“How do I communicate about personal safety to my child?”
“How do I train my child to be careful?”
“How do I recognise that my child is being harassed or molested?”
These are concerns that parents of children with disabilities are
increasingly voicing openly, given the rising number of sexual assaults being
reported, especially against people with intellectual and developmental
disabilities.
To address these concerns and towards creating greater frankness about such
issues, the Special Child Assistance Network (SCAN), a
Chennai-based support group of parents of children with disabilities, held a
workshop in the city over the weekend.
Called Workshop on Personal Safety and Sexuality, it was for
parents, special educators and teachers. No children were present.
There is increased awareness among parents and schools about the need for
communication and training on this issue. Some of the key takeaways were to
teach personal safety early, difference between safe and unsafe touch, who
can touch, what is private and what can be shown in public, etc. –
Gopi Ramakrishnan, Co-founder, Special Child Assistance Network
(SCAN)
It’s an issue that few parents like to talk about, especially in India.
That is changing and a sign of that lies in the fact that the venue of the
workshop had to be changed, given the overwhelming demand.
Among those present was Gayathri Sridhar, a special educator
and parent to a child with a disability. “I was happy to see that a large
number of fathers were present, which in my experience as a special educator
is rare. Few men are willing to talk about they went through their
adolescence, even with their wives.”
Sridhar says such workshops will help parents open up about sexuality-related
issues with their kids, which is much needed. “I see so many parents
struggling to talk about these matters, especially with boys. Many things
that are completely natural tend to get dismissed as bad behaviours. Such
workshops will help with a greater opening up”.
Many important questions were answered by the expert conducting the session,
Dr Shaibya Saldanha, a gynaecologist, practitioner and
co-founder of Enfold Trust in Bengaluru.
“The workshop talked about sexuality education as age-appropriate and not
to teach the child that sex is bad or immoral”, says Ramakrishnan. “That
if a child is too obsessed with sex or his or her body, the parents should
find creative ways to distract and engage them in other activities”.
The lack of information about such critical life skills can have harmful
consequences, says Abha Khetarpal, President, Cross
the Hurdles. Khetarpal is a counsellor for people with disabilities
and a disability rights activist. She has been giving free online counselling
to disabled people since 2011.
Khetarpal recently launched a self-paced online course on
comprehensive sexuality education for teens with disabilities, adults with
disabilities, parents of children with disabilities and special educators.
“In India, people with disabilities are regarded as non-sexual and this has
also led to the neglect of sexual health”, she points out. During her
extensive interactions with disabled women, Khetarpal observed that they have
negligible knowledge of sexual health and hygiene.
“I found there was a lot of suppression, something also the case for people
without disabilities. I took a year to prepare the online course and put it
together after studying the best practices”.
Khetarpal’s online course can be accessed at https://www.onlinecourses.crossthehurdles.org.
The lessons are in audio so that visually impaired people can
also follow. The course is in two parts – for teens and adults.
“People below the age of 18 who log in will be directed to the portion for
teenagers. The course is for free”, says Khetarpal.
For too long now, critical issues to do with sexuality and personal safety
have been taboo and that too at serious cost. Such steps are a welcome sign
of the changing attitudes.
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/20708
