Conference 2007

Learning disability, relationships and sexuality: past and present

Held on 5th July 2007 at The Open University, Milton Keynes

Morning session

Introduction
Daniel Docherty and Rohhss Chapman (co-chairs)

Good as you 2

Daniel Docherty

I will talk about issues around being a disabled gay man. I will look at the attitudes of other people and how I have experienced a 'double discrimination'.
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Sexuality and relationships: from research to policy to action

Kelley Johnson, Patsie Frawley and Maeve Foreman

It can be very difficult for people with learning difficulties to be listened to and properly supported with sexuality and relationships. Kelley and Patsie, with other researchers spent three years talking with people in Australia about how they saw their sexual lives and relationships.
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'Sexual vices are kept within a very limited compass': sexual understandings and expression in Australia's largest institution for people with learning disabilities, 1887–2007

Corinne Manning and Lee-Ann Monk

Our paper explores the conference theme from a historical perspective, using Kew Cottages - Australia's first specialised institution for people with learning disabilities - as a case study. We focus on two different eras in the history of the Cottages.
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Notes from research into the sexuality and sexual health of adults with learning difficulties

Zara Ferreira

Recent studies which look towards the sexuality of people with learning difficulties refer to an apparently growing recognition that they have the same sexual desires, needs and urges as the wider population ...
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Afternoon session

What factors influence the sterilisation of people with learning disabilities?

Alison Stansfield

Sterilisation is a significant and potentially irreversible procedure and can only be undertaken lawfully if the individual receiving treatment has the capacity to consent.
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Promoting sexualities; protecting from abuse: how shifting attitudes and policies have shaped the Ann Craft Trust

Rachel Fyson

This paper will explore recent changes in attitudes towards, and understandings of, the sexuality of people with learning disabilities through an exploration of both the changing work of the Ann Craft Trust and contemporaneous changes in UK law and policy.
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Young people with learning disabilities (16–25 year olds) and sexuality

Ruth Garbutt and Frances Affleck, CHANGE, Leeds

We will talk about our research project that we are doing at CHANGE, with Leeds University. It is a project that is trying to find out about what young people with learning disabilities know about sex and relationships.
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