The Autism NOW Center would like to introduce one of the first handbooks of its kind: Relationships and Sexuality. This anthology aims to take readers on a thought-provoking journey about relationships and sexuality through the eyes of self-advocates. It is tempered with advice, rich perspectives, and stories that are woven through the personal experiences of its contributors. The following pages offer information and essays about romance, marriage, expectations, consent, myths, and sexual abuse. Other topics include cultural fascination, gender transition, asexuality, and other similar subjects.
Disclaimer: This manuscript, written by and for adults with autism, discusses topics relating to sexuality in a frank and open manner. Although these topics may be uncomfortable and even offensive to some people, it is important to present this information as a continued effort to empower individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. Any views or opinions presented in the following articles and essays are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Autism NOW Center. Additionally, although Autism NOW respects the authors’ use of Identity-Based Language, as the National Resource and Information Center, we promote and encourage the use of People First Language
View the Handbook – Relationships and Sexuality
This guide from the Peer to Peer HealthMessages Program focuses on people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, and caregivers/support persons of individuals with disabilities.
View the Guide – Autism NOW Health Promotion (PDF).
This article provides information on bullying, teasing and disability harassment. It offers way to address these problems by sharing two specific models of comprehensive whole-school anti-bullying programs. Additional suggestions on how to prevent disability harassment from the U.S. Department of Education are also provided.
View the Article – National Center on Secondary Education and Transition: Bullying and Teasing of Youth With Disabilities: Creating Positive School Environment for Effective Inclusion (PDF).
The University of Oregon engages in education, research and various projects pertaining to developmental disabilities. Its website offers many resources, available in both English and Spanish, for people with developmental disabilities of all ages. Topics include transition, family supports, safety, early intervention, self-advocacy, adaptive technology and more.
View the Website – The University of Oregon: Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)
EARN supports employers in recruiting, hiring, retaining and advancing qualified individual with disabilities through consultation and technical assistance, customized training, online resources and links to state and local community-based organization serving job seekers with disabilities. The Employer Reference Desk found on the home page of this website contains useful resources that can be used to support employers in hiring and employing individuals with disabilities.
View the Website – AskEarn.org
The Sexuality & Disability Consortium provides research, advocacy, training and education to support individual with disabilities to enhance healthy sexuality and relationships. Training topics include sexuality and disability, relationships, sexual policies and practices, sexual self-advocacy and more. As a way to educate the general public about sexuality and disability, this webpage also contains a list of resources including fact sheets, articles and online links.
View the Website – University of Illinois at Chicago: Institute on Disability & Human Development – Sexuality & Disability Consortium
This toolkit, provided by U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), contains five steps to assist federal agencies in their efforts to increase the employment of people with disabilities. It guides users through the initial recruitment process to ongoing support and retention of employees with disabilities. Topics include but training, accessibility, recruitment, interviewing, customized employment and more.
View the Website – U.S. Department of Labor: Increasing Disability Employment in the Federal Government
This webpage offers information about sexuality and relationships to parents of children with developmental disabilities. It contains links to articles that cover a variety of topics such as comprehensive sexuality education, talking to a young adult with disabilities about sex, long-term relationships, the difference between love and infatuation and more. This page also provides tools and activities intended to be used by parents to teach their children about sexuality.
View the Website – Sexuality Resource Center for Parents: For Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities
The page, created by the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, emphasizes that sexuality is a natural part of life and provides a list of resource pertaining to this topic. Resources include materials on human sexuality in general, how disabilities can affect sexuality, the special role of the parent, the content to be taught and more.
View the Website – NICHCY: Sexuality Education for Students with Disabilities
Feldman, M.A. (2004). Self-directed learning of child-care skills by parents with intellectual disabilities. Infants & Young Children, 17, 17-31.
This article describes the development, use, and evaluation of self-directed learning (via self-instructional audiovisual child-care materials) to teach basic child-care, health, and safety skills to parents with intellectual disabilities. Materials developed were based on input from pediatric health care professionals and research on how to present visual materials to persons with low literacy skills. Overall, the results of these studies indicate that many parents with intellectual and developmental disabilities may improve their parenting skills with low cost, low tech, self-directed learning materials.
View the Academic Research – Self-directed learning of child-care skills by parents with intellectual disabilities (PDF).
