Papers by Alan Santinele Martino
Journal of homosexuality, 2023
Drawing on interviews with 31 2SLGBTQ+ people labeled with developmental and/or intellectual disa... more Drawing on interviews with 31 2SLGBTQ+ people labeled with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities, this exploratory study focuses on participants' experiences navigating mainstream queer social spaces. The current study is an explorative qualitative view at the intersection of the 2SLGBTQ+ and disability community. There is a call for more inclusive spaces for people with disabilities within queer social areas. Although queer spaces attempt to be free and inclusive, many have inaccessible activities and locations. The findings depict that individuals with lived experiences are not often represented in the 2SLGBTQ+ community due to a lack of inclusion. Participants highlighted feelings of rejection as people with disabilities were not represented in many 2SLGBTQ+ focused groups or organizations. The current paper calls attention to creating more inclusive intersectional spaces to promote inclusivity and ensure people with disabilities have the opportunity to contribute through an active role in the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2023
In this article, we discuss practical lessons for promoting meaningful collaboration in inclusive... more In this article, we discuss practical lessons for promoting meaningful collaboration in inclusive and community-based participatory gender and sexualities research with LGBTQ+ people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. First, we describe the historical and ongoing exclusion from research engagement of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and the importance of including LGBTQ+ people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities in inclusive and community-based research projects that address gender and sexuality. Then, we provide reflections on how we are striving to embrace core principles of community-based participatory research in our current gender and sexualities research projects. Finally, we end with a call to action for future meaningful and collaborative research that addresses gender and sexuality in the lives of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.
The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 2022
It has been suggested that disabled people may experience higher rates of sexually transmitted in... more It has been suggested that disabled people may experience higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI) due to health inequities and sexual education gaps. Using a pan-Canadian health survey, we sought to explore the association with disability and STI. Using the public use microdata fle for the 2013-2014 cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (Statistics Canada), the association between disability and STI was explored. Modelling included adjustment for age, ethnicity, geography, living arrangement, educational status, and marital status. Results were stratifed for females and males, disability severity, and type. Both females (odds ratio [OR] 1.54, 95% confdence intervals [CI] 1.27-1.86) and males (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.03-1.62) with any impairments were more likely to report a diagnosis of STI. A graduated efect was seen, with the odds increasing as the severity of disability increased. Females with severe visual impairment (OR 6.88, 95% CI 2.13-22.17) had the highest association with STI. Associations were most consistently seen in females, suggesting sex diferences in risk for disabled people. Given that Canadians living with disabilities are more likely to report having been diagnosed with a STI, future work is needed to further understand the causes. In the meantime, these fndings signal a need for clinicians to ensure this group is engaged with STI screening, as well as the greater need for improved strategies to address the sexual health needs of those living with a disability of all severities and types.
Qualitative Research, 2023
People labeled/with intellectual disabilities are rarely given the opportunity to "speak" about t... more People labeled/with intellectual disabilities are rarely given the opportunity to "speak" about their sexual and romantic experiences on their own behalf. Persisting stereotypes and (over)protectionism sometimes serve as social mechanisms that silence disabled people in knowledge creation. Although further protections need to be implemented, people labeled/with intellectual disabilities must have an opportunity to share their perspectives and experiences with love and intimacy. This research note discusses some of the "ethically important moments" I have encountered as a researcher looking at the romantic and sexual lives of adults labeled/with intellectual disabilities, as well as how my embodied experience in the field led me to reflect on my own positionality as a researcher and sexual being.
Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities, 2022
Background: A limited number of studies have explored religion's role in the intimate lives of ad... more Background: A limited number of studies have explored religion's role in the intimate lives of adults with intellectual disabilities. This paper illustrates how religion, both of disabled people and those around them (e.g., family members, support workers), can shape the attitudes and experiences of disabled people toward sexuality. Method: This paper draws on in-depth interviews with adults with intellectual disabilities and support workers from two exploratory projects in Canada. Results: Participants with intellectual disabilities talked about how religion provided a network that served to counter their social isolation and a pool of potential intimate partners, as well as some guidance for maintaining relationships. Support workers discussed the influence of organisational values in their practices related to sexuality. Conclusions: Religion shapes disabled sexualities in various ways, sometimes supporting or constraining sexual expression. This paper invites disability scholars to consider religion when researching the intimate lives of disabled people.
