Breaking the Silence: Accommodating Young People with Disabilities in Sexuality Education
People with disabilities (PWD) lack HIV knowledge, sexuality education and are at increased risk of abuse and exploitation. This is illustrated in studies, which have found that the HIV prevalence of PWD in Africa might be above average. A combination of limited intervention evaluations as well as teachers attitudes, lack of confidence, skills and material may be associated with PWD lack of sexuality education. This needs assessment investigated the variables of knowledge, beliefs and practices in teaching sexuality education, perceived subjective norms, self-efficacy and confidence, material and professional preparation among a purposely selected sample of 100 teachers of special schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was found that teachers agree that it is important to teach sexuality education in special schools; however, teacher’s beliefs determine how they discuss sexuality education concepts. It was also found that teachers teach ‘easy’ topics and do so mostly with a protective theme. Teachers also indicated their need for training, skills and materials to better integrate sexuality education within the Life Orientation lessons. Recommendations suggest that there is a need for training teachers to increase their ability and understanding in teaching sexual education to PWD within the South African Life Orientation Curriculum. Further research on how other factors that affects teachers’ ability to teach sexuality education in special schools is needed.
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