Pride Month provides an opportunity to recognize the challenges to equity and inclusion that are still faced by many in the LGBTQ+ community, which can be even greater for LGBTQ+ people of color and LBGTQ+ people with disabilities (Mokhtari, 2021). These barriers can be particularly pervasive for LGBTQ+ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, whose experiences are compounded through the lens of intersectionality.
So, what can we do?
Excerpt from Pauline Bosma’s article, Supporting LGBTQ+ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Pride month is a great time for all of us to show acceptance and support for LGBTQ+ people with IDD. Here are some things that you can do:
Listen and believe what they say about their gender and sexuality
Have an open mind — there are many different ways that people identify and their identities might change over time
Send messages of support and acceptance
Teach them about gender, sexuality, and LGBTQ+ identities so they can figure out who they are and have the words to describe their feelings
Support them to determine for themselves how they want to express their gender and sexuality
Call them by the names and pronouns that they want you to use
Connect them with a support network of LGBTQ+ people, including people with IDD, like the Rainbow Support Groups
Give them the education and resources they need to be in healthy and happy romantic and sexual relationships
What you say to people and how you treat them really matters. Pride month is a time when many people feel inspired to come out and tell others about their LGBTQ+ identity or ask questions about the LGBTQ+ community. (Bosma, 2022)
Bass, B. & Nagy, H. (2021, October 9). Cultural competence in the care of LGBTQ patients. NIH National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563176/
