‘Disability and sexuality: claiming sexual and reproductive rights’, by Renu Addlakha, Janet Price, and Shirin Heidari, was originally published in the International Journal of Reproductive Health Matters.

What barriers do people – especially women with disabilities – experience in accessing SRH services, particularly in the health sector? What context-specific strategies should be developed to facilitate recognition of the sexuality and reproductive rights of people with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities? How can appropriate SRH services be made available to people with disabilities in their communities?

Introduction: “More than 15% of the world’s population are affected by disability, including physical and sensory impairments, developmental and intellectual disability and psychosocial disability. While it goes without saying that people with disability have equal rights to sexual and reproductive desires and hopes as non-disabled people, society has disregarded their sexuality and reproductive concerns, aspirations and human rights. People with disabilities are infantilised and held to be asexual (or in some cases, hypersexual), incapable of reproduction and unfit sexual/marriage partners or parents. The sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of people with disabilities continue to be contested, and there are particular concerns in relation to women with disabilities. For women, disability often means exclusion from a life of femininity, partnership, active sexuality and denial of opportunities for motherhood.”

Read the full article here: Disability and Sexuality Claiming Sexual and Reproductive Rights