Sexuality and relationships: informing rights-based policy and practice through research with and by people with intellectual disability in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

Progressing sexuality rights of people with intellectual disabilities is fraught with attitudinal and in some instances policy and legal barriers. Myths and misconcepetions about the sexuality of people with intellectual disability underpin these barriers. While the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has been used to inform rights-based domestic disability policy and practices, the lived experience of people with intellectual disabilities suggests there have been mixed gains in realizing their sexuality rights. This chapter draws on Australian and New Zealand research that prioritizes the voices and stories of adults with intellectual disabilities. This work by and with people with intellectual disabilities finds that when ideas about their sexuality and relationships are framed by their stories and told their way, their claims for equal sexual citizenship can be heard. Linking this work to broader rights-based and intersectionally framed social policy could enable their sexuality rights to be progressed alongside others in society.