Promoting rights and protecting vulnerabilities and people with learning disabilities: developing evidence based practice and policy in sexuality and adult protection

This thesis examines components of my research and published work in sexuality and adult protection and the connections between them in the context of policy, management and practice in services and support for people with learning disabilities. The first section of my thesis on sexuality focuses on HIV, homosexuality and the sexuality of men with learning disabilities. Using a mix of quantitative research and interpretative analysis I examine HIV risk management in services for people with learning disabilities, finding a lack visibility and recognition for the needs and experiences of men with learning disabilities who have sex with men. The accounts and exhibits provided also chart the development of specialist sex and safer-sex educational resources designed to address this neglect, with my wider work on the development and implementation of sexuality policy used to contextualise and generalise applied learning. Hidden issues such as sexuality in the provision of intimate and personal care are also exposed and a rights based approach to supporting the sexual fetish of men with learning disabilities is articulated. This body of work served to · strengthen policy, service management and practice in services for people with learning disabilities by drawing on Queer theory and a radical political discourse on sexuality, masculinity and homosexuality. The second section of my thesis focuses on adult protection and learning disability. I use qualitative data from an inquiry into the abuse of people with learning disabilities to construct a theoretical framework which articulates the characteristics of an abusive culture, strengthening our understanding of the aetiology of abuse in community settings. This is interpreted in the context of theory and practice, including recommendations for service commissioning and providing.