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Myths, Manners and Methods: Approaches and Challenges to the Sexual Health Education Of Children with Intellectual Disabilities
by Sylvie Zebroff
This paper examines contemporary issues with and approaches to sexual health education (SHE) for persons with intellectual disabilities, with a particular focus on the pre-pubescent child population (ages 3 to 10). Included is a short review of the current literature, a contextual overview of the historical perspectives and the evolving social discourse that surrounds persons with intellectual disabilities and sexuality. Interview excerpts conducted with individual professionals in the fields of Education and Health and with individuals and families living with intellectual disability and sexual health education (SHE) issues are included, as well as a brief case study profiling the particularistic SHE education experiences of a 10 year-old non-verbal boy diagnosed with ASD and his family.
It will be argued that, despite challenges associated with SHE program development, implementation and delivery, it is a necessity that comprehensive and functional information be provided to persons with intellectual disabilities on an ongoing basis, from early childhood through to adulthood, as a method of enhancing and strengthening their own personal quality of life and healthy participation in the wider society. Furthermore, the potentially negative impacts of ignoring SHE are examined; the salient and realistic potential of a variety of negative personal, emotional and social outcomes for persons with disabilities (social alienation, loneliness, loss of "dreams," sexual, emotional and physical abuse, physical and emotional frustration) are identified. It will be argued here that SHE foundations should be provided from the earliest possible opportunity to everyone, and that sexuality be defined and normalized as an inevitable, intimate and enriching part of the human experience.
E-Mail: szebroff@shaw.ca
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