Supported to be Sexual? Developing Sexual Rights for People with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This article explores criminal law reform proposals on the law relating to sexual offences, scheduled for debate in the current parliamentary session, in order to illustrate the current tension between sexual empowerment and protection of people with learning disabilities from sexual violence. It suggests that law's response to the sexuality of people with learning disabilities, evidenced by the Sexual Offences Bill now before Parliament, will be inadequate as long as it is characterised as choosing between protection and empowerment. An alternative conception of sexual rights can provide a fuller and more persuasive account of the sexuality of men and women with learning disabilities.