Between bodies and boundaries: consent and care in adult disability services.

The presentation reports findings from an exploratory phase of a broader research project conducted in collaboration with a social cooperative operating in Modena (Italy), which manages day-care and residential services for people with disabilities. Ethnographic data were collected during a training programme on sexual self-determination involving coordinators, educators, and support workers (n ≈ 200). The study examines two interconnected questions: (1) what role do professionals’ representations of their own corporeality and sexuality play in shaping educational and care relationships? and (2) what forms of consent negotiation are present—if any—within everyday practices in disability services? The training sessions are analysed as pedagogical settings in which participants reflect on their sexed and gendered bodies, on boundaries, proximity, and professional positioning. Attention is given to how these representations influence interpretations of the sexual expressions of people with disabilities and the management of intimate situations. The presentation discusses preliminary results based on the analysis of ethnographic fieldnotes. Findings suggest that representations of professional corporeality significantly shape the conditions, limits, and modalities through which consent is understood and negotiated in disability services, highlighting bodily awareness as a key pedagogical dimension in socially embedded care contexts.