Without any federal regulations requiring sex education in schools, each state independently controls its health education curriculum. As a result, only 60% of states require sex education in their schools, and even within this percentage, the actual education varies from abstinence-only to comprehensive, with the latter representing the smallest population. As a result, the majority of educators across the country are either not permitted to discuss contraceptive care at all or are not required to provide scientific or evidence-based information about contraceptives. Out of the few states that require comprehensive sex education, only five include educational mandates that apply to students with disabilities, and two of these are optional. Because of the unique educational needs of these students, specific regulations on sex education that will cater to them, in particular, are necessary.
Youth with behavioral disabilities experience an increased risk of impulsive behaviors which can include sexual activity. Coupled with a lack of comprehensive education, these students can be at higher risk for unplanned pregnancies, contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and encountering dangerous sexual situations. For this reason, ensuring that these students are educated as much as possible about these topics is critical to their health and development.
A few particular challenges for students with mental disabilities include limited ability to generalize information from experience and difficulty understanding abstract concepts. For sex education, many general educators lean on abstract terminology in favor of avoiding humorous or uncomfortable words. Common phrases include, “the birds and the bees” or “wrap it up” which may be obvious in meaning to some, but for students with disabilities, this connection is less clear. Many of these students actually benefit from the use of clinical terminology, referring to sexual concepts and human anatomy as what they actually are. Additionally, these students may have higher difficulty extrapolating the connection between education and their personal experiences and may struggle to connect their own sexuality with the teachings in the classroom. To educate these students, role-playing and real-life scenarios can help contextualize the information they learn and help them apply it to their own experiences.
Oftentimes in the U.S. public education system specifically, students with disabilities will receive a wide variety of educational models based on their specific needs, which can range from full inclusion in the classroom to having a special education teacher in addition to their general classes be fully separated from the other students and taught in a dedicated special education environment. While this model, enforced by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, more adequately assesses the needs of each child, it creates a situation in which there is no single way to address health education for disabled students. The responsibility may fall on general education teachers, special education teachers, social workers, parents, or any other adults involved in the education of a particular child.
The most significant topics for parents and teachers to discuss with these students include personal hygiene and safety along with setting personal boundaries and learning about wanted or unwanted touch, which can help protect them from sexual abuse. With disabled students disproportionately experiencing higher rates of sexual abuse, these topics become even more important to discuss, starting at a young age. However, because this sexual education ultimately becomes the responsibility of the parents without mandates from the education system, these discussions do not always take place. If they are not taking place in the classroom or in the home, they may very likely be taking place on the playground, online, or in student social circles where youth may spread misinformation about this topic.
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change released a fantastic call-to-action document on what inclusive sex education for youth with disabilities (YWD) should look like. They included the following stipulations: “YWD are included in general education classes to learn about sexuality and are provided accommodations as needed so that the learning process is accessible and effective,” “are represented in materials and activities,” “learn self-advocacy, bodily autonomy, and consent,” “benefit from role plays, interactive exercises, and concrete examples,” “have intersecting identities,” “have representation and role models,” and “YWD with alternative or augmented communication (AAC) devices are included in sex education classes.” Along with these action items, they stated that these should be followed regardless of whether youth with disabilities were present, meaning that all sex education for all youth should be inclusive.
In addition, some resources do exist online with the goal to prepare parents and educators for disability-specific sex education. A few of these include The Center for Parent Information and Resources, the SHEIDD Project, and Respect Ability’s resources. At this point, no state or federal regulations require educators teaching sexual health courses to be versed in this information, so it is up to the educators themselves to pursue it. While these are great resources that can improve the quality of diverse and inclusive education, they need to be school, state, or federally mandated to ensure equitable education across the population.
As a college student that is working to have a career in sex education, it’s scary to me to think that these critical messages may not reach disabled youth because of misconceptions about them and exclusive laws on their education. In an ideal world, all students are equipped with information on how to protect and value their bodies and minds, not only those that fit into the normative idea of what a child is like. Laws that separately police the education of disabled youth without the training and funding of professional programs to create educational equity is not only hurtful to these students, but it’s also ableist.
As an able person, I’ve grown up around disabled youth, particularly those on the autism spectrum. I can’t imagine a world in which I am more deserving than my cousins of access to education, including life skills and sexual health education. Knowing the inequities that exist within this system, I have to hope that they are lucky enough to learn from their parents or other close adults in their lives. Someday, if my own children have disabilities, I hope it will not just be my responsibility, but that there will be a systemic change in which every adult in my children's lives will be right there with me, giving them the tools to keep them safe.
By Sydney Sullivan