Sexual Control of Disabled

When we talk about sexual control of disabled, the systemic denial of autonomy, intimacy, and sexual expression to people with disabilities. Also known as sexual ableism, it’s not just about physical barriers—it’s about who gets to decide what bodies are worthy of desire, pleasure, or even basic dignity. For over a century, doctors, institutions, and even families treated disabled bodies as either asexual objects or dangerous threats. Sterilization laws, institutional segregation, and the myth that disabled people don’t experience sexual desire weren’t mistakes—they were policy.

This control didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s tied directly to how society defines consent, the legal and moral agreement to engage in sexual activity, often denied to disabled people under the assumption they can’t understand or communicate it. Also known as informed choice, it’s been weaponized to justify forced treatments, withheld education, and the silencing of disabled voices. And when consent is ignored, coercion, the use of pressure, manipulation, or power imbalances to extract sexual compliance. Also known as emotional or institutional pressure, it becomes invisible—because no one expects disabled people to say no, or even to want to say yes. Think about it: how many stories have you heard of disabled people being denied access to sex education, or being punished for expressing attraction? How often are their relationships dismissed as "unreal" or "exploitative"—even when they’re consensual?

The posts below don’t just document this history—they expose how it’s still alive. You’ll find how Victorian medicine labeled disabled sexuality as pathological, how legal systems still question their capacity for desire, and how feminist and disability activists are fighting back. You’ll see how erasure works—not through loud bans, but through silence, neglect, and the assumption that disabled bodies don’t belong in the conversation about pleasure, power, or autonomy. This isn’t ancient history. It’s the quiet violence still shaping who gets to be seen as fully human.