Sexual socialization and agency for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are generally not included in mainstream discussions of sexuality (Schaafsma et al. 2014, Shah 2017) and have largely been excluded from research on the subject. However, sexuality research among this population is hugely important because people with IDD are still sexual beings and typically experience higher rates of sexual abuse (Schaafsma et al. 2014). Therefore, I set out to investigate sexual socialization processes and their impact on sexual agency among individuals with IDD. My research took two major forms, the first being interviews with four participants with IDD and one special education professional. However, because of various difficulties experienced throughout the research process, I had a very small, localized sample, which limited the generalizability of my findings. Therefore, the second part of this thesis consists of a reevaluation of my methods choices and experience, as well as propositions for future research in this area.