ABSTRACT
People with disabilities are subject to exclusion and discrimination. This chapter discusses the specific discussion of sensory impairments in order to highlight areas of divergence in experience, but the reader must note that much of the discussion of sexuality and disability broadly is relevant to people with sensory impairments. Sexuality is constructed as something that is dependent on ability, vitality and conventional standards of beauty and performances of gender. Disability is constructed as something which renders one weak, dependant and tragic or childlike. As in the case of physical disability, most people with intellectual disabilities strive for, and want, ‘autonomy, sex, secrets and desire in their lives’. As is apparent, research on sexuality in the context of disability is marked by a number of intersecting themes, many of which are characteristic of ongoing, seemingly intractable problems with which the field must grapple. Structural barriers are very much interlinked with the attitudinal barriers encountered by people with disabilities.
