1. Running head: THE RIGHT FOR ALL PEOPLE TO PURSUE HUMAN SEXUALITY 1
The Right for All People to Pursue Human Sexuality:
Sex Education, Sexual Support, and the Right to Sexual Fulfillment for Persons with Disabilities
Shannon Cotterell
George Mason University

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Human sexuality is a difficult topic to teach and to understand due to its private and
sensitive nature. Parents/caregivers who do not want to or do not know how to have this
particular uncomfortable conversation with their children rely on the school system or another
outside source to instruct their children. Although some parents/caregivers believe that not
discussing human sexuality will keep their children safely ignorant, it actually puts their children
in a dangerously vulnerable position. Educators have recognized that they must not be reliant on
parents/caregivers to sufficiently teach their children about human sexuality, so sex education
has been incorporated into many curricula. Unfortunately, adequate sex education in special
education curricula is often lacking for many reasons – some of which will be discussed in detail
later in this paper – so there has been a recent surge to incorporate appropriate and
comprehensive sex education into core special education curricula.
How do special education teachers successfully teach their students about human
sexuality and sexual empowerment? Society needs to normalize the conversation. A plethora of
websites are available for parents, caregivers, educators, and individuals with disabilities to offer
support, advice, and resources in efforts to ease the conversation. One website in particular that
can offer accurate information is The Disability Scoop: The Premier Source for Developmental
Disability News. The Disability Scoop has published several articles regarding human sexuality
including articles urging birth control methods, dating, and general knowledge about sex. In
2009, the website published an article, “Scoop Essentials: Your Dating Questions Answered”
(Diament, 2009). In this article, support people of individuals with disabilities asked a sexuality
training specialist questions regarding dating and relationships. Answers in this article include
instructing parents/guardians that states differ on their stance if parents/guardians have the right
to decide if their child with a disability can partake in a sexual relationship, advising

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parents/caregivers on how to cope with a child who is masturbating in inappropriate settings, and
advising parents/caregivers on how to respond to their children having “obsessions”.
In addition to websites, there are organizations like International Planned Parenthood
Federation that advocate for educating people with disabilities about sex, sexuality, and sexual
expression. There are several publications on the federation’s website that discuss initiatives that
they have run in a variety of countries that have had the sole purpose of educating individuals
with disabilities about sex. In one particular publication, entitled “Sexual Health Empowerment
for Young People with Disabilities” (2013) it discusses the extremely gracious responses from
parents of the participants in the interventions. The emotional responses from the
parents/caregivers is evidence of how important it is for individuals with disabilities to be
educated well about sex and the absolute need for intervention.
Even a popular press resource like the New York Times discusses the need for
individuals with disabilities to be seen as people with sexual identities, desires, and fulfillment.
In one particular NY Times article, “Disabled People Say They, Too, Want a Sex Life and Seek
Help in Attaining It” (Baume, 2013). This article advocates that people with disabilities are
people first and the presence of a disability does not mean that sexual identity, expression, desire,
and fulfillment become absent.
Despite the fact that advocates, scholars, and educators are discussing the need to realize
that individuals with disabilities are severely lacking appropriate sex education and recognition
that these individuals need sexual support and the right to sexual fulfillment, there are still
obstacles that are preventing these individuals from getting the support and education that they
deserve. The most difficult obstacle to deal with regarding the right to sexual fulfillment is the
individual’s ability to advocate for themselves to give consent for sexual activity. As stated

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above, the official law stating on whether parents/guardians can dictate whether their child can
partake in a sexually active relationship. With that said, is it truly within the right of a
parent/guardian to determine whether their child can partake in sexual activities? Sexual
education across all boards suffers from extreme inconsistency if it is present within the curricula
at all. Therefore, another important obstacle that needs to be dealt with, particularly by educators,
is the regulation of the information given to the students partaking in special education curricula.
Unfortunately, our students are made vulnerable by teaching them to trust authority,
helpers, family, and friends. Their vulnerability which is not only increased by the nature of
some intellectual and developmental disabilities – like the inability or difficulty with identifying
and comprehending social cues – is also drastically increased by not being taught about sex in an
appropriate, accurate, and safe environment. An extremely imperative part of learning about sex
– especially for students with disabilities – is learning how to protect themselves from predators
and abuse.
This past semester I taught a Health and Safety course in which we discussed topics like
sexual identity, empowerment, and fulfillment, dating, and relationships. In addition to it being
extremely evident at how little my students knew, many of my students are not only made
uncomfortable by the topic of sex, but some are terrified by the prospect of having sex or even
learning about sex. If my students remember nothing else from this semester, it is my hope that
they remember that it is their right to have sexual identities, to learn about sex in a safe and
appropriate environment, and to seek sexual fulfillment in a consensual and safe relationship.
While in Mason LIFE’s program, participating in a sex education course is a mandatory
part of the curricula, many- if not most- programs give parents/guardians the right to opt their
children out of sex education courses. Unfortunately, when children are opted out of the sex

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education curricula, this often means that the child is not taught at all or is taught very
abbreviated or inaccurate information.
As humans, we fear the unknown but sexuality should not be feared, especially if it is
because it is an unknown. Sexuality should be embraced and fulfilled by everyone if they so
choose and individuals with disabilities have the right to make that choice. The extent to which
parents, guardians, and caregivers should be involved in that choice is unknown to me but what I
do know is that my students should not be afraid; they should be knowledgeable about sex,
enabled to make the decision to fulfill their sexual desires, and empowered to advocate and
protect themselves. The only way this can be achieved, the conversation about sex needs to be
normalized and the first way to do that is to provide accurate and appropriate information
through sex education being incorporated as a mandatory part of the curricula.

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References
Baume, M. (2013). Disabled people say they, too, want a sex life, and seek help in
attaining it. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/world/europe/disabled-people-say-they-too-want-a-
sex-life-and-seek-help-in-attaining-it.html
Diament, M. (2014). Many with Autism lack knowledge on sex, study finds. Disability Scoop.
Retrieved from https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/08/26/many-autism-knowledge-
sex/19621/
Diament, M. (2009). Scoop essentials: Your dating questions answered. Disability Scoop.
Retrieved from https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/01/19/dating101-your-
questions/1732/
Project Resources (n.d.). Disability and Abuse Project: When Disability and Abuse Intersect, We
Take Action. Retrieved from http://www.disability-abuse.com/resources/index.htm
Sexual health empowerment for young people with disabilities. (2013). International Planned
Parenthood Federation. Retrieved from http://www.ippf.org/our-
work/stories/volunteers/Sexual-health-empowerment-young-people-disabilities
Sweeney, L. (2007). Human sexuality education for students with special needs. MARSH.
Retrieved from http://www.ejhs.org/volume10/MarshMedia%20White%20Paper.pdf