Persons with intellectual disabilities (PwID) & Persons with mental health conditions (PwMHC), like any other human being, have sexual desires, need affective relationships & freedom to express their sexuality. In this regard, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with disabilities (UNCRPD), ratified by the European Union, states that People with Disabilities have the same human rights as everyone in all areas of life. These rights include rights related to sexuality. However, commonly, people with intellectual disabilities & mental health conditions have lacked an integral sexual education & support to help them in their sexual lives. This context is slowly changing. Policy makers & key stakeholders are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of addressing the sexuality of PwID & PwMHC as an inherent right. However, in spite of the fact that lot of excellent educative material has been produced to raise awareness & train with regards to sexuality it seems to have had a low impact so far with regards to how PwID & PwMHC are actually able to practise sexual activities & express their sexuality in whatever way they choose. The SMARTS Project (Supporting Me About Rights to Sexuality) has been devoted to filling this gap, between knowledge learnt & practical implementation. This has been done through 2 perspectives: 1) By promoting Active Supported decision making (SDM) in real life contexts in the field of sexuality & 2) by promoting the Implementation of specific policies & procedures from support service organisations to better address sexuality issues. SMARTS has had a duration of 36 months and has been implemented by an international partnership of 5 organizations with complementary expertise from the following countries: Spain (Astres Foundation), Portugal (Associacao para a recuperacao de cidadaos inadaptados da lousa (A.R.C.I.L), Greece (Theotokos Foundation), Belgium (European Association of Service Providers for persons with Disabilities-EASPD) and the UK (Social Care Training ltd). The project had 2 main target groups: 1. Care providers supporting PwID & PwMHC. 3 profiles: 1) Family members 2) Professionals & staff members 2) Support provider organizations 2. Adults with intellectual disabilities & mental health conditions who wish to exercise more control over decision affecting their daily sexual life. The project specific objectives have been the following: 1.To better identify support needs of PwID & PwMHC in the field of sexuality. 2. To develop skills of PwID & PwMHC & care providers to make supported decisions in the field of sexuality 3. To capacitate care providers to implement practical support in the field of sexuality. 4.To create user-friendly resources for PwID & PwMHC to better address their rights with regard to sexuality. 5. To raise awareness on the need & available means to address SDM in the field of sexuality for PwID & PwMHC 6. To advocate at EU & local level on the importance to address sexual support for PwID & PwMHC The project has produced 4 complementarily outputs: 1.UNCRPD compliant guidelines on SDM on sexuality for people with disabilities- addressed to 3 different profiles: professionals, family carers and service providers. 2 .Awareness Toolkit for persons with disabilities and family carers 3.Training course for caregivers on SDM and sexuality 4.Policy recommendations 3 rounds of LTT activities were also implemented to train users in the SMARTS materials. Project materials were tested and reviewed in subsequent pilots implemented at local level by service provider organizations members of the SMARTS partnership. The results achieved were the following: PwID & PwMHC felt more empowered to make decisions with regard to their sexuality, supporters felt better equipped & skilled to support decision making after using the SMARTS materials, service managers felt better equipped to assess & address procedural changes to better support the sexuality rights within their services. We expect that in the long term, the project will contribute to increase the general openness & positive attitude to address the ( still often sensitive) topic of sexuality of PwID & PwMHC both by users & supporters and that the SDM approach will be increasingly accepted by professionals, support organizations & users themselves as the appropriate strategy to address & implement the rights of PwID & PwMHC with regards to their sexual needs.
The SMARTS project has had the following specific objectives: 1. Better identify the support needs of people with disabilities in the field of sexuality. 2. Develop skills for people with disabilities and care providers to make supported decisions in the field of sexuality. 3. Train care providers to implement practical procedures and supports in the field of sexuality. 4. Create user-friendly resources for people with disabilities to better address their rights regarding sexuality. 5. Raise awareness about the need and the means available to address Supported Decision Making in the field of sexuality for people with disabilities 6. Advocate at local and EU level on the importance of addressing sexual support for people with disabilities
People with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems, like any other human being, have sexual desires, need emotional relationships and freedom to express their sexuality. These rights are included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), ratified by the European Union. However, commonly, this group has lacked comprehensive sexual education and support to help them in their sexual life. Although the context is improving through better awareness of the situation and the production of a wide variety of educational and support material, this appears to have had little impact on how people with disabilities implement their right to sexuality. The SMARTS Project is dedicated to filling this gap, between learned knowledge and practical implementation. This will be done through 2 perspectives: 1) Promoting actively supported decision making (SDM) in real-life contexts in the field of sexuality and 2) promoting the implementation of supportive policies and procedures by service providers to this group.