‘The silence is roaring’: sterilization, reproductive rights and women with intellectual disabilities

Tilley, Liz; Walmsley, Jan; Earle, Sarah; Atkinson, Dorothy

doi:10.1080/09687599.2012.654991

Cited by 110 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This legislation particularly targeted those with learning difficulties, over the last two centuries. Similar findings were made by Tilley, Walmsley, Earle & Atkinson (2012), who observe that these practices were not limited to the US. They were also practiced by purportedly liberal governments in Canada and Northern Europe.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 74%

The epistemological model of disability, and its role in understanding passive exclusion in eighteenth and nineteenth century Protestant educational asylums in the USA and Britain

Hayhoe

2016

International Journal of Christianity & Education

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This article examines how the process of constructing knowledge on impairment has affected the institutional construction of an ethic of disability. Its primary finding is that the process of creating knowledge in a number of historical contexts was influenced more by traditions and the biases of philosophers and educators in order to signify moral and intellectual superiority, than by a desire to improve the lives of disabled people through education. The article illustrates this epistemological process in a case study of the development of Protestant asylums in the latter years of the nineteenth century.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 74%

The epistemological model of disability, and its role in understanding passive exclusion in eighteenth and nineteenth century Protestant educational asylums in the USA and Britain

Hayhoe

2016

International Journal of Christianity & Education

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“…At the same time, gendered norms in India place an expectation on women to become childbearing wives, but the stigma disabled women face frequently excludes them from performing this social role [13,14]. Disabled women in India may therefore face multiple discrimination: social exclusion, lack of autonomy over their SRH, vulnerability to violence, forced sterilisation and lack of access to SRH care [13,15–17]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘You’re disabled, why did you have sex in the first place?’ An intersectional analysis of experiences of disabled women with regard to their sexual and reproductive health and rights in Gujarat State, India

Dean

Tolhurst

Khanna³

et al. 2017

Global Health Action

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ABSTRACTBackground: Globally, disabled people have significant unmet needs in relation to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Disabled women in India face multiple discrimination: social exclusion, lack of autonomy with regard to their SRH, vulnerability to violence, and lack of access to SRH care. While they may face shared challenges, an intersectional perspective suggests that considering disabled women as a uniform and ‘vulnerable’ group is likely to mask multiple differences in their lived experiences. Objective: To explore commonality and heterogeneity in the experiences of disabled women in relation to their SRH needs and rights in Gujarat State, India. Methods: We conducted 22 in-depth qualitative interviews with women between the ages of 18 and 49 with any form of self-identified disability. Intersectionality was used as a lens for analysis and in sampling. Results: Findings explore the experiences of disabled women in a number of different spheres related to decision making and SRH service use. Conclusions: Recognising heterogeneity is critical to inform rights-based approaches to promote SRH and rights for all disabled women. This suggests a need to encourage strategic alliances between social movements for gender equity and SRH and disability rights, in which common interests and agendas can be pursued whilst recognising and respecting differences.

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“…Anxieties regarding risk of abuse and the ability of women with learning disabilities to cope with pregnancy, labour and child-rearing endure among professionals, family members and women themselves (Anous and Feldman, 2002;Chapman et al, forthcoming), and concerns about child welfare and protection lead to many mothers with learning disabilities losing their children (Llewellyn et al, 2010). Although applications to the courts for the sterilisation of women with learning disabilities continue to be considered (Stansfield et al, 2007;McCarthy 2009aMcCarthy , 2010aRowlands, 2011), the literature indicates that in the early 21 st century, women's capacity to conceive and bear children is, in the main, controlled through social and contraceptive care interventions (McCarthy 2009a(McCarthy , 2010aTilley et al, 2012) rather than surgical sterilisation.…”

Section: Balancing Rights With Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Sweden, 60,000 people with learning disabilities, mostly women, were legally sterilised between 1935 and 1976 (Engwall, 2004), often as a precondition for leaving the institution. Other countries, like the UK, never legislated to permit involuntary sterilisation, but there are indications that sterilisation was in widespread use until the later part of the twentieth century (Stansfield et al, 2007;Tilley et al 2012;Walmsley et al, forthcoming). This nurse recalled practice in the learning disability hospital where she worked in the 1970s and 1980s:…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Contraceptive decision-making and women with learning disabilities

et al. 2016

Self Cite

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This article explores contraceptive decision-making for women with learning disabilities. It sets the historical context of reproductive control by highlighting former practices which overtly aimed to prevent women with learning disabilities from conceiving. This is contrasted with a current legislative framework that strongly endorses the human and reproductive rights of women with learning disabilities. The article presents findings from a small scale, UK-based survey that invited third parties involved in supporting women with learning disabilities with contraceptive decision-making to share their views and experiences. The survey indicated apparent continuities in practice, showing that key decisions over contraceptive care are often made by other people and not by women themselves. The increasing evidence of a gap between policy and practice is explored; this suggests a need for further research, including studies to explore the experiences of women with high support needs where there may be particular issues in relation to the management of menstruation, decision-making and capacity to consent.

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‘The silence is roaring’: sterilization, reproductive rights and women with intellectual disabilities

Cited by 110 publications

References 28 publications

The epistemological model of disability, and its role in understanding passive exclusion in eighteenth and nineteenth century Protestant educational asylums in the USA and Britain

The epistemological model of disability, and its role in understanding passive exclusion in eighteenth and nineteenth century Protestant educational asylums in the USA and Britain

‘You’re disabled, why did you have sex in the first place?’ An intersectional analysis of experiences of disabled women with regard to their sexual and reproductive health and rights in Gujarat State, India

Contraceptive decision-making and women with learning disabilities

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