Narratives of Personal Health and Sexual Education Experiences of Emerging Adults with Disabilities

Abstract

Disabled communities’ sexualities have been historically oppressed. Currently in the U.S., public school curricula do not include inclusive sexual education and students with disabilities are often left out of classrooms that discuss any amount of personal health and sexual education (PHSE). Research on the disabled population is filled with samples of non-disabled individuals imposing their opinions on a population that they do not belong to. The purpose of this study was to capture lived experiences of ways emerging adults with disabilities learned about PHSE. Individuals with varied disabilities were intentionally included to add breadth to the research field. The final sample consisted of eight individuals (75% female, 87% White, mean age of 21.5). After conducting narrative interviews and analyses, four story types were generated: (1) “The Self-Guided Journey”, (2) “Experience is the Best Teacher”, (3) “Personal Health Matters More”, and (4) “Two Ears, One Mouth”. Our findings highlighted the lack of formal support and access to adequate, relevant information about sexuality for disabled communities. Informal sources, like families and media, sometimes served as helpful resources for PHSE and disabilities. Individuals’ disability symptoms and personal characteristics need to be considered when crafting universally applicable personal health and sexuality education.