It is often assumed that people with disabilities face lower risk of HIV than their non-disabled peers – because they are asexual, because they are less likely to use drugs or alcohol, and because they face lower risks of violence or sexual assault than others. A growing body of research shows that these assumptions are wrong: persons with disabilities have the same rates of sexual activity and substance abuse as persons without disabilities. In fact, persons with disabilities may be more vulnerable to HIV because they are more likely to be abused, marginalized, discriminated against, illiterate, and poorer than the non-disabled population.