I am responding to your email about the sexual rights of disabled people - a colleague of mine forwarded your email.
For the past 5 years I have been involved in the development of the Relationships and Sexuality Policy for the organisation that I work for. I was the project manager for this and my perspective was that of a non disabled person - so consultation and input from disabled people was essential in this process!!! Unfortunately things like consultation was so new to my disabled peers (reflection of the status of disabled people in NZ) that people didn't really know how to respond. Happily I can say that this has since changed but still nowhere near how it should be.
So we began by writing this stunning 14 page policy about how we as an organisation would support disabled people to express their sexuality. Then this policy was trialled with about 14 disabled people, who gave feedback on it, talked about their own experiences (you can imagine that for some people this was the first time anyone had bothered to talk to them about some "real" stuff in their lives).
From this the whole policy was reviewed and re-shaped. So what we are left with is:
- Relationship and Sexuality Policy (now reduced to 5 pages I think)
- Intimate Support Guidelines
- Guidelines on How to Access the Sex Industry
- Guidelines on Reproductive Health
- Sexuality Information Checklist (this was a better alternative to what had originally been put in the policy which sounds similar to Mencap's Consent Screening Process)
The aim of this policy is for it to disappear and for it to become obsolete....it's an indictment on us that we had to have one in the first place but also in saying that by this organisation going through the process of having developed a policy it has raised awareness of sexuality.
Anyway without rambling on too much - if you would like to see copies of the above mentioned policies then let me know and I would be keen to keep this line of discussion going. You may also want to contact Patsie Frawley in Melbourne, Australia who has been involved in policy work but also works alongside disabled people around sexuality education. Her email address is [log in to unmask] <BLOCKED::mailto:[log in to unmask]>
So I look forward to hearing back from you
Kindest Regards
Claire
____________________________________________
Claire Ryan
Relationships and Sexuality Advisor
IDEA Specialist Services
[log in to unmask] <BLOCKED::mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Telephone: 09 5234198 ext 703
Facsimile: 09 3737623
PO Box 8072,Symonds St
Auckland, New Zealand
-----Original Message-----
From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ] On Behalf Of Colin Revell
Sent: Thursday, 13 July 2006 12:49 a.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Information needed: Self-advocacy for sexual rights
>From: Andrea Hollomotz <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Information needed: Self-advocacy for sexual rights
>Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:59:40 +0100
>
>Hi everyone,
>
>Does anyone know of any self-advocacy groups of people with learning
>difficulties who are advocating for sexual rights (e.g. rights to
>information, to make decisions about family planning, to have
>relationships)?
>
>My council is currently attempting to produce a "Relationship policy"
>for people with learning difficulties through a consultation process
>with local people. They are employing a researcher for five months, who
>unfortunately has no prior experience within the field of disability
>rights. I am a bit sceptical of the whole consultation-thing within
>such a short space of time. People to be questioned include
>professionals, informal "carers" ... and yes, even disabled people. I
>fear that, because we have no vocal self-advocacy group locally, those
>who aim to control and over-protect people with learning difficulties
>will be shouting the loudest. After all, a policy which prohibits
>sexual contact for the people they "care" for will make their job a lot
>easier. I have therefore suggested that we should get in touch with organizations of people with learning difficulties.
>
>Local "Relationship Policies", if done correctly, have great potential.
>My favourite is "Making Choices, Keeping safe" (NHS Lothian) available
>online
>at:
>
>http://www.mcks.scot.nhs.uk/ <http://www.mcks.scot.nhs.uk/>
>
>"Relationship policies" should force service providers, such as
>schools, family planning centres, residential establishments etc. to
>acknowledge that people with learning difficulties have a right to
>sexual relationships. "Relationship policies" should commit service
>providers to facilitating opportunities for people with learning
>difficulties to establish safe relationships (such as information on
>sexuality, social contacts). This should happen anyway, but some will
>only act if they are made to act.
>If done wrongly, "relationship policies" are just another mechanism of
>control, to justify segregation and over-protection. (Mencap for
>example suggested a national-wide "test of capacity to consent to
>sexual relationships", which would have relied on intellectual
>functioning and which would have singled out those deemed to have no
>"capacity" and justified their over-protection.)This is why it is vital
>that our researcher speaks to the right people. Please let me know if
>you have any suggestions about whom we might approach or if you can
>suggest any relevant literature on the subject.
>
>Thanks for your help, Andrea
>
>
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____________________________________________
Claire Ryan
Relationships and Sexuality Advisor
IDEA Specialist Services
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Telephone: 09 5234198 ext 703
Facsimile: 09 3737623
PO Box 8072,Symonds St
Auckland, New Zealand
________________End of message______________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about the list administratione should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
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