Disability and Sexuality

All people are sexual beings, regardless of their abilities and what type of support they may need from time to time or all of the time. It’s important for young people living with disabilities to learn about sexuality. Parents and guardians may try to protect young people with a disability from injury or harm by keeping information about sexuality from them or shielding them from dating or being in romantic or sexual relationships. Parent’s and guardian’s fears are not unfounded as young people living with disabilities are at greater risk of sexual abuse, assault and exploitation. (People with intellectual disabilities are seven times more likely to experience sexual assault than people without disabilities.) But parents and guardians do young people living with disabilities a disservice when they don’t educate them about privacy, what is appropriate, setting boundaries, healthy relationships, sexual assault, consent and how to be safe. Educating young people with disabilities about healthy sexuality supports them in establishing safe, healthy and developmentally appropriate relationships; identifying sexual assault; and communicating if someone has crossed a boundary with them.

Young people with disabilities have the same hormones and sexual needs and desires as other people, and they can have different sexual orientations (heterosexual, bisexual, gay, etc.) and gender identities (transgender, cisgender, gender nonconforming, etc.). Young people living with disabilities want the same thing everyone else wants in a relationship—respect, consent, communication and fun, which is why people regardless of their abilities need to learn about expressing romantic interest in a partner, healthy relationships, dealing with rejection and sexual health.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

If you have a child with a disability, it’s essential that you have conversations about topics like puberty, relationships and boundaries, so your child knows that they can come to you with questions. The easiest way to start these conversations is to talk about issues as they come up in everyday life, like while watching TV together.

Below are some ways to start these conversations: