ABSTRACT
The sexuality of people with disabilities is a topic fraught with controversy. Although the public often thinks of disabled people as asexual, this assumption could not be further from the truth. Physicians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, educators, social workers, and policy makers have been concerned about the sex lives of people with disabilities for more than a century. They have dedicated countless hours to collecting data and studying the intimate details of the bodies, minds, and desires of people with disabilities (Barnes, Mercer, and Shakespeare 1999:213–220; Shakespeare, Gillespie-Sells, and Davies 1996; Swain, French, and Cameron 2003:131–136). While many of these professionals had the best intentions, many more did not and conducted the research with the explicit goal of controlling reproduction and justifying sterilization and repressive marriage laws. Thus, when I began studying the relationship between sexuality and caregiving/receiving, I was mindful of the need to find data collection methods that offered a more empowering, even transformative, experience for research participants.
