Ms Sarah Lennon:

I thank the committee and Deputy O'Loughlin for the invitation. I think the fact that Inclusion Ireland is here today represents a culture shift. We represent people with intellectual disability, so for us to be part of a conversation around mainstream sexual education is a significant moment in itself. Sexuality and intellectual disability is an area that is constantly surrounded by taboo, and the tendency is to focus on how to protect people. We see people with intellectual disabilities as eternal children, devoid of sexuality. This is a very damaging preconception, and it can have a very serious impact on the quality of the sexual education that people receive. Inadequate sexual education can have very serious consequences. Until last year, the criminal law in this area reinforced prejudices. That law has been repealed and replaced, but the new law still contains many prejudicial aspects. In the 25 years it was on the Statute Book, that law created a chilling effect where teachers and other people who may have wanted to discuss sexual relationships were afraid to because of the fear of potential criminality in the area. In that context, we know that sex education for people with intellectual disability has suffered. The law has improved, but there is still a legacy of that law's prevalence for the past 25 years, and a number of people who are now in their 30s and 40s have not received sexual education.

Added to that is the fact that many people with intellectual disability attend special schools which teach at a primary level until they are 18 years of age. Like all other parts of the curriculum, relationships and sexuality education, RSE, and social, personal and health education, SPHE are pitched at that primary level, so young adults of 17, 18 or 19 may not receive relationships and sexual education. If they receive it at all, it is not beyond a primary level. We know that this focus tends to be around personal care skills and relationships rather than sexuality. HSE research shows that many staff working with people with intellectual disability are reluctant to provide sexual education after school for fear of reprisal from parents or organisations and concerns around the capacity of the individual to engage in relationships.

We know there is inadequacy, but we also know that people with intellectual disability have sex. We know that people with intellectual disability who have sexual relationships are at a high risk of sexually transmitted infections, STIs, and often have limited access to care if they contract an STI. We also know that children and adults with disabilities are much more likely to experience violence, including sexual violence, than their non-disabled peers. We know that women and girls with disabilities are more likely to be adversely affected by the constitutional ban on abortion care in Ireland. We know that 20% of children taken into care are taken as a result of the mental illness or the disability of the parent, usually the mother. As such, where people do parent, there is a very high chance that those children will be taken into care. Each of those issues is exacerbated by the lack of adequate and early sexual education.

What does Inclusion Ireland think can be done? We believe that the recently ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should prompt a review of all laws and policies impacting people with disabilities, including the criminal law and many of the policies surrounding the delivery of sexual education. We think the review of approaches to sex education has to include required learning techniques, including the need to use easy-to-read materials and methodologies which engage people. We need to develop a specific curriculum for people with intellectual disability that is accessible but age appropriate, and deals with sexuality and contraception. We need funding for specific education programmes for school leavers and older adults who over the past 25 or 30 years have missed out on sexual education or who may need reinforced education. We also believe that the current review of voluntary organisations needs to look at the fact that many disability service providers are former religious orders and the impact that can have on the delivery of sexual education within a service provision environment. Parenting skills education should be developed in response to the large number of children who are taken into care on the grounds of disability.

As I said at the outset, we are undergoing a significant culture change. The ratification of the UN Convention is a very important point. There is now a responsibility on legislators, policymakers, the media and advocacy organisations to set the pace of that culture change and to take proactive steps towards the citizenship of people with disabilities rather than seeing them as eternal children. As citizens, people with disabilities require the tools and the education to access these rights to privacy, intimacy and sexual relationships in the same way as their peers.