\u2018People say, someone who has a disability should not indulge in sex<\/i>,\u2019 Inocente, a blind man in his 40s, told a Human Rights Watch researcher in Zambia. This is a widely held view in the country, where stigma regarding the sexuality of people with disabilities is pervasive.<\/p>\n
This view is deeply troubling. The idea that people with disabilities shouldn\u2019t have sex dehumanises and infantilises this population. Perhaps more jarring, however, is the notion that people with disabilities are asexual.The reality: people with disabilities have sexual relationships just like others, and they have a right to have a family and to sexual and reproductive health care just like others too.<\/p>\n
However, because of this stigma and a lack of disability-inclusive programs, people with disabilities in Zambia are often left out of sexuality education, reproductive health care and HIV services.<\/p>\n
Take Susan, a single mother with a physical disability. She told us,\u2019People think that people with disabilities can\u2019t have boyfriends, girlfriends…They can\u2019t feel sex…They must be just staying at home as a disabled.\u2019<\/p>\n