1GENDER, SUBJECTIVITY AND SEXUAL IDENTITY: How young people with Disabilities Conceptualise the Body, Sex and Marriage in Urban India

Historically in India as elsewhere in the world, there has been a deep-rooted cultural antipathy to persons with disabilities. Throughout the ages the disabled have been looked down upon with disdain, almost as if they were sub-human. They have been portrayed as medical anomalies, helpless victims and a lifelong burden for family and society. While today there is a general recognition of the need to enhance educational and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in order to promote economic self-reliance and independent living, their sexual needs, dreams and aspirations are more or less rendered invisible. Sexual and reproductive rights are considered irrelevant for persons with disabilities in India. Using qualitative data, this paper discusses notions of sexual identity among urban Indian youth through case studies of college students in Delhi. Gender emerges as a key analytical category in perceptions of sexuality among young men and women with visual and locomotor disabilities. The paper does not make claims to capturing the complex reality of ‘disabled sexuality ’ in India