epublishing store: Intro

Sexual Health eBook Volume2
Chapter 12

Meeting the Challenge: Providing Comprehensive Sexuality Services to People with Intellectual Disabilities, Jeanne Matich-Maroney, Pamela S. Boyle & Michael M. Crocker

A recent U.S. Surgeon General’s conference on health disparities and mental retardation yielded a national blueprint (U.S. Public Health Service, 2002) to improve the health of the 2.8–8.5 million (ARC, 2004) Americans living with intellectual disabilities. Contained within that blueprint were several references to issues of sexual health (e.g., family planning, safer sex, sexual abuse and rape prevention), suggesting that these are matters of priority for this population.

SEMANTIC ISSUES
Over the years, the language used to describe the population of people with mental retardation has changed. Most recently, descriptive terms such as learning challenged or developmentally disabled have been used to identify people with mental retardation. Unfortunately, the interchangeable use of these terms has resulted in a lack of clarity about precisely who constitutes the population of people with intellectual disabilities.

As utilized within the context of this chapter, the term intellectual disabilities refers to those that meet the definitional criteria for mental retardation as outlined by the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) (2005), which defines mental retardation as a disability originating prior to age 18, characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical skills. Mental retardation is diagnosed when an individual’s IQ is below 70 and he or she demonstrates significant adaptive behavior limitations such that they impact the person’s capacity for optimal independent functioning.

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