+ Introduction and Background
          + Sexual Violence and Child Protection
          + Polices, Rights, and Education on Sexuality
          + Concluding Comment
          + Author Notes
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   Disabled young people are sexual beings, and deserve equal rights and
   opportunities to have control over, choices about, and access to their
   sexuality, sexual expression, and fulfilling relationships throughout
   their lives. This is critical to their overall physical, emotional, and
   social health and well-being. However, societal misconceptions of
   disabled bodies being non-normative, other, or deviant has somewhat
   shaped how the sexuality of disabled people has been constructed as
   problematic under the public gaze. The pervasive belief that disabled
   people are asexual creates barriers to sexual citizenship for disabled
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   educationalists, and health and social care professionals are aware and
   appropriately equipped with knowledge and resources to formally educate
   disabled young people about sexuality and well-being on par to their
   non-disabled peers.

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   Disabled young people are sexual beings, and deserve equal rights and
   opportunities to have control over, choices about, and access to their
   sexuality, sexual expression, and fulfilling relationships throughout
   their lives. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights
   of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) (United Nations, 2006) guarantees
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   others in all aspects of their lives.” Although not explicit in the
   Article, such aspects include those pertaining to sex and
   relationships. Sexuality and sexual relationships are fundamental parts
   of every human life, and are critical to overall physical, emotional,
   and social health and well-being. As pointed out by the World Health
   Organization (2012), sexuality is a global issue, central to human
   development and thus “… requires a positive and respectful approach to
   sexuality and sexual relationships as well as the possibility of having
   pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion,
   discrimination, and violence.” Armed with knowledge about sexual
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   Within “private life” includes the right to a sexual life, and to
   engage in relationships of their choice with others as long as it did
   not involve hurting others. Although sexuality is conceived as a
   “private” matter, it is highly regulated by institutional and
   individually directed normative values. Sexual citizenship is about
   ascertaining legal and social rights for a sexual identity (Bacchi and
   Beasley, 2002). However, it can be argued that as disabled bodies are
   constructed as non-normative, the sexuality of disabled people is not
   accepted but seen as problematic under the public gaze. As Shildrick
   (2013), p. 3, put it “both sex and disability threaten to breach
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   sex, and reproduction (Shakespeare et al., 1996; Davis, 2000). Parents,
   educationalists, and health professionals often feel uncomfortable or
   unprepared to discuss issues around sexuality with disabled young
   people (East and Orchard, 2014). As discussed above, this could be
   attributed to the exclusion of disabled people from normative
   definitions of sexuality coupled with the pervasive societal
   devaluation of disability and the cultural scripts that portray
   disabled people as asexual beings (Payne et al., 2016). For instance,
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   The stigma, limited communication, and inadequate resources in relation
   to sexuality and disability can have detrimental effects on the
   physical and psychological health and well-being of disabled young
   people. It can lead to confusion about their sexual identity, reduced
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   to the individual needs of the child.

Polices, Rights, and Education on Sexuality

   Sexual identity is a basic human right and an essential aspect of
   healthy development. Rule 9.2 of the UN Standard Rules on the
   Equalization of Persons with Disabilities argues that disabled people
   have a right to “…experience sexuality, have sexual
   relationships…information in accessible form on the sexual functioning
   of their bodies.” (United Nations, 1993: 9.2). The UNCRPD (United
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   However, unlike discrimination in education or employment, access to
   sexuality and relationships does not get priority status on the
   equality agenda even though it is a basic human right and an essential
   aspect of health and development. As the American sociologist and
   disabled woman, Finger (1992), p. 9, puts it:

   Sexuality is often the source of our deepest oppression; it is often
   the source of our deepest pain. It’s easier for us to talk about—and
   formulate strategies for changing—discrimination in employment,
   education and housing than to talk about our exclusion from sexuality
   and reproduction.

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   are rarely portrayed as sexually attractive or active. While their
   public lives in public spaces are accepted as valid topics for public
   discussion, their private lives (sexuality and emotional desires and
   needs) are perceived as taboo and excluded from public discussions
   about the everyday (Lamb and Layzell, 1994). The negative messages
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   important social processes and childhood socialization by differential
   mechanisms of surveillance and segregation, and are consequently
   prevented from developing their sexuality and exploring their sexual
   identity and body at the same level as non-disabled children.

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   Exploring the views and concerns of health professionals, educators,
   parents, and disabled young people in relation to issues of sexuality
   and disability is important to inform the development of inclusive
   resources for disabled young people to learn about sexual health and
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   Keywords: sex education, disability, abuse, sexuality, citizenship

   Citation: Shah S (2017) “Disabled People Are Sexual Citizens Too”: