Marginalization and its effects on the sexuality- related potentials of the learning disabled person

Abstract

Prejudice exists at all levels of society, finding its basis in over-generalized, learned attitudes towards those individuals who do not conform to what is perceived to be normal within that society. This prejudice has, within learning disability services, found expression in the marginalization of learning disabled people away from the mainstream of society, and their admission into long stay institutions. It is the experience of the authors that such marginalization continues to exist in both the UK and Ireland, at a functional and attitudinal level, within many contemporary learning disability services. This conceptual paper seeks to examine the effects of marginalization on the development of learning disabled people in Ireland, within the context of a proposed, integrative approach to personhood.