“Addressing Sexual Education and Violence in the Disability Sector: Insights from IME Trévol and Unapéi Pays d’Allier”

“Cover this breast that I cannot see.” It is through his words, in Molière, that Tartuffe reaches the height of hypocrisy.

In medical-educational institutes, where most adolescents are in boarding school, it is forbidden to kiss each other, to hold hands… So, being in a couple… Yet, we are talking about young people who are up to 20 years. However, a handicap does not prevent humanity. These bans, issued to protect young people, have had the flip side of denying the problems.

For a long time, adults who behaved reprehensibly towards young people were not prosecuted. And sexual violence between young people was also often denied. A valid situation in an ordinary environment, then in the mental disability sector…

80% of autistic women victims of rape or sexual assault

This is how 80% of autistic women revealed that they had suffered rape or assault, before their majority in most cases, during a study carried out in 2021, in particular by the CNRS-EHESS and the Paris university hospital group. psychiatry & neurosciences (1).

At the medico-educational institute of Trévol, discussion groups were created in 2016, by the clinical psychologist of the IME, Emma Duperrier. “It freed up speech,” she testifies today. It was a year before the Weinstein affair and the explosion of the #MeToo movement.

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“The groups made it possible to bring to light violence and touching. After this first revelation in a group, I invited the young people concerned to an individual interview and triggered the reporting procedures”, says Emma Duperrier. The professional will not give figures as to the number of minors concerned, but she emphasizes that “it is better; the problematic situations have been resolved.”

These discussion groups, organized each week, with less than 10 students, are an opportunity for education in intimate, affective and sexual life (Vias).
All schools are required to provide it, “at least three times a year” (see above). However, few establishments respect the legislation, for lack of means, time or people trained to provide this education.

The IME of Trévol, as well as that of La Clarté in Moulins, also a member of the Unapéi Pays d’Allier, is thus a precursor and an example.
Precision, for 8-13 year olds, the Unapéi pays d’Allier offers a training group for social skills.

It should be added that neither in the institutes of teaching nor in the schools of educator, the theme of the intimate life of adolescents is approached. However, all supervisors have to deal with the hormonal waves that break at this age, point out the two current leaders of the support group at the IME, Aurore Geffray, nurse, and Romain Lacaux, psychologist.

The idea is to prevent the risks linked to sexuality and to promote behavior conducive to good health. These are both biology courses (the female body, the male body, procreation, etc.), health education courses (contraception, pregnancy, differentiating between medical touch and sensual touch, etc.), good manners (differentiating between porn and reality, obeying adults but learning to say no, listening when the other says no, what is attraction, tenderness, trust, pleasure, etc.)
The nurse and the psychologist point out:

The Unapéi pays d’Allier has created an educational sheet for the 15 themes to be covered, in the absence of official support. “We should go even further and adapt to different mental disabilities, especially the deepest,” say the two professionals.

Masturbatory conduct

The problem isn’t just the somersaults. It’s loneliness. “Preventing masturbatory behavior has consequences on aggressiveness, it is better to accompany the person so that these intimate moments do not take place in a collective environment or even to allow time”, argues Emma Duperrier.

To allow families to also reflect on this subject, the Unapéi pays d’Allier is organizing a day of activities, Wednesday, May 17, at Yzeurespace, open to all. (read below).
This event will be followed by a second edition, in 2024, in Montluçon where the other services of the Unapéi Pays d’Allier are located.

Stephanie Husband

(1) Study published in the journal Frontiers in behavioral neuroscienceApril 26, 2022, to consult by clicking here [étude rédigée en anglais]

Wednesday, May 17 at Yzeurespace: Pass the handicap

The Unapei pays d’Allier association is offering a day of activities and reflection on the intimate, emotional and sexual life of people with mental disabilities, Wednesday, May 17, at Yzeurespace.

A day, free, for people with disabilities, their families, professionals and the general public.

9 hours : conference-debate with Sheila Warembourg, sexologist, and Eric Goin, sex pedagogue and specialist educator for Adapei 63. Sheila Warembourg practices in Haute-Savoie, but leads professional training throughout France and in French-speaking countries. She graduated in sexology and public health, in 2001, at Paris VII, Faculty of Medicine Lariboisière.
Before that, from 1991 to 1998, Sheila Warembourg worked for Handicap International and developed holiday programs for young people with disabilities to promote sports and leisure activities.
“The intimate, emotional life and sexuality of people with disabilities is a fundamental freedom to be respected”, she writes on her site. sexualunderstanding.com

14 hours : play Other people’s bed by La Compagnie du Savoir Noir, from Grenoble. Built from real testimonies, this play created in 2019 immerses us in a home of life. It is performed by seven actors, some able-bodied and others with disabilities. The goal is to evoke the taboos on love, sexuality, the couple and respect for difference, in a funny and offbeat way. Nevertheless, Other people’s bed shows us dramatic situations, experienced on a daily basis because of the lack of autonomy linked to the disability.