The supporting sexualities and genders study

Sexuality and gender are very important parts of who we are – our identity. This is true for disabled and non-disabled people. Sexuality and gender matter to disabled young adults’ as part of their identity or what might be called their ‘intimate rights’.

Disabled young adults may need support with this part of their lives. The sorts of support they may need might be intimate or personal. Some have personal assistants (PAs) to help with their care and support needs.

But this can be seen as a problem by others. For example, Personal Assistants (PAs) can see requests for support with sexual activity as outside of their job role, or may be uncomfortable in different situations (e.g. in LGBT+ venues). Disabled young adults may not know how to negotiate these issues with their PA, or how to manage PAs who respond negatively. To help improve social care for disabled young adults, it is important to find out about these experiences, and explore ways to ensure these important aspects of their lives are fulfilled.
 

• Aims

  The aims of this study were to:

  1. Explore the views and experiences of disabled young adults of all sexualities and genders – including lesbian gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT+) and heterosexual and cisgender disabled young adults – on how matters relating to sexual and gender identity affects their relationships with PAs;
  2. Explore ways to make PAs and social care services more aware of what disabled young adults want from their support in relation to gender and sexual identity;
  3. Create information and support resources with disabled young adults and PAs that can help PAs in their role, and disabled young adults to manage their care and support arrangement

   

• Methods

  • 12 young disabled adults were interviewed aged between 21 and 32. The research team used a wider age range to reflect (a) challenges in recruitment and (b) the fact that disabled young people can take longer to come to decisions around gender and sexuality, and feel comfortable sharing this information. 8 of these identified as LGBT+, 2 identified as British BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) and 10 as White (British or Irish).
  • 11 Personal Assistants (PAs) and 2 other interviews with social care professionals:
  • 11 of these identified as White (British or Irish) and 2 as British BME
  • 1 participant identified as trans male and 12 as cis female
  • experience ranged from 6 months to 7 years in a PA role.

  Data were analysed using an adapted grounded theory method – initial coding was done by two members of the research team who coded interview transcripts line-by-line. This was followed by focused coding.

  • Focused codes were developed inductively from the data and were extrapolated to themes using the comparative method. This enabled the research team to define and refine codes as they looked over transcripts and mapped connections across rich qualitative data, identifying ‘the most theoretically significant and frequently occurring initial codes’ in relation to working with personal assistants.
  • The research team coded with gerunds throughout in order to capture processes described by participants and to ‘stick to the data’
  • Finally, themes were shared with the project advisory group (PAG), the wider research team and Disability North to check their significance and discuss their meaning

  From this process the research team worked with the PAG and Disability North to develop stories for sharing through constructing vignettes.

  This involved the research team using key themes to construct vignettes and then exploring these with the PAG and Disability North to check their value in creating useful reflections.

  Involvement and Co-Production/Co-Creation

  We worked with a project advisory group of LGBT+ disabled young people to:

  • Design the core study of the project, including data collection materials.
  • Make sense of the data including agreeing core themes.
  • Select vignettes to take forward to the future output (the animation).
  • Choose the format of the final output.

  We worked with disability and user-led organisations throughout, including with Disability North to shape the direction of the study, including:

  • Research questions and aims.
  • Developing project outputs.

  The research team used a creative and flexible model of involvement and knowledge exchange to begin exploring methods of co-production by co-creating an output from the study, including thinking about the practicalities and ethics of this work. 
   

• Findings, publications and resources

  Findings report – The supporting sexualities and genders study

  Video resources (with subtitles)

  Publications

  Abbott, D., Coleman-Fountain, E., and Humphrey, H. (2025). Disabled people negotiate gender, sexual identity and self-directed social care support in England: how does choice and control operate?. Critical and Radical Social Work 13, 1, 112-128, available from: https://doi.org/10.1332/20498608Y2024D000000043

   

  Humphrey, H., Coleman-Fountain, E., Abbott, D., & Toft, A. (2024). Fitting comfortably together: Doing and imagining gender and sexuality in personal assistance. Feminism & Psychology, 0, 0. available https://doi.org/10.1177/09593535241283729

   

  Humphrey, H., & Coleman-Fountain, E. (2024). Creating Time for LGBT+ Disabled Youth: Co-production Outside Chrononormativity. Sociological Research Online, 29(1), 233-242. https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231155001