Health professionals were today accused of ignoring the sexual needs of disabled people in Northern Ireland.
As the University of Ulster launched a new course aimed at bringing the issue into the open, lecturers claimed it was time to break the taboo.
Dr Mary Jenkins said: "This is a subject which people don't like to talk about. There is a strong tendency, even among medical professionals, to regard people with disabilities as asexual - without sex.
"We, as a society, do not expect them to have sexual needs. People with disabilities do not speak of their sexual needs either. It is an issue which does not have a voice."
The new university module, Sexual Relations and Persons with Disability, has been set up to end the silence and help health care workers discuss the issue with clients.
It can be taken as part of a post-graduate diploma in Guidance and Counselling or as a stand alone module.
Dr Jenkins, a lecturer at the School of Psychology in Magee, insisted the course was not aimed at turning the students into counsellors.
Health boards and trusts had given a cool response to the initiative, she added.
But the Northern Ireland Psychosexual Therapy Consultancy has been involved in efforts to promote more frank discussions.
"This module is a valuable assistance to healthcare professionals and disabled people, especially since this is European Year of the Disabled," Dr Jenkins said.
"It is finally breaking the silence on what has been a taboo subject for too long.
"We don't pretend to have all the answers, but unless we talk about the subject openly it will remain a closed book."
PA