Disability and Intimacy: Paraquad’s Healthy Relationship Classes
Despite a school’s best efforts, people with disabilities often don’t get opportunities to learn about healthy relationships. Some people may consider disability and intimacy a taboo topic, assuming that people with disabilities are either asexual or hypersexual. However, these conversations are integral to fostering healthy relationships.
Young people with disabilities need to understand what makes a healthy relationship so they can keep themselves safe and build long-lasting connections with friends, family members and love interests. Read on to learn more about how Paraquad’s healthy relationship classes create a safe space for people with disabilities.
Funding for Healthy Relationship Classes
Youth and Family Supervisor Stephanie McDowell and Senior Director of Programs Briana Conley were inspired to keep our community safe through equal access to information. People with disabilities experience exceptionally high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault when compared to non-disabled people. In fact, nearly 70% of people with disabilities experience some form of abuse in their lifetime.
Teachers and parents of people with developmental disabilities expressed concern, often asking if Paraquad offered a program that taught healthy relationships. To address this community need, Paraquad began to explore sustainable programming on disability and intimacy.
Initially, our team sought a small, one-time grant from Procter & Gamble to fund a sexual education program for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities within Paraquad’s transition services. The program was well-received, but more funding was needed to continue our efforts.
Our team received a $150,000 grant from the Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council (MODCC) to create a human sexuality class for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The grant period was initially from August 15, 2022, to August 15, 2025 — but it was recently extended until August 15, 2026.
Youth Programming
Paraquad’s healthy relationship classes typically involve six to eight participants engaging in conversations through interactive group activities. Our team often splits participants into smaller groups so each person receives direct instruction.
The curriculum covers a broad range of topics related to disability and intimacy, including:
Types of Relationships
Personal Boundaries
Signs Someone Likes You
Appropriate Methods of Expression
Good Decision-Making
Sexual Health
Signs of a Bad Relationship
Contacts and Safety Tips for Bad Relationships
Our initial human sexuality class took place in the summer of 2022. Thanks to its positive reception, we hosted a second summer class — virtual and in-person classes have been going ever since.
Stephanie plans to host healthy relationship classes virtually every Saturday morning starting January 2024. Beyond that, she continues to work with schools to bring the program into classrooms across the state.
Training Workshops
Paraquad is actively developing a system to train others to teach their own human sexuality class. Our team has traveled across the state to share disability and intimacy programming, including one successful workshop focused on preventing the rise of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the senior citizen community.
Our team delivered a lecture at one statewide conference for VOYCE — an advocacy and empowerment organization for seniors in long-term residential care. They also shared information on sexuality as we age at the 2023 Show Me Summit on Aging and Health in Columbia, Missouri.
As time goes on, our team plans to host regular in-person and virtual presentations for nursing homes and their administrators across the state.
Explore Disability and Intimacy
With about three more years of funding available, our healthy relationship classes will continue to expand to reach new communities across Missouri. For more information or to join our next session, contact Briana Conley at 314.289.4304 or email bconley@paraquad.org.
