Anne Valentine

Young women with cognitive disabilities are less likely to receive formal sex education than their nondisabled counterparts, meaning that they may not know how to practice safer sex. Limited access to contraception, too, may lead to riskier sexual practices among women with cognitive disabilities. This study examined whether women with disabilities (including cognitive and noncognitive disabilities) received formal sexual education at the same rate as women without disabilities, and whether differences in sex education affected how women with and without disabilities used contraception.

Young women with cognitive disabilities are less likely to receive formal sex education than their nondisabled counterparts, meaning that they may not know how to practice safer sex. Limited access to contraception, too, may lead to riskier sexual practices among women with cognitive disabilities. This study examined whether women with disabilities (including cognitive and noncognitive disabilities) received formal sexual education at the same rate as women without disabilities, and whether differences in sex education affected how women with and without disabilities used contraception.

Women who experience both racism and ableism may be especially vulnerable to poor outcomes, but researchers know little about racial and ethnic variations in birth outcomes among women with IDD. Our study addresses this gap and adds to the emerging body of research on the relationships between race, ethnicity, and disability. Learning about birth outcomes and the costs associated with labor and delivery among racial and ethnic minorities with IDD will help improve the quality of care for vulnerable populations, control costs, and address healthcare disparities.

Female sterilization is a term for treatments that stop women from getting pregnant. These treatments work by keeping eggs from going into the uterus (womb). Sterilization is the most common way that women in the US keep themselves from becoming pregnant. Though female sterilization is the most common way to avoid pregnancy, a person's class, race, disability, and ethnicity influence how many women get sterilized. Paying attention to these differences will help us understand more about: Who gets sterilized? How we can make sure women with disabilities get good health care? How we can protect disabled women's rights to make choices about sex, relationships, pregnancy, and parenting. 1. 2. 3. Cognitive disabilities affect the brain. These disabilities affect thinking, concentration, and learning. Some examples are dementia (including Alzheimer's), autism, and intellectual disability There was a time when people with disabilities in the United States used to be sterilized to prevent them from making their own choices about sex, parenting, and relationships. This is because some people believed that people with cognitive disabilities should not or could not have children and be good parents. In the early 1900s, most forced sterilizations were done on women with cognitive disabilities. Most of these women lived in institutions. Institutions are places where many disabled people live together. People usually do not choose to live in institutions and have fewer rights than people outside institutions. Many black, Latina, and poor women were also forced to be sterilized because it was thought that only rich white people could be good parents. Some women may make their own choice to be sterilized, but it is still worrying that women with cognitive disabilities are more likely to be sterilized when there are other choices they can make. It is important for people with disabilities to make their own choices abut sex, relationships, and parentings.

Female Sterilization and Cognitive Disability in the United States, 2011-2015 1 Access to reproduction and sterilization are shaped by socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity; of these methods, female sterilization is one of the most common contraceptive options in the United States. Documenting differences in rates of sterilization through the lens of disability improves understanding of sterilization patterns and helps everyone better combat the historic remnants of prejudice and discrimination against women with disabilities