SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CONCERNS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY IN INDIA: AN ISSUE OF DEEP-ROOTED SILENCE

Abstract

SummaryGlobal estimates suggest that over a billion people live with a disability that is significant enough to affect their daily lives. According to the 2011 Indian Census, India alone has about 26.8 million people with disabilities. Research suggests that persons with disabilities (PwDs) in India are among the most neglected, stigmatized, poor and least educated of the world’s population, and women with disabilities in India are the most marginalized, both socially and economically. They bear the triple burden of being discriminated against through being ‘women’ (socially marginal beings), ‘disabled’ (incapacitated, inefficient and undesirable) and ‘women with disabilities’ (the weakest of the weak), often becoming socially invisible. Although there has been a general recognition over the years that the educational and employment opportunities of PwDs in India need to be improved, their sexual needs and aspirations, sexuality concerns and sexual and reproductive health and rights have been largely ignored. The objective of this paper is to highlight the paucity of research on the sexual and reproductive health concerns of PwDs, particularly women, in the Indian context using existing literature on India, and to identify the possible reasons of this neglect. The study describes the obstacles faced by PwDs, particularly women, to acquiring good sexual and reproductive information and services, based on the results of empirical studies. Given the lack of research on this in India, the evidence largely comes from studies conducted elsewhere in the world. Lack of information and education about sexual health concerns, physical and/or infrastructural inaccessibility, judgemental provider attitudes, limited provider knowledge about disability issues and individual factors, including inhibitions about seeking health care and financial barriers, are identified as factors inhibiting the sexual and reproductive rights of people with disabilities in India.