People with intellectual disabilities face multiple barriers to having fulfilling relationships and meeting sexuality needs, this often includes a denial of human rights and inequality in sexuality and relationship education (SRE). This panel aims to discuss these barriers, what comprehensive SRE looks like and advocate for future change.

The panel will discuss questions such as:

Plain Language Abstract

This presentation is by a group of people. 

It is about relationships and sexuality. It is about people with intellectual disability. It is about learning about sexuality and relationships. This is sometimes called Sexuality and Relationship Education or SRE.

Sometimes people with disability don’t get good sexuality and relationships education.

We will talk about some questions:

Plain Language Abstract 

This presentation is about international law. It is about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with a Disability (UNCRPD). It is about one of the sections called Article 21, which is about Freedom of Expression and Opinion, and Access to Information 

We looked at the reports from 21 countries. We read what they said they were doing to meet Article 21. 

Only some of the countries talked about AAC. AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. 

Many of the countries talked about how they make information accessible to more people with disability. Some talked about communication technology to support people to express themselves. 

We have ideas to make things better some more people, in more countries can be supported for Freedom of Expression and Opinion, and Access to Information. 

Plain Language Abstract 

This presentation is about Australians with intellectual disability. It is about democracy. Democracy is a way of society working. It involves the people of a country having control of their country. Voting, joining in politics, saying when there is something wrong in society are parts of Australia’s democracy. 

Sometimes people with intellectual are excluded from democracy. Some people are stopped from voting. Some people are stopped from making choices that affect their lives. 

We had two big events for people to talk about people with intellectual disability and democracy in Australia. 

We have ideas for families, services, and governments to include people with disability in democracy. 

Plain Language Abstract 

This presentation is about Deaf Australians. It is about having mental health problems like depression and anxiety. We wanted to learn about Deaf people who had mental health problems. 

We asked 16 Deaf adults about when they were children. We asked them about their communication experiences as children. 

We asked them if they felt like their childhood experience as a deaf child affected their mental health. 

Lots of people experienced stress and barriers to communication. Some had difficulty communicating with their family and their schools. Some felt bullied, sad, and anxious. 

We think that Deaf children need more support so they can have less risk of mental health problems as adults.