The invisibility of young homosexual women and men with intellectual disabilities

摘要

The aim of the article is to identify, describe and understand the opportunities and hindrances for young people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in expressing a variety of sexual expressions, such as homosexuality and bisexuality. The method is qualitative interviews with people with ID in the age of 16-27, staff members and parents. The study found young gay people with ID to be an invisible group, and that the possibilities to show a variety of sexual expressions are depending on the surroundings attitudes and behaviors toward them. Therefore it is important to teach about different sexualities in the sex education at special schools and also to do more research concerning homosexuality and bisexuality and intellectual disability, without having the heterosexual norm as a starting point.