Four years ago, Brittany McCarthy got on a bus.
It was late in the day, and as she travelled through her familiar city, she fell asleep.
At 8pm, she rang her mum, Victoria, “absolutely beside herself”. She had ended up at the bus depot, had no idea where she was, and didn’t know what she was meant to do.
Ending up alone in an unfamiliar place is a distressing scenario for any young person. But for Brittany, who has Williams syndrome, a rare genetic developmental disorder that causes an intellectual disability or learning problems, as well as unique personality characteristics and physical features, missing her bus stop was more significant.
Now 23, Brittany is more vulnerable than other women her age.
So as she grows up, the question becomes: what if the scary bus depot is a date that’s gone in a direction she didn’t anticipate? What if it’s a social situation with the opposite sex that she can’t read? What if it’s a question she can’t answer?
Brittany’s mum knew when her daughter became a teenager that navigating these uncertainties would be inevitable. So when Brittany was 13, she took her to see Liz Dore – a counsellor who specialises in helping people with intellectual disabilities develop friendship and relationship skills and navigate their sexuality.
SBS’s fourth season of their documentary series Untold Australia begins with Liz Dore hosting a group session with eight adults about dating skills and sex.
Top Comments
Wow - this was a great article. I agree that the issue of adults with disabilities having children is a minefield. There are rights for the disabled, but there are also the grandparents to consider and the rights of the child that will be born as well. Hats off to these families.
Wow, beautiful. I think some people make the mistake of believing that If someone has an intellectual disability they won't want sex and relationships and that is just not true. I can totally see Alex's mum's point of view though. It may be infantalising someone, but ultimately they are the ones who would have to raise the baby, and if they are ageing and not up for it. Then I completely understand.
Exactly. It's all well and fine to be strident about ''same rights'' but with those rights, to an extent, come responsibilities, and the life-long responsibility for a baby, with all the stress, expense and pitfalls that routinely stymie people who are apparently not at all intellectually disabled, feels like a huge thing.
I've often thought that, people going on about how ''all babies are amazing, we wouldn't want our Downs / disabled child to be ANY DIFFERENT'' don't really address what happens ''next'', when those babies become adults with totally normal needs and wants, while they get older and older. What then? This is an unkind world and I salute the people who are trying to help promote the rights and wellbeing of people with disabilities of all kinds.