About a year ago, Sins Invalid held a workshop on intimate partner violence in the disability community. One of the pieces discussed was a New York Times article about Anna Stubblefield. Anna was a white teacher who helped DJ, an African-American man, who had Cerebral palsy and was nonverbal to learn an alternative form of communication. When Ms. Stubblefield admitted she had intentionally touched DJ’s private parts, she was automatically accused of and put on trial for sexual assault.  There was no question of DJ’s consent, most likely because people assumed that he was asexual. Even this assumption minimized DJ’s capability to make his own decisions about his sex life.

Another important article that was discussed during this workshop was “Disability Should Be Integral to the #MeToo Conversation.”  The #MeToo movement was supposed to be a platform for every woman to share their experiences of sexual abuse. However, the author pointed out that most of the social media posts featured “white nondisabled cis women.” Women with disabilities, women of color, trans, and non-binary people should all have an opportunity to have their truths be known. Whether someone with a disability is recounting his or her nightmare of sexual violence, or a person who is disabled, perhaps like DJ, who wants to have sex, everyone’s story should be validated.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/magazine/the-strange-case-of-anna-stubblefield-revisited.html

https://rewire.news/article/2017/11/01/disability-integral-metoo-conversation/