Access to sexual education and healthcare for people with disabilities is a fundamental need, but is often lacking: While sexual education is required as a subject in public schools, it is often deprioritized in special education. This is simply unacceptable for populations that are at increased risk of being victims of sexual violence.
Disabled people who speak out about problems they are having can be labelled as non-compliant, or they may simply not be listened to.
At Oak Hill's Center for Relationship and Sexuality Education, Katie Hanley teaches disabled students about navigating their sexuality while staying safe. Ms. Hanley teaches about boundaries between different types of relationships, and encourages students to ask themselves what their own personal boundaries are.
This curriculum is part of Oak Hill's "Positive Choices" curriculum, which has been taught at Oak Hill since 2009, and has been sold to other schools and colleges around the country. To read Ms. Hanley's full piece, click the link below:
WNPR also recently featured a story about her work: