How can social workers better promote the sexual wellbeing of adults with intellectual disabilities?
Introduction and Aims of Review Adults with intellectual disabilities navigate experiences of intimacy with little support, with wide ranging and negative implications. Social workers are largely interested in sexuality when it becomes a problem within safeguarding, but are less used to speaking about ‘everyday sexuality’ (Dunk, 2007) i.e. how sexuality is constructed according to social determinants. AWID are often constructed as desexualised and little action has been taken to promote awareness and conversation around their everyday sexuality. This thesis argues that social workers have a duty to promote the sexual wellbeing for AWID and using international examples provides suggestions for how they can meet this responsibility. This argument is based on the following posits 1) sex education is largely inadequate, particularly for marginalised communities, 2) AWID do not receive appropriate support to realise their right to sexual wellbeing 3) social workers have an ethical and...