The emotional and sexual life of people with disabilities, especially women, remains taboo today. On the occasion of the World Day of Persons with Disabilities, more than ever, it is essential to highlight this theme and the various issues it raises. An impetus that fits into the dynamics started with the “Manifesto for a dignified emotional and sexual life for people with disabilities” launched by Femmes pour le Dire-Femmes pour Agir. A project in which 29 associations including Gynecology Without Borders and Women in Solidarity want to break down taboos on the sexuality of women with disabilities. The target. the goal? In order to better guide these women, educate health personnel but above all raise awareness and inform the population.
Sex education, an imperative
From an early age, people with disabilities lack sexual health education, many do not know their own bodies. An observation by Florence Comte, midwife and executive vice president of Gynecology Without Borders: “We need to develop this education. We have to let them know their body and its physiology and develop all this information about sexuality. We also need to prepare their families.” An essential education so that they can enjoy their bodies and enjoy life, but not only. More sex education also means better awareness of the dangers of sexuality, especially sexual violence. In this regard, women with disabilities are no exception.
“Educating about sexuality also means preparing the child for what is normal or not,” explains Florence Comte. A recent survey by the Regional Observatory on Sexist and Sexual Violence in New Aquitaine shows that one disabled woman out of two testifies to having suffered sexual violence; more than half of them reported incestuous crimes. Women with mental disabilities are no exception, far from it. A real scourge also due to the lack of sex education.
They are not always aware when it comes to sexual assault. It is to combat this problem that “they must have sufficient training to recognize when they are victims of violence. Sometimes they don’t realize it, this is especially true for autistic women” regrets Claire Desaint, vice president of the Femmes pour le Dire-Femmes pour Agir association, which fights against the double discrimination of being a woman and being disabled .
Greater accessibility and training of healthcare personnel
While it is obvious that young women with disabilities need to be made aware of their sexuality, it is equally important to include the issue of health. In fact, there is still a lot of work to be done on gynecological follow-up. Only one woman out of two with disabilities is followed in this sense. The Handi Gynéco-IDF study carried out between 2016 and 2017 in favor of these women identified major problems in terms of accessibility and lack of training on the part of health professionals who often do not know the world of disability. Very often medical centers are not equipped for women in wheelchairs. For this reason, almost 90% of women with disabilities do not have access to mammography examinations. However, in the institutions, means for better monitoring are put in place. With Handi Gyneco, the latter – if they are in an institution – can have a gynecological follow-up “midwives travel to follow-up and to develop information with women”, explains Florence Comte. On this occasion they can also talk, when placed in confidence, of the sexual violence suffered. This initiative developed first in Île-de-France then now in Normandy and Brittany should extend to the whole territory by 2023.
Another prism? Maternity. It also remains a source of problems, there are very few centers able to welcome disabled women who wish to have a child “they are often dissuaded from having a child. For an untrained health professional, this may seem difficult. However, they can be accompanied,” Claire Desaint points out. Since 2006, the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris has been one of the few health establishments to offer pregnancy counseling, preparation for childbirth and obstetric assistance for women with disabilities.
A taboo subject
All women have a sexuality, a reality that does not always apply to women with disabilities. Even today we see that the sexuality of people with disabilities is denied or even taboo. The reason ? An imposed social norm that has hard teeth. “It is much more difficult for women with disabilities to be considered in their identity as women, because according to society’s gaze, women must be beautiful, attractive. Women have to meet certain standards,” deciphers Claire Desaint.
A speech that suffers and knows Laura too well, suffering from paralysis of the lower limbs. She had her first sexual relationship at age 31. Keeping up with her friends, experienced very early on, she understands from adolescence that her private life will be a real physical challenge but because “the world only sees the handicap and not the man or woman who c ‘is behind her. It’s sad, ”the young woman regrets. She admits to being discouraged by this generation obsessed with these images of perfection, conveyed by social media and television “everywhere there are images of women with perfect bodies. No one focuses anymore on personality and qualities and this penalizes us as disabled. Obviously there are other factors involved, but this seems to reflect reality,” says Laura. A reality often felt by many women with disabilities.