Culture, Health & Sexuality, 2022
Drawing on interviews with 46 adults with intellectual disabilities
in Ontario, Canada, this arti... more Drawing on interviews with 46 adults with intellectual disabilities
in Ontario, Canada, this article suggests a different starting point
in understanding the constraints that limit which sexual fields are
available to people with intellectual disabilities. Because of surveillance, infantilisation and control, people with intellectual disabilities sometimes have to claim and convert other spaces such as
day programmes, group homes and other residential settings into
sexual fields. Without understanding these experiences, we may
not recognise these intellectual disability sexual fields as settings
for the pursuit of intimacy and love. These are valuable insights
that bring into view how some marginalised sexual actors may
covert social fields into sexual fields as a means of responding to
lack of access to and exclusion from mainstream sexual fields.
This study explores the attitudes and experiences of five individuals with intellectual disabilit... more This study explores the attitudes and experiences of five individuals with intellectual disabilities regarding their sexual expression and practices, and inquires whether and how their direct care workers impact these expressions and practices. Additionally, the attitudes and experiences of six direct care workers were analyzed. Drawing from standpoint theory, I explore the participants' experiences as embedded in multifaceted social relations and power struggles. Intellectually disabled individuals discuss their struggles in developing sexual and romantic relationships, having privacy and control over their space, and dealing with workers and guardians who insist on speaking on their behalf. Conversely, direct care workers highlight their fear of discussing sexuality and getting in trouble with their organizations or the guardians or families of their clients. The experiences of these social actors indicate broader struggles that disempower them both, and reveal a culture commonly understands disability and sexuality as something that will land people in trouble. v Acknowledgments What a journey! This has been a challenging, and yet meaningful and rewarding, transformative experience for me. There are a lot of people that I would like to acknowledge for supporting me in completing this thesis. First and foremost, I would like to thank all the research participants for sharing their stories and intimate details of their lives with me. Thank you. I also owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Claudia Malacrida, for reading my thesis in record time, offering such honest and insightful feedback, and challenging me to think about my research topic and historical narratives in new and deeper ways. I cannot thank you enough for making me a stronger writer and scholar. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my thesis committee, Dr. Kara Granzow and Dr. William Ramp, for their incredible encouragement, thoughtful critique, and ongoing support as I continue to interrogate who I am as an individual, scholar, activist, family member and community member. Thanks for so generously sharing your time and knowledge with me. I also would like to acknowledge the insightful contributions of Dr. E. Anne Hughson to this thesis. Thank you for helping me bring this project to the next level and for all the stimulating conversations during committee meetings. I also want to offer my appreciation to the various scholars who have made insightful and long-lasting contributions to my thesis. In the Department of Sociology, I offer my profound thanks to Dr. Jason Laurendeau and Dr. Kimberly Mair for their invaluable support on the initial stages of this project. I also would like to extend my immense gratitude to the faculty of the Women and Gender Studies Department, especially Dr. Carol Williams, Dr. Jo-Anne Fiske and Dr. Suzanne Lenon for generously vi guiding me through such a fascinating body of feminist scholarship and activism. I should also thank the faculty from the Sociology Department at St. Lawrence University, especially Dr. Karen O'Neil, Dr. Patrice LeClerc and Dr. Leah Rohlfsen, for believing in me and supporting me even long after my graduation. Additionally, I had a lot of support from fellow graduate students throughout my program. I would like to thank my cohort, in particular, my colleagues Arielle Perrotta, Ann Holden, Lilli Young and Vanja Spirić, for their insightful feedback on my various drafts, and, most importantly, for their incredible friendship and ongoing encouragement. Thanks also to my colleague Marcelo Vieira for supporting me in the initial stages of my graduate program. I also would like to mention Gillian Ayers, Tiffani Semach and Auburn Phillips who generously provided me with words of advice throughout my program. Thanks to Mary Greenshields for reading my work with such enthusiasm, and for offering me such rich feedback. A huge wave of gratitude also goes to Jenny Oseen who gave me such invaluable support and strength when I needed it the most. I also want to extend my appreciation to Mary Ellen Bryant and her family for their friendship and generosity since my very first day in Canada. I wish to express my gratitude to Xiao Wang, Michele Wu, Shabander Dostalie and Alicia Lou for keeping me grounded. Finally, I cannot find words to adequately convey my gratitude to my family and friends in Brazil. Thanks to my parents Geni Santinele Martino and Gerson Martino, my brother Bruno Santinele Martino, and my grandmother Ariadenes Neves Martino for their love and support. Thanks for inspiring me, keeping me motivated, and feeling proud of me. This thesis is also especially dedicated to my aunt, Marina Martino, for all her love and care. Obrigado.
Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2020
The papers in this special issue build on an exciting, and fast growing, body of scholarship loca... more The papers in this special issue build on an exciting, and fast growing, body of scholarship located at the intersection of critical disability studies and critical animal studies, shedding light on disablism and speciesism1 as interconnecting oppressions, how animality and disability are mutually constitutive, as well as the tensions and coalitions shared by these two related fields (see, for example, Jenkins, Montford & Taylor, 2020; Nocella II, George & Schatz, 2017; Taylor, 2013, 2017).
Disability Studies Quarterly, Aug 30, 2019
This exploratory study examined the attitudes and experiences of a small sample of direct care wo... more This exploratory study examined the attitudes and experiences of a small sample of direct care workers' experiences of addressing the sexual expression and practices of their clients with intellectual disabilities. Drawing on in-depth interviews with direct care workers in Alberta, Canada, we use Foucault's work to examine the way power is exercised through organizational policies, personal values, and employment contexts. Altogether, the accounts of direct care workers seem to illuminate a culture that commonly sees disability and sexuality as antithetical and a topic to be avoided for fear of reprisal.
Young, Disabled and LGBT+
This dissertation will examine the sexual and intimate lives of adults with intellectual disabili... more This dissertation will examine the sexual and intimate lives of adults with intellectual disabilitiesby putting into conversation theories from both the sociology of sexualities and the field ofcritical disability studies. The intersection of disabilities and sexualities remains a taboo topic inour society (Esmail et al. 2009; Shakespeare 2014). Research on the intersection of disabilitiesand sexualities remains under-researched and under-theorized in both the sociology of sexualitiesand critical disability studies, resulting in significant gaps in our understanding of the sexual andintimate lived experiences of disabled people (Erel et al. 2011; Kattari 2015; Liddiard 2011,2013; McRuer and Mollow 2012).
Journal of Further and Higher Education
Deviant Behavior
In this paper, the authors explore the ways that online commenters on the National Post’s website... more In this paper, the authors explore the ways that online commenters on the National Post’s website articulate their opinions, understandings, and feelings about a news story on the topic of transability. By conducting a content analysis of the online data, the authors examine how the commenters demonstrate that dominant forms of power, knowledge, and discourse permeate common-sense understandings of the healthy, normal citizen through their acting incredulous towards, pathologizing, shaming, and sometimes reacting violently towards transabled people.
The Routledge Handbook of Disability and Sexuality, 2021
In this chapter, we suggest that crip theory is a productive way of bridging critical disability ... more In this chapter, we suggest that crip theory is a productive way of bridging critical disability studies and the sociology of sexualities.We concur with Goodley’s (2014) claim that “queer and disability studies have the potential to unsettle one another and fnd shared vocabularies” (p. 38). Drawing on some of the major works and implications of crip theory, we suggest directions for its further development and demonstrate how this theoretical approach is uniquely positioned
to contribute to both critical disability and sexualities studies. On one hand, crip theory sheds light on theoretical tools that disability studies scholars can use to understand the ways disabled people experience and negotiate their intimate lives through a multi-level analytic approach. On the other hand, it suggests disability studies insights that can contribute to theoretical perspectives in sexualities studies. To do so, we contextualize this discussion in relation to the sexualities of people labelled/with intellectual disabilities (ID), a disability label that appears to complicate questions of sexualities.
Canadian Journal of Disability Studies , 2020
This special issue of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies brings together 19 articles by s... more This special issue of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies brings together 19 articles by scholars and activists across broad academic disciplines and activist communitiesfrom disability studies to inclusive education, early childhood education, decolonial studies, feminist anti-violence organizing, community health and more-as well as geopolitical locations.
