Developmental Disability and Sexual Rights

Sexuality belongs to ordinary adult life, yet people with developmental disabilities often meet barriers to dating, friendship and intimacy that others never face. Self-advocacy groups in Alberta have argued that these barriers come from social habits and administrative systems rather than from the disability itself, and that decisions about identity, relationships and consent belong to the individual.

A report from Alberta described how an Edmonton-based federation of self-advocates pressed for these rights even when public attention lay elsewhere.

The label of asexuality

A member of the federation observed that adults with cognitive disabilities are often presumed asexual, by government and by family. The presumption, he said, clings harder to people born with a disability than to those who acquire one later. When an agency or a household treats an adult as permanently childlike, conversations about desire, orientation or partnership seldom begin.

Housing, programs and gatekeepers

Group homes and day programs decide who lives and spends time together, which shapes who can meet a possible partner. In the member's account, placement can even separate people who are drawn to each other. Guardians, social workers and agencies sometimes avoid the subject, which advocates attribute to protectiveness and to concern about liability or funding. The same fear can keep people from joining advocacy groups at all, which helps explain why membership stays modest even where many organizations exist.

He added that relationships of every kind are affected, not only romantic ones. When dating and friendship have little room to develop, a step in the usual progression of social life is skipped.

Queer people with developmental disabilities

Where families or services do accept a relationship, the assumption is generally that it will be heterosexual. Projects in Alberta have aimed to help people of all orientations feel comfortable with who they are and to raise awareness among carers, and some have worked with sexual health organizations on safer-sex materials in accessible formats.

Allies and attitudes

Because members have met condescension from outsiders, some groups screen potential allies. Some self-advocacy groups interview prospective supporters before accepting them as allies. The aim is to avoid partners who see themselves as above the people they assist.

Reproduction is an especially sensitive point. Guardians may worry that a child will also have a disability or that they themselves will end up providing care. The member described the surrounding attitudes as dogma and argued that public awareness could show what people with disabilities achieve.

The wider rights framework

Canada is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The treaty addresses respect for home and family, including the freedom to decide about relationships and parenthood. How far services and law in practice meet that standard remains an open question among advocates, governments and service providers.