Introduction

Social work practice has been rightly criticised for failing to adequately promote and protect the sexual rights and wellbeing of disabled people globally, and specifically of those who draw upon adult social care (Ballen, 2008, Lee et al, 2018; James et al, 2020; Goulden, 2021). In this chapter we examine the practice context in England, and suggest that our findings and recommendations have urgent, broader relevance. Too frequently, social work practice in relation to intimacy and sexual relations has been risk averse, and deficit rather than strengths based. It has focused on regulating, not enabling, the intimate lives of disabled and older people supported by services, and has adopted a reductionist understanding of what constitutes sex and intimacy. This has particularly been the case in the lives of people who are assessed as lacking capacity to consent to sexual and intimate activities and where concerns about capacity are framed within the context of safeguarding someone from abuse. Despite some progress, social work has yet to fully embrace the potential of person- centred and relational practice in order to make good the promises created by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and in England and Wales by the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Care Act 2014 (England) and Social Services and Well- being (Wales) Act 2014.

In this chapter we advocate an approach that draws on a blend of legal, ethical and relational literacies for social work education and practice that enable knowing and doing the right thing in real- world situations (Braye and Preston- Shoot, 2016). Grounded in the claims of the disabled people's movement for equal treatment and full citizenship, the chapter advocates the need for pedagogical and relational practice to realise the rights and capabilities of older and disabled people for sexual agency. Such rights- based practice keeps the principles of social justice and equality at the heart of what we do, and provides a passionate challenge to accepting anything less.

Social work's deep roots in promoting social justice (IFSW, 2014) both enable and require it to reframe practice by challenging medicalised and individualised models of disability and ageing (Turner and Crane, 2016a) and technical, rather than relational, assessment of mental capacity (Herring and Wall, 2014).