ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to explore occupational therapy’s historical engagement with sexuality interventions for people with disabilities. This chapter provides rationale for the importance of sexuality to the concept of self and quality of life and frames sexuality as an integral part of people’s everyday life. Common perceptions of people with disabilities as asexual and sometimes hypersexual, which disregard individuals with disabilities as healthy sexual beings, will be discussed. The authors provide an overview of the tensions that often lead to the invisibility of sexuality in occupational therapy practice and educational curricula. Then, this chapter suggests a human rights approach to assessment and intervention, to support the role occupational therapy could, and sometimes already does, play in enabling sexuality for people with disabilities. Specific suggestions are made for how occupational therapy education can address the sexuality goals of their clients and view people with disabilities truly holistically, thus acknowledging them as sexual beings.
(occupational therapy, sexuality, disability)