The Routledge Handbook of Disability Activism, 2019
This chapter presents research and activist work advocating for the sexual rights of disabled peo... more This chapter presents research and activist work advocating for the sexual rights of disabled people. The romantic and intimate lives of disabled people have been marked by a history of oppression, abuse and de-sexualisation. State-sanctioned sterilisations of people with disabilities and the numerous eugenic movements associated with practices serve as the most overt and inhumane examples of how negative attitudes become reified into social policy. The variety of the initiatives exemplifies the richness and diversity of disability- sexuality activism and illustrates some of the ways that disabled people are advocating for and claiming intimate citizenship and socio-sexual rights. Disability activists have done the critical work of subverting the taboo and stigma commonly associated with disability and sexuality; and they have turned the conversation towards desiring disability. The sexual lives of disabled people have the potential to challenge dominant cultural ideas of what constitutes sex.
Young, Disabled and LGBT+: Voices, Identities and Intersections, 2020
In writing this chapter, I draw both on my review of different scholarly literature and cultural ... more In writing this chapter, I draw both on my review of different scholarly literature and cultural material (e.g., news articles, blog posts, podcasts), as well as material suggested to me by LGBT+ disabled scholars/activists. It is impossible to cover all the work of LGBT+ disabled scholars and activists. Yet, my aim is to highlight some of the work being done that is illustrative of an effort towards centring the experiences of LGBT+ disabled people, sharing information and resources, building networks, and serving as role models to LGBT+ disabled youth. I start this chapter by introducing the concept of intimate citizenship. Then I provide a review some of the main barriers that LGBT+ youth with disabilities
commonly face when it comes to learning about and accessibility sexuality. Next I offer many examples of how LGBT+ disabled activists/scholars are ‘cripping’ sexualities and producing material that can be a rich resource for LGBT+ disabled youth. I conclude with some final reflections.
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Papers by Alan Santinele Martino
in Ontario, Canada, this article suggests a different starting point
in understanding the constraints that limit which sexual fields are
available to people with intellectual disabilities. Because of surveillance, infantilisation and control, people with intellectual disabilities sometimes have to claim and convert other spaces such as
day programmes, group homes and other residential settings into
sexual fields. Without understanding these experiences, we may
not recognise these intellectual disability sexual fields as settings
for the pursuit of intimacy and love. These are valuable insights
that bring into view how some marginalised sexual actors may
covert social fields into sexual fields as a means of responding to
lack of access to and exclusion from mainstream sexual fields.
to contribute to both critical disability and sexualities studies. On one hand, crip theory sheds light on theoretical tools that disability studies scholars can use to understand the ways disabled people experience and negotiate their intimate lives through a multi-level analytic approach. On the other hand, it suggests disability studies insights that can contribute to theoretical perspectives in sexualities studies. To do so, we contextualize this discussion in relation to the sexualities of people labelled/with intellectual disabilities (ID), a disability label that appears to complicate questions of sexualities.
commonly face when it comes to learning about and accessibility sexuality. Next I offer many examples of how LGBT+ disabled activists/scholars are ‘cripping’ sexualities and producing material that can be a rich resource for LGBT+ disabled youth. I conclude with some final reflections.
in Ontario, Canada, this article suggests a different starting point
in understanding the constraints that limit which sexual fields are
available to people with intellectual disabilities. Because of surveillance, infantilisation and control, people with intellectual disabilities sometimes have to claim and convert other spaces such as
day programmes, group homes and other residential settings into
sexual fields. Without understanding these experiences, we may
not recognise these intellectual disability sexual fields as settings
for the pursuit of intimacy and love. These are valuable insights
that bring into view how some marginalised sexual actors may
covert social fields into sexual fields as a means of responding to
lack of access to and exclusion from mainstream sexual fields.
to contribute to both critical disability and sexualities studies. On one hand, crip theory sheds light on theoretical tools that disability studies scholars can use to understand the ways disabled people experience and negotiate their intimate lives through a multi-level analytic approach. On the other hand, it suggests disability studies insights that can contribute to theoretical perspectives in sexualities studies. To do so, we contextualize this discussion in relation to the sexualities of people labelled/with intellectual disabilities (ID), a disability label that appears to complicate questions of sexualities.
commonly face when it comes to learning about and accessibility sexuality. Next I offer many examples of how LGBT+ disabled activists/scholars are ‘cripping’ sexualities and producing material that can be a rich resource for LGBT+ disabled youth. I conclude with some final reflections.