This study empirically investigates how courts define sexuality of disabled persons in the absence of a formal right to sexuality. The focus of the study is tort law, a field ungoverned by direct disability rights legislation, assuming that tort law is the law of disablement as it concerns the transformative process of becoming disabled. The study investigates the types of damages courts have awarded for harm to sexual functioning, inquiring to whom and under what conditions have they been awarded. Additionally, it examines the discourse that characterizes each type of damages, and the legal, social, medical, and healthcare policy developments that have affected courts' rhetoric and reasoning. Our findings reveal shifting trends in scale, content, and inclusiveness of beneficiaries in terms of gender and age. Over time, courts have adopted a more hopeful and dynamic approach to disabled persons' sexuality while remaining within an individual‐medical framework. We suggest that these shifting trends can be linked to the slow diffusion of the social‐affirmative approach to disability, the limits of tort law as a field, and the role of healthcare policy in shaping the landscape of tort claims.

中文翻译：

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侵权主张中的残疾，权利和性的建构

这项研究从经验上调查了法院在没有正式的性权利的情况下如何定义残疾人的性。该研究的重点是侵权法，这是直接的残疾人权利立法所未涉及的领域，假定侵权法是关于残疾的转化过程的残疾法。该研究调查了法院因性功能损害而判给的损害赔偿类型，询问了向谁以及在什么条件下判给了他们。此外，它研究了表征每种损害赔偿类型的论述，以及影响法院言辞和推理的法律，社会，医疗和保健政策发展。我们的发现揭示了受益人的规模，内容和包容性在性别和年龄方面的变化趋势。随着时间的推移，法院对残疾人的性行为采取了更加充满希望和活力的方法，同时仍保留在个人医学框架内。我们认为，这些变化趋势可能与社会对残疾的肯定方法的缓慢传播，侵权法作为一个领域的局限性以及医疗保健政策在塑造侵权诉求格局中的作用有关。