A Look at the Sexuality of People with Disabilities

A Look at the Sexuality of People with Disabilities

What is the place of people with disabilities and their sexuality in the social imaginary? Is comprehensive sex education accessible? Do we tailor it to the needs of these people?

These and other questions were addressed in the panel «Disabilities, Sexualities and Didactic Resources,» promoted by the Cuban Multidisciplinary Association for the Study of Sexuality (Socumes in Spanish) and held at the Casa del Alba Cultural in Havana.

The meeting was coordinated by Lucía Ajete, professor at the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex), and was also attended by psychopedagogue Deisy Ferrera and researcher Imilla Campos, who presented the results of a project related to the education of families with adolescents with mental disorders.

Lucía drew attention to the prejudices against these people and to the considerations about their sexuality, which is more complex and requires a more comprehensive view.

She also referred to the need to train human resources for their performance in society and how different sexual orientations and interests manifest themselves in them. «There are as many sexualities as there are forms of expression of sexuality, but there are also different forms of manifestation of different disabilities and health situations,» she said.

Deisy, for her part, commented on social skills for caring for people with disabilities, mentioning the development of self-awareness, empathy, self-discovery, assertiveness and conflict resolution strategies.

She also expressed that these relationships, due to their complexity and the presence of contextual elements, require a stable emotional climate in which family education is necessary.

Socumes is a non-governmental organization with a national character, in which professionals working in areas related to the study of human sexuality participate. One of its main focuses is related to the definition and solution of problems in the disciplines of sexology.

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez

Autor

Lázaro Hernández Rey