Persons with Disabilities

One person in ten—as many as 600 million people worldwide—live with a physical, sensory (deafness, blindness), intellectual, or mental health impairment significant enough to make a difference in their daily lives.1 Little data are available on the prevalence of HIV infection among people with disabilities other than anecdotal reports.

Too often, individuals with disability have not been included in HIV prevention and AIDS outreach efforts because it is assumed that they are not sexually active and at little or no risk for HIV infection. However, individuals with disability have equal or greater exposure to all known risk factors for HIV infection. For example, adolescents and adults with disability are as likely as their non-disabled peers to be sexually active. Homosexuality and bisexuality appear to occur at the same rate among individuals with disability as among the non-disabled. Individuals with disability are as likely as non-disabled people to use drugs and alcohol.2 Men and women with disabilities are even more likely to be victims of violence or rape, although they are less likely to be able to obtain police intervention, legal protection or prophylactic care.3