Acceptability of Sexual Relationships Among People with Learning Disabilities: Family and Professional Caregivers’ Views in Mexico

摘要

The attitudes towards sexual relationships among persons with learning disabilities (PLD) of parents of children without disabilities were compared with the attitudes of family caregivers (parents of PLD) and with the attitude of professional caregivers. The importance of different situational factors that may alter acceptability judgments (i.e., gender, etiology of the disability, person’s present level of autonomy, use of contraceptive devices, and partner’s age and possible handicap) with regards to the sexuality of PLD was examined through the use of concrete cases. All the participants lived in Mexico. The only notable difference in attitude that was observed was between parents of PLD suffering from trisomia 21 and parents of PLD suffering from a neuromotor disorder. As a result, it may be erroneous to consider parents of PLD as a homogeneous group regarding attitudes to sexuality. Three different basic philosophies regarding the expression of sexuality among PLD were observed. They were called Mainly Unacceptable (37% of the sample), Mainly Acceptable (36%), and Depending on Circumstances (27%). In this later philosophy, contraception was by far the major determinant of acceptability.