ABSTRACT
At the height of a policy-orientated commitment to the inclusion and human rights of people with intellectual disabilities in the UK, LGBT+ issues were highlighted. This followed a general climate of silence and invisibility for people with intellectual disabilities who identified as LGBT+. Research at the time suggested that this group faced significant barriers to realising human rights pertaining to inclusion and freedom from discrimination. Since the 2000s, there has been serious retrenchment of public spending and the lives of people with intellectual disabilities have not made obvious, systemic progress. At the same time, local initiates to support LGBT+ people with intellectual disabilities have sprung up across the UK —some lasting for several years and others not. This chapter takes stock of where things might be now and how the voices of LGBT+ people with intellectual disabilities survive and thrive as austerity continues and attitudes towards disabled people, in general, both evolve and sharpen.
(intellectual disability, sexuality, LGBT+, austerity)
