Perception of the Sexuality of Women with Disabilities (WWD) by undergraduate students of the University of Calabar- Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the perception of the sexuality of women with disabilities by undergraduate students of the University of Calabar. Two departments of the Faculty of Education were sampled using the purposive sampling technique. Of the 44 students sampled from the two departments, 25were males while 19 were females; 26 were from the department of Vocational and special education while the other 18 were counseling students of the department of Educational Foundations. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather data for the study. Data collated were analyzed using an independent t test and matrix ranking. The study revealed that most of the students perceived women with disabilities especially the physically impaired as asexual. Results also show that the perception of male and female students of the sexuality of women with disabilities is not significantly different. The study concludes by viewing women with disabilities as sexual being and advocate for a perceptual change of attitudes towards them. Keywords : Perception; Sexuality; Women with disabilities. International Journal of Educational Research Vol. 4 (1) 2008: pp. 71-80