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Past, Present and Future: Exploring the Sexual Identities of People with Learning Difficulties

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Sexualities: Past Reflections, Future Directions

Part of the book series: Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences ((GSSS))

Abstract

People with learning difficulties in the United Kingdom will generally have a similar life expectancy to people without learning difficulties (except for those with complicated impairments), but research indicates that the health needs, and especially the sexual needs, of people with learning difficulties have largely been unmet (Meehan, Moore and Barr, 1995; Mencap, 1991). Since the advent of Community Care policies in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, fewer people with learning difficulties live in institutions and it is estimated that about 60 per cent of people with learning difficulties live in the community now. However, Shakespeare, Gillespie-Sells and Davies state that ‘with the growing numbers of disabled people living independent lives in the community, more complex issues of relationships, sexual practice, domestic violence and parenting have been on the agenda.’ (1996: 188).

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Authors
  1. Ruth Garbutt
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leeds, UK

    Sally Hines

  2. London South Bank University, UK

    Yvette Taylor

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© 2012 Ruth Garbutt

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Garbutt, R. (2012). Past, Present and Future: Exploring the Sexual Identities of People with Learning Difficulties. In: Hines, S., Taylor, Y. (eds) Sexualities: Past Reflections, Future Directions. Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137002785_16

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