Sex, disability, and humour

I noticed an article in the Sydney Morning Herald today that looked great.  The headline is “Sex, disability, and humor”.  That’s really good I thought.  Too often people with disabilities are seen as asexual, or unable to enjoy, or uninterested in sex.  This isn’t the case, and is more likely to be a reflection of the person’s own ignorance, or fear of sex and sexuality.

So great!  Here’s an article to help dispel that myth.  And it was good as far as that goes.  However the final paragraph left me staggered.  It said:

“Unfortunately, no comparable organisations or publications exist in Australia – yet!”

This is absolutely not true.  As a sex worker who works with Touching Base and women with disabilities, I can tell you that there absolutely IS an organisation that helps people with disabilities explore and enjoy their sexuality. It’s Touching Base.  From their website:

Touching Base Inc is a charitable organisation, based in Sydney NSW Australia, that has been active since October 2000. Touching Base developed out of the need to assist people with disability and sex workers to connect with each other, focusing on access, discrimination, human rights and legal issues and the attitudinal barriers that these two marginalised communities can face.

It’s disappointing that the article failed to mention Touching Base.  Really disappointing. I don’t know if this oversight is deliberate, but hopefully it will be corrected in the future.

John.

7 thoughts on “Sex, disability, and humour

  1. Yes, even though people seem to be understanding more about people with disabilities having sexual desires, I think there is still a lot more education needed. Thank goodness there actually is a service (Touching Base) linking people with disabilities with sex workers, because it is definitely needed!
    Laura

    • Yes, there is a long way to go Laura. Education of the public is still something that is lacking, even with all of the good work of Touching Base.

      That was why I was so disappointed that Touching Base wasn’t mentioned in the article. I have heard since, that the journalist felt the article was only about “dating” rather than paid services. So didn’t feel that mentioning Touching Base was relevant.

      Personally I disagree. I think that Touching Base is an invaluable resource for individuals, families, and carers and deserves to be mentioned even in this context.

      John.

  2. I would love to see this topic raised more openly in public discourse. Every individual needs the opportunity to explore and understand their sexuality as an fundamental part of their identity.

    • I couldn’t agree more Ally. Given the difficulty that our society has with the concept of people with disabilities having and wanting a healthy sex life like everyone else takes for granted, it is very important that the issues are discussed openly and widely.

      John.

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