Sex and Relationship Education for Individuals with Disabilities: A Review of the Literature Through an Ecological Systems Lens

Despite advances toward disability inclusion, high-quality sex and relationship education (SRE) is often inaccessible for disabled communities. Confounding this issue, each individual’s experience of SRE is shaped by aspects within their environment, such as societal contexts, cultural factors, policy frameworks at the national and local levels, and the attitudes of parents and educators. This informal review of the literature synthesizes historical and contemporary literature—focusing primarily on individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism—to explore the multifaceted barriers and opportunities for effective SRE. We have situated the literature within Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to illuminate how interactions among and within the environment shape individual experiences with SRE. The literature outlines several barriers to successful SRE programs for the disabled community, including pervasive misconceptions about the sexual and relational needs of disabled individuals, inadequate training for educators, and limited empirical evidence underpinning best practices. Our paper underscores the need for comprehensive, evidence-based curricula that align with the desires of the disabled community, are accessible to people with disabilities and their communities, and employ a variety of instructional methods to support learning across the life course, beginning in adolescence. We conclude by outlining future directions for research and practical solutions for curriculum development, emphasizing the importance of addressing these multi-layered challenges to enhance SRE for disabled people and their communities. Approaching and conceptualizing the literature within a systems framework and through our shared perspectives and experiences is noteworthy, as our review provides a descriptive and unique lens to understanding SRE influences on people with disabilities nationally and internationally.