Abstract
M.A. (Community Development)
The parents of wheelchair-using quadriplegia adolescents face various challenges as their adolescents transition towards developing sexuality. During the study, additional challenges regarding imparting sexual education were identified. The additional challenges emanated from the parents taking responsibility of raising adolescents living with disabilities who experienced rejection from their significant other and exclusion from sharing of information about sexuality.
The lack of knowledge and training about sexual education resulted in a lack of appropriate efforts by parents to better prepare them for the adolescents’ sexuality development. Inadequate knowledge and awareness about sexual education was detrimental to both the parents and the adolescents, resulting in diminished opportunities to explore, understand and deal effectively with the sexual development issues, whereby inhibiting and compromising the sexual development process. The efforts of the parents imparting sexual knowledge were hindered by the adolescents who showed no signs of retention of the physical hygiene matters that the parents taught them. The current deficiency in policies aimed at promoting the provision of support for parents and their adolescents is linked to the current gaps in the knowledge base of sexuality education within the South African context.
The qualitative approach was used to examine the experiences of parents articulating the transition period of wheelchair-using adolescence developing sexuality. Six parents aged thirty-three years and above, who had adolescents who are wheelchair users were purposively sampled for the study. The Crip Theory was used to gain insights into the experiences of parents who were of the belief that their adolescents were asexual regarding the adolescents’ limitations brought about by their disability. Four themes emerged from the examination of the experiences namely: positive and negative perception of parents in dealing with sexuality; the challenges faced; the responses to the sexuality development; and outline of the parents’ sexuality education training needs. The parents required support with best practice early intervention services from professionals to effectively counter myths of asexuality linked to disability and provide appropriate incremental sexual education throughout the life stages, provision of counselling services to both parents and close family members, support organisations for mutual support and information sharing, and education of society and parents on sexuality matters of the disabled to promote demystification and de-stigmatisation.