Thursday 16-12-2021 - 13:44

*Trigger Warning: This article contains brief reference to rape and sexual assault. 

 

As UK Disability History Month draws to a close, I would like to explain a bit more about what this month means, and why it is so important to acknowledge it, and continue the work through the following year. 

 

What is UK Disability History Month?

UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) is an annual event creating a platform to focus on the history of our struggle for equality and human rights. 

 

In 2009, the Department for Children, Schools and Families commissioned the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency to carry out research on the possibility of a Disability History Week in schools. This research showed that schools would be in favour of such a week. Thus, in 2010, the first UKDHM occurred.

 

 Instead of a week, a whole month was chosen, to encompass a few important dates, such as HIV/AIDS Day (1st December), International Day of People with Disabilities (3rd December) and International Human Rights Day (10th December).

 

It also follows on directly from Anti-Bullying Week (3^rd week in November) which is important as 2.5 times as much bullying is recorded towards disabled as compared to non-disabled young people (70-80% of young disabled people claim to have been bullied in school and college). 

 

It was split across the two months to allow for the Christmas shut down and to allow for four weeks in school term time. 

 

“It is our turn to document this history and to become agents of change within our communities”.

 

 

UKDHM2021: Sex and Relationships

One of the key themes for this year has been sex and relationships. 

 

This is important, because too often disabled people are denied the opportunities that non-disabled people have, for a number of reasons. Society often infantilises disabled people, viewing us as asexual beings, who could not possibly even consider having an active sex-life of our own. 

 

It may be that we need assistance in order to lead an active and fulfilling sex-life, which is too taboo for us to receive the assistance with.

 

Disability can have a profound impact on your sex life, on the way you do it, and also the amount you have it.

 

There are so many barriers facing disabled people who want to have an active sex life:

 

·      self confidence;

·      self esteem;

·      finding a partner;

·      overcoming physical and emotional barriers.

 

Of course, all those same barriers apply to *anyone* wanting an active sex life, so just imagine adding a layer of misunderstanding around disabilities to the mix!

The reality often overlooked, is that:

 

·      bodies come in varying shapes and sizes;

·      no two people look, feel, smell, taste or sound exactly alike;

·      there is no ‘normal’ or ‘regular’ body type

 

Open almost any magazine and you’ll find an article about what makes for an attractive partner. 

We all value different qualities – whether it’s intelligence, sense of humour, looks, or financial security. 

No one ever says disability. 

 

Who wants their disability to be a sexual commodity? The problem is, we never talk about disability and sexuality in the same sentence. And the result is that people often fear their disability is an active turn-off.

 

 

Sex and Disability: A History of Stigmatisation

 

The stigma around disability and sex and relationships can be seen all the way back in Ancient Greece, and Hephaestus, who was cast out by Zeus for being disabled, to Lady Chatterley's Lover. We have been seen throughout history as asexual beings, who could not engage in sexual activity.

We were also seen as unsuitable as potential sexual partners, as disability was oft seen as a punishment for being evil, unholy; children of the devil. 

Somehow, as well as being seen as asexual beings, disabled people are simultaneously seen as hypersexual beings. This has led to the extreme punishment of disabled people, abusing and raping them.

By the time Churchill had any power, he was campaigning for compulsory sterilisation of disabled people, believing our children would be as contaminated and defective as were. This was opposed, instead in favour of segregated imprisonment.

Any geneticist will tell you that being disabled yourself will not automatically mean any children will also be disabled. That did not stop people like Galton attempting to prevent us from having children. Eugenics, as we know, eventually lead to the Nazis systematically murdering thousands of disabled people whilst they were in power.

Unfortunately for disabled people today, historical impact means we are seen as asexual, hypersexual, perverse and contaminated by most of society today. 

 

We still have a long way to go in changing present-day perceptions.

 

 

UKDHM2021: Hidden Disabilities

The other main theme for this year has been hidden disabilities. 

No, that doesn't mean we are hiding our disabilities, or that our disabilities are invisible so don't matter! This refers to disabilities that may not be immediately obvious to those around us.

Those with hidden disabilities make up about 80% of disabled people, but we often go unnoticed by society.

People think that because they can't immediately see we are disabled, we can't possibly be disabled. We could have a dynamic disability, an impairment that is not experienced consistently for whatever reason, and so we're not believed when we need society and the environment to be more accommodating than it was on a previous day.

Approximately 1 in 7 people in the UK have a hidden disability, so it stands to reason that the person using the accessible toilet who looks "not-disabled", may need to use that toilet. 

We should not assume, that everyone can hear what we are saying, or read the menus at a restaurant, can walk up all the stairs.
 

Disabled people are by very definition, disabled by society. Let's not add to that, by making things harder and questioning them for using an aid or forcing them to ask for an accommodation such as a document in an alternative format.

 

What can we do?

 

Over the past month, I have been drawing attention to these themes, and highlighting the importance of societal understandings, but there is still so much we can be doing. 

We need to stop assuming that the person in front of us has the same abilities and impairments as we do; everyone is an individual. 

Just because someone may look like us, does not mean they communicate, think, behave, process the same way as us. If we can acknowledge our implicit, or subconscious bias, we can begin to work on challenging our thoughts. 

Treat people how you would like to be treated; with respect, as an actual person. And challenge your perceptions of disabled people. At the end of the day, we are all people, and we all have the same rights, whether we have an impairment or not.