Sexuality Education for the Disabled is Priority at Home and School
Tamara Kreinin, M.H.S.A
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The need for sexuality education for people with disabilities first came to my attention many years ago. I was the director of a sexual abuse prevention project. Many of our most urgent requests were from schools and classes with children with some sort of disability; teachers feared others would sexually take advantage of these students and frighten them. They also feared these students would not know how to respond.

This same need became apparent to me many years later – actually quite recently – when I was working on teenage pregnancy prevention. I frequently received requests from people around the country seeking information and strategies to address sexuality related issues with children with disabilities. Yet, I still had few good models to share.

Positive Sexuality Education
While I am heartened that teachers are beginning to acknowledge the needs of disabled youth, I am sadly struck that many of

their requests are based on preventing negative aspects of sexuality – sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, and disease. This is critical, but we still want to provide our young people, including those with disabilities, with accurate information and skills to lead them to view sexuality as a natural and healthy part of life.

People with physical, cognitive, or emotional disabilities have a right to sexuality education and reproductive health care. They have the same emotional and physical needs and desires as people who are not disabled. As young children, they need touch and physical contact; as they grow older, their interests in love and relationships will emerge.
It is often true that people with disabilities are first identified by their disability rather than by their talents, intelligence, attractiveness, or by the fact that they are sexual. This makes sexuality education all the more important.

Support at Schools, Agencies
Schools, social service agencies, and health care delivery systems must develop policies and procedures to address sexuality-related issues. The New York City School System and the Kansas State Department of Education each have excellent models (that are described in the February/March 2001 SIECUS report). It is important to note that each involves a consultant or staff member with specific knowledge about disabilities.

This clearly points to the need for teachers and health care providers to have training to understand and support these students’ need for information, skills, and related health care. This includes understanding the medical aspects of a disability and its impact on a student’s physical and emotional development.

When infants have developmental disabilities, their medical needs may impede some of the touch they would normally receive from family members. This lack of physical contact may impact their sexual development. Some young people experience difficulties with sexuality when their physical development does not correspond to their intellectual and social growth. This can cause anxiety and frustration. We all know that adolescents with disabilities experience sexual desires and interests even when no one is talking to them about their feelings. Teachers and health care providers must understand these issues and offer help.

Support at Home
Parents and caregivers need to start early to educate their children about sexuality-related issues and to continue the conversation well into their teen years. An important place for them to begin is to examine their own feelings and values about sexuality and about disabled individuals and sexual norms. Some parents have told me that they fear people will take advantage of their child. This makes them hesitant to provide information on sexuality issues. They say that they worry their child will not find reciprocated love and that someone will break their heart. This is what causes them to become overly protective. All of these concerns point to their need to receive information, skills, and support to educate their child. Ideally, schools, community agencies, and members of the medical community, such as a well-trained pediatrician, nurse, or other practitioner will help.

Conclusion
Fortunately, we have more resources today than we had nearly two decades ago when I first started thinking about the sexuality education needs of young people with disabilities. It is my hope that this will encourage teachers, providers, and parents to dispel myths, educate others, and continue to raise the important issue of sexuality education for young people with disabilities.

The preceding article was reprinted with permission from “The SIECUS Report,” Feb/Mar 2001. We would like to thank Mac Edwards, editor, for allowing us to share this article with our readers.

“The SIECUS Report” is distributed to SIECUS members, professionals, organizations, government officials, libraries, the media, and the general public. Inquiries may be directed to: www.siecus.org, or call 212-819-9770

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