This is a highly contentious issue, highlighting some of the outdated attitudes that individuals, Governments, and institutions, including care facilities and medical professionals, still hold towards people with disabilities.
Sexuality education and disability: examples from Germany
On average, the hormonal injection only accounts for 1% of the contraceptives in use in Germany, which makes it relatively unpopular. Among women with disabilities, however, the hormonal injection is the most commonly used form of contraception. Unfortunately, this is not always down to a free and informed choice.
In 2008, for example, the case of a woman with an intellectual disability and severe diabetes came before the Higher Regional Court. She lived in a care facility, was sexually active and wished to have children. Her carer however, against her patient’s will, got a doctor involved who restrained the patient and dispensed the hormonal contraceptive injection. When the carer tried to have a follow-up shot dispensed later, the patient managed to reach out to a lawyer and brought her case to court – which ruled that yes, there was no legal basis for the forced use of contraceptives. Interestingly, it remains unclear if criminal charges were pressed – the carer certainly broke the law, so logically she should have been punished.
What may seem like an isolated incident is in fact very common. A 2012 study on the women’s livelihoods health and challenges of people with disabilities in Germany found that 18% of women with disabilities who live independently are sterilised. In care facilities, this figure rises to 30%, with only 53% of these procedures having been consented to. That’s staggering.
Far too many people view people with disabilities as asexual. As if being a sexual being and experiencing one’s sexuality is reserved for able minds and bodies only. In practice, this outdated perception is incredibly harmful. Only 1 in 2 people with intellectual disabilities in care facilities have access to sexual health education. This means that consent to the use of contraceptives is not necessarily informed or based on a comprehensive understanding of how they work.
Furthermore, this often places people with disabilities at a heightened risk of sexual assault and abuse, sadly even at the hands of their carers and doctors.
Furthermore, this often places people with disabilities at a heightened risk of sexual assault and abuse, sadly even at the hands of their carers and doctors.
Disability, Development and sexuality: examples from Vietnam
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation offers long-term shelter, educational opportunities and escape for Vietnamese children and young adults from their places of slavery. In October 2014, Blue Dragon dealt with “one of the worst cases of sexual exploitation of a vulnerable child we have seen and it shocked us all”. ‘T’, a fourteen year old deaf and intellectually impaired boy from Viet Nam, was savagely beaten and raped by his neighbour.
The Blue Dragon team was able to mobilise legal support, access treatment for ‘T’, gain representation in court, and secure care for the family to recover from their ordeal. The attacker was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, which is very low by international standards. However, in Viet Nam this is a major achievement as current domestic law does not consider sexually assaulting a boy as a criminal offence.
Sexual assaults of people with disabilities seem to be a widespread problem in developing countries. A 2004 report by Save the Children Norway on sexual abuse and disabilities in Zimbabwe estimates that 87.4% of girls with disabilities have been sexually abused. Of those who had been sexually abused, 52.4% tested positive for HIV. In the developing world, laws, policies and prevailing attitudes do little to protect disabled people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Human Rights and sexuality
The UN declaration on the rights of People with Disabilities takes one of the most radical approaches to disability and reproductive rights. Basically, it states that reproductive rights are a Human Right, including the right to marry and the right to be a parent. For people with disabilities, this means that access must be provided to be comprehensive, appropriate and judgment-free information about contraceptives, safe sex, sexuality and their bodies. In practice, educators, care facilities, medical professionals and social services are required to adjust sexual health education programmes and materials, and to tailor them to the needs and abilities of all people with disabilities.
Ultimately, what heated debates and controversies about sexuality and disabilities come down to are moral arguments about who has the right to be a parent. I’m sure we all know examples of bad parents, who lack much needed support and guidance – regardless of their abilities. Being a good parent is determined by compassion, love and care, not by intellectual and bodily capacities.
Global efforts need to be made at all levels to ensure that disabled people are able to lead a healthy life with regard to sexual and reproductive health. Protecting these rights, and spreading knowledge and information are key to tackling the current discrimination that people with disabilities face.
To learn more about sexual health, head over to http://theintimateinitiative.com/blog/.
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