Cripping sex education: lessons learned from a programme aimed at young people with mobility impairments

Abstract

This paper analyses sexuality and relationship education (SRE) in a Swedish college programme aimed at young people with mobility impairments. Interviews and focus groups were conducted to explore students’ experiences of the structure, content and usefulness of SRE, and college personnel’s SRE practices. Results show that, although many of the issues covered are pertinent for all young people, being disabled raises additional concerns: for example how to handle de-sexualising attitudes, possible sexual practices, and how reliance on assistance impacts upon privacy. Crip theory is used as an analytical framework to identify, challenge and politicise sexual norms and practices. Students’ experiences of living in a disablist, heteronormative society can be used as resources for developing cripistemologies, which challenge the private/public binary that often de-legitimises learners’ experiences and separates them from teachers’ ‘proper’ knowledge production. Crip SRE would likely hold benefits for non-disabled pupils as well, through its use of more inclusive pedagogy and in work to expand sexual possibilities. Crip SRE has the potential to disrupt taken-for-granted dis/ability and sexuality divides as well as to politicise issues that many young people presently experience as ‘personal shortcomings’.

Keywords:

• Sexuality
• disability
• young disabled people
• crip theory
• special education
• Sweden

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to pupils and school personnel for generously sharing their experiences. I would like to thank Kamilla Peuravaara for fruitful discussions during the preparation of the grant application and Andrea Hollomotz and Hans Olsson for constructive feedback on a draft of this paper. Lastly, I appreciate comments from three anonymous reviewers whose feedback inspired me to deepen my analysis.

Notes

1. As used here, the term habilitation refers to a process aimed at helping disabled people attain, keep or improve skills and functioning for daily living; it includes physical, occupational, and speech-language therapy, various treatments related to pain management, and audiology and other services offered in hospital and outpatient locations. See http://www.riglobal.org/projects/habilitation-rehabilitation/ (accessed 18 March 2018).