“Everyone should get the chance to love”: Sexual health education and disability research-based theatre with self-advocates

Abstract

Too often, individuals with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) are left out of discussions on romantic relationships and sexuality. However, many individuals with IDD want to become sexually expressive, fulfilled persons who are sexually active, yet they are often denied the sexual health education to support their sexual agency. Given this, we conducted a three-year disability Research-based Theatre (RbT) project in New Westminster, British Columbia to better respond to the needs of individuals with IDD, who refer to themselves as self-advocates—those who speak and act with agency—regarding their sexual agency. The project, entitled Romance, Relationships, and Rights ( RRR), sought to disrupt sexual ableism, and present the lived experiences of self-advocates on stage. Throughout the three phases of RRR, the themes of sexual agency, self-advocacy, and self-determination arose. As an extension of this previous work, we take up these themes in a critical self-study where we reflect on the project across, within, and between each phase by focusing on the implications for sexual health education. We present findings about the impact of creating RRR to engage in a retrospective dialogue across all three phases to offer recommendations for intersectional, accessible, inclusive, and comprehensive sexual health education. Key recommendations include recognizing self-advocates’ rights to self-determination and sexual agency, active involvement, and hands-on approach to sexual health education where accessibility, flexibility, and an awareness of needs are built in to lesson plans and curriculum.

Enhancing Comprehensive Sexuality Education for Students with Disabilities: Insights from Ontario’s Educational Framework

“…Parents of students with disabilities may confront their own biases or stigmas related to sexuality, potentially hindering open discussions with their children [46]. Nevertheless, a growing group of students with disabilities across Canada are advocating for disability representation in sexuality education, aiming to spotlight the intersection of disability and sexuality within educational frameworks [47]. A unified effort is crucial to make Ontario's sexuality education more inclusive for students with disabilities and to encourage meaningful dialogues with their parents [4].…”

Disability Theatre as Critical Participatory Action Research: Lessons for Inclusive Research

“…Devised approaches to theatre such as Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed (Boal 2002) intersect well with disability theatre as both offer disabled actors opportunities to create characters, scenes, and messages that can directly address stereotypes and stigma. Disabled actors defining the issues, messages, and perimeter of disability theatre projects is an enactment of disability justice (Schnellert et al 2023). Bringing together disability justice, disability theatre, devised theatre, "press[es] the boundaries of aesthetic convention on the other.…”

“…Disability justice principles-e.g., centring the voices of those who are the most impacted, recognizing the wholeness of each person, interdependence, collective access as an ongoing flexible and creative process, and collective liberation where no body/mind is left behind-are clarion calls for action that centres the collective throughout the theatre research processes. Assumptions about how we communicate, how we live in the world, and how we make sense of the world can be transformed through research-based disability justice theatre (Schnellert et al 2023).…”

“…In 2017, we undertook a participatory theatre research project regarding the sexual agency of individuals with intellectual disabilities (Schnellert et al 2022(Schnellert et al , 2023. The development of the disability theatre project, "Romance, Relationships, and Rights (RRR)", was initiated when the executive director of a community living agency approached researchers at the University of British Columbia's Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship (CIIC) to learn about how their agency can better support self-advocates' sexual citizenship.…”

Enhancing Comprehensive Sexuality Education for Students with Disabilities: Insights from Ontario's Educational Framework

“…Parents of students with disabilities might grapple with their own reservations or stigmas related to sexuality, potentially inhibiting open dialogues with their offspring [28]. Yet, a burgeoning cohort of students with disabilities is actively championing disability advocacy in the realm of sexuality education, striving to illuminate the confluence of disability and sexuality within educational settings [29]. A concerted effort is imperative to render Ontario's sexuality education more inclusive for students with disabilities and to foster meaningful engagement with their parents [4].…”