Disabilities and sexuality
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – came into force on 3 May 2008 (http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid =13&pid=162). While the link between living with a disability and an individual’s risk of being disadvantaged or discriminated against is clear – the focus is often on issues of equity and access to employment and services, and the physical health needs of individuals. However, when focusing broadly on rights, the gender and sexuality of people living with a disability can easily be rendered invisible, or subjugated to other seemingly ‘higher order’ issues.
A human rights perspective calls into focus the broader issues of a person’s sexual health, sexual identity, and sexual expression. This presentation will focus on research looking at the experience of sexual assault and sexual victimisation, homophobia, and gender-based discrimination. Child rights and child protection issues will also be explored in terms of both parental disability (and its connection to parenting capacity, gender and attributions of responsibility), and child disability, and the vulnerability to maltreatment, including sexual abuse. Recognising and balancing these complex and sometimes apparent competing self-identities/roles is complex, yet inherent within a truly human rights framework.
