Graphic by Kayleigh Woltal
The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to reverse Roe v. Wade has caused a chain reaction of state governments tightening and restricting legislation regarding abortion-related healthcare services — these changes are still being rolled out at the time of this article’s publication. At the same time, fascist politicians all around the country are working to restrict the sex education received by children in public schools and universities to fit their conservative Christian narrative. As uncertainty looms regarding the future of reproductive healthcare, it becomes even more important that public schools offer comprehensive sexual education programs to their students so that every single one of them leaves school with the tools to make safe and informed choices about their bodies. Sexual education and curriculum in public schools have made tremendous bounds since the inception of the “Sex Education Series” (a five-part standardized sexuality education curriculum developed by the American Medical Association) in the 1950s. Despite the progress that has been made, sexual education in America is purposefully disqualifying an important group of people from receiving the life-saving education that they are entitled to receive by virtue of being students in the public school system: neurodivergent youth.
When a student enters a public school with a disability related to neurodivergence, they are usually evaluated by professionals and an educational plan is curated to serve the student’s needs. For a lot of students, this looks like the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) which is governed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to provide students with the assistance and resources they need to thrive in school. Sometimes students will end up taking special education classes with instructors that are able to adjust the curriculum to best suit their individual needs. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 15% of students (7.2 million) in the public school system receive special education services under IDEA. Despite its prevalence, many students, teachers and parents find the accommodations and plans that are created for students to be lacking.
One such insufficiency is the complete lack of sex education that many youths with disabilities receive. According to Talya Mainzer at California State University, 71.4% of neurodivergent respondents to a survey reported receiving no sexual education as part of their disability accommodations. This is because students with disabilities are often excluded from participation in the sex education curriculum with their neurotypical peers or otherwise. As of 2023, only three states require that students with disabilities be included in the sexual education curriculum. Students with disabilities are also less likely to be included in the peer-to-peer socialization of sex that occurs between neurotypical students due to ableism, which only leaves them more at a loss.
The exclusion of neurodivergent people from sexual education is no accident. Systemic failure to meet the sexual education and sexual health needs of neurodivergent people is rooted in the eugenicist belief that people who are neurodivergent or who have disabilities should not be allowed to reproduce, and that by denying neurodivergent people access to sexuality resources, they will not be able to procreate. In some cases, eugenists took a more direct approach to stifle the sexuality of disabled individuals. According to the Sexual Education and Information Counsel of the United States, 60,000 people with disabilities were sterilized without their consent or their knowledge between 1907 and 1957. The United States’ horrible historical treatment of people with disabilities and their sexualities cannot be changed or fixed. However, it is the duty of the government to unpack these insufficiencies and create policies that attempt to close some of the gaps that have been created by prejudice. As time has passed, the desexualization of people with disabilities has continued to permeate the American landscape with devastating consequences.
Educators and policymakers have been conditioned to see students with disabilities as less likely to have the same sexual desires and needs as their neurotypical peers, and thus less in need of the tools that come with sexual education. However, the bodies of students with disabilities biologically change and mature at the same rate as their neurotypical peers, and denying them access to resources and social support only exacerbates the problems that are associated with a lack of access to comprehensive sexual education. A study conducted in 2020 by Dr. Willi Horner-Johnson found that women with disabilities are 42% more likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy than their neurotypical counterparts. Another study found that 26% of adolescent girls with a cognitive disability reported having an STI, compared to the 10% reported by adolescent girls who do not show signs of cognitive disability. Clearly just because neurotypical people do not believe that students with disabilities have any use for sexual education does not mean that they are not having uninformed or unsafe sex.
Denying people with disabilities access to sexual education is also denying them the right to make informed decisions about their bodies. Comprehensive sexual education teaches students about consent, both how to give it and how to receive it. Without knowledge of what consent is, people with disabilities are put in a position where they are stripped of their bodily autonomy because it has never been explicitly stated to them that they have the right to say yes or no. According to SIECU, 18.6% of youth with disabilities report having been coerced into sex as compared to the 12.1% of neurotypical reporters. People with disabilities experience the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation, and many of them do not even realize the extent of their victimization because they have not been given a firm enough understanding of what sex is and what their rights are.
According to unpublished Justice Department data on sex crimes found by NPR, people with disabilities are seven times more likely to be victims of sexual assault. In the same disturbing vein, an article from the journal Sexual Health Disparities Among Disenfranchised Youth found that, “more than 80 percent of women with DD [Developmental Disabilities] had been sexually assaulted in their lifetime … it was also found that of those women with DD who had been sexually assaulted, nearly 80 percent had been assaulted more than once and 50 percent had been assaulted ten or more times.” The exclusion of neurodivergent people from sexual education is ableist, problematic and irresponsible; most pressingly, it is deeply and undeniably dangerous.
Immediate changes need to be made within the public school system to ensure that neurodivergent individuals are being served by their educators and communities when it comes to sexual education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that individuals with disabilities are entitled to free and appropriate education. Based upon the statistics regarding people with disabilities participation in sexual behavior (both consensual and non-consensual), it is clear that instruction regarding sexual education is more than appropriate for students who utilize special education curriculum or utilize an IEP. Denying students with disabilities access to this curriculum is in direct opposition and violation of the intention of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
It is important that we elect local and state government officials who recognize the importance of sexual education in public schools. Our representatives must hear our voices and understand that we will no longer stand for the sexual suppression of people with disabilities. Pressure should not only be applied to politicians, but to schools themselves. If the ideas in this article resonate with you, I would suggest making your presence known at your next local school board meeting and bringing these issues to the table. As the government continues to make more and more legislation about what we can or cannot do with our bodies, it is imperative that we all are receiving information that allows us to make informed decisions about our wellbeing. Change cannot happen until we all join together to do the work that is necessary to promote the common good and come to one another’s aid.