“These attitudes are a pressure”: women with disabilities’ perceptions of how stigma shapes their sexual health choices

Abstract

Women with disabilities face numerous barriers to achieving sexual health on an equitable basis to others, including stigma about disability and sexuality. Yet, how specific stigmatising beliefs about disability and sexuality influence the choices women with disabilities make about their sexual health has not been studied widely. The present study sought to address this gap in the context of Sierra Leone. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women with disabilities (N = 32) and women without disabilities (N = 10). Societal stigma of disability linked with witchcraft was seen as a deterrent to accessing sexual and reproductive health services. Stigma about women with disabilities as burdens and about childless women with disabilities as pitiable were perceived as sources of pressure on disabled women’s reproductive choices. Concurrently, women with disabilities rejected common stigmatising beliefs held about their lives. Results are discussed in terms of practical implications for healthcare providers and policymakers in Sierra Leone.

Keywords:

• disability
• stigma
• sexuality
• sexual health
• attitudes

Acknowledgements

We thank Muallem Kamara at the Institute for Development Sierra Leone for assistance with this research and Georgina Page and Uri Pasos at MSI Reproductive Choices for their comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We also thank Leonard Cheshire, in particular Amyn Lalji, Elizabeth Johnson and Sarah Palmer; Marie Stopes Sierra Leone, in particular Alusine Jalloh and Gloria Tucker; and the Sierra Leone Union of Persons with Disabilities, in particular Santigie Kargbo for their assistance with research implementation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, MTC. The data are not publicly available due to their containing identifying information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Dilation and curettage is a medical procedure used to remove tissue from the inside of the uterus. Some women in Sierra Leone, If they have been trying to get pregnant but with no success, will have this procedure to clean the womb (sometimes due to an earlier unsafe abortion) to enable them become so.

Additional information

Funding

This study was part of the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health Project Lot 1, awarded to MSI Reproductive Choices and funded by the UK Foreign, and Commonwealth Development Office.