The current study was designed to evaluate the sexual knowledge, experience
, feelings and needs of people with intellectual disability or physical dis
ability, and compare them to people from the general population. Sixty peop
le with mild intellectual disability (28 males, 32 females, mean age = 27.6
2 years), 60 people with physical disability (33 males, 27 females, mean ag
e = 28.65 years) and 100 people from the general population (40 males, 60 f
emales, mean age=30.10 years) participated in the study. Each respondent co
mpleted the Sexual Knowledge, Experience and Needs Scale (SexKen). This sca
le assesses levels of knowledge, experience, feelings and needs in 12 diffe
rent areas of sexuality. The results demonstrated that people with intellec
tual disability experienced lower levels of sexual knowledge and experience
, more negative attitudes to sex and stronger sexual needs than people with
physical disability in all areas of sexuality. People with physical disabi
lity demonstrated these same trends when they were compared to people from
the general population. Art interpretation of these results as they relate
to the sexuality of people with intellectual or physical disability is prov
ided.