Bates et al, 2017;McCarthy et al, 2022) and one on the views of support staff (Bates et al, 2020). Overall, six articles explored the topic from the perspective of people with intellectual disability (Bane et al, 2012;Lafferty et al, 2013;Bates et al, 2017;Puyaltó et al, 2019;Neuman, 2020b;McCarthy et al, 2022), one article included the perspectives of both people with intellectual disability and staff (Abbott and Burns, 2007), two utilised the perspective of professionals only (Bates et al, 2020;Neuman, 2020a) and one article focused on the experiences of parents (Neuman, 2020c).…”

“…Likewise, three of the UK publications included the same researchers, with two focusing on the perspectives of people with intellectual disability (Bates et al, 2017;McCarthy et al, 2022) and one on the views of support staff (Bates et al, 2020). Overall, six articles explored the topic from the perspective of people with intellectual disability (Bane et al, 2012;Lafferty et al, 2013;Bates et al, 2017;Puyaltó et al, 2019;Neuman, 2020b;McCarthy et al, 2022), one article included the perspectives of both people with intellectual disability and staff (Abbott and Burns, 2007), two utilised the perspective of professionals only (Bates et al, 2020;Neuman, 2020a) and one article focused on the experiences of parents (Neuman, 2020c). Eight studies included data on experiences of heterosexual relationships, with only Abbott and Burns (2007) including experiences of LGB people with intellectual disability, and the study by McCarthy et al (2022) including two participants attracted to the same sex.…”

“…Overall, six articles explored the topic from the perspective of people with intellectual disability (Bane et al, 2012;Lafferty et al, 2013;Bates et al, 2017;Puyaltó et al, 2019;Neuman, 2020b;McCarthy et al, 2022), one article included the perspectives of both people with intellectual disability and staff (Abbott and Burns, 2007), two utilised the perspective of professionals only (Bates et al, 2020;Neuman, 2020a) and one article focused on the experiences of parents (Neuman, 2020c). Eight studies included data on experiences of heterosexual relationships, with only Abbott and Burns (2007) including experiences of LGB people with intellectual disability, and the study by McCarthy et al (2022) including two participants attracted to the same sex. Three studies had inclusive research teams with people with intellectual disability acting as co-researchers and advisers (Bane et al, 2012;Puyaltó et al, 2019;McCarthy et al, 2022).…”

“…Eight studies included data on experiences of heterosexual relationships, with only Abbott and Burns (2007) including experiences of LGB people with intellectual disability, and the study by McCarthy et al (2022) including two participants attracted to the same sex. Three studies had inclusive research teams with people with intellectual disability acting as co-researchers and advisers (Bane et al, 2012;Puyaltó et al, 2019;McCarthy et al, 2022). All three were the only studies in this search that referred to using alternative data collection methods alongside interviews to explore the topic with participants with intellectual disability.…”

“…The included studies provided evidence of barriers to people forming relationships, ranging from lack of staff training, attitudes of staff, cultural views of people with intellectual disability as vulnerable and different, to environmental barriers such as lack of access to private living spaces and own accommodation (Bane et al, 2012;Lafferty et al, 2013;Bates et al, 2020;Neuman, 2020a;McCarthy et al, 2022). Additionally, our findings suggest that moves to new services and couples not living together can be particular barriers for couples with intellectual disability to maintain relationships due to a lack of access to transport and dependence on staff to support visits (Bane et al, 2012;Lafferty et al, 2013;McCarthy et al, 2022). However, information about everyday experiences of couples remained somewhat superficial.…”