Why disabled young people with life-shortening conditions need better support for intimacy

By Sarah Earle, Professor of Social Science, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University

Until relatively recently, children and young people with life-shortening conditions were not expected to survive into adulthood.

Conditions such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy were widely understood, particularly in the late 20th century and early 2000s, as diagnoses that would likely result in death during childhood or adolescence. Today, there are more than 400 recognised life-shortening conditions, and many infants and children with these diagnoses still do not reach adulthood.

However, advances in medical treatment, specialist care and assistive…

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