“It's just more complicated!”: Experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities when navigating digital sexual fields

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study analyzes narratives to understand how adults with intellectual disabilities navigate the digital sexual fields available to them, given the barriers and constraints in their lives. There is a paucity of research that has looked at the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities when navigating digital sexual fields in their pursuit of romance and partnership. This paper draws on a larger qualitative inquiry with adults with intellectual disabilities (n = 46) in Ontario, Canada, focused on their romantic and sexual lives. In all, 15 participants discussed their views on and participation in a variety of dating websites and mobile applications. Their experiences of digital sexual fields were analyzed. This study uses a sexual fields framework informed by Bourdieusian field theory to explore how participants negotiate these digital spaces, whether and how they choose to disclose their disability status, how they manage their self-presentation, and how they attempt to articulate their sexual capital. For these participants, digital sexual fields have provided a unique opportunity to pursue potential intimate relationships in the face of social isolation and protectionism. At the same time, their experiences also highlight existing barriers to access and forms of ableism within digital sexual fields. Based on these exploratory findings, we contribute to the growing corpus and suggest that more research be conducted and resources allocated to supporting adults with intellectual disabilities to form intimate relationships in an increasingly digital world.