Page 2878 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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are looking for the same thing that anyone else is: connection. I will quote from the article:
“Although there are clients that just come for the physical sex, the vast majority of clients are seeking some intimacy, someone to listen to them and help them unwind and relax and step away from their problems for a little while,” she said.
“Clients with disabilities are seeking the same level of human connection and intimacy, but unlike other clients, workers can be their only source of physical intimacy and sexual pleasure.”
The article continues:
Heidi says a booking with a person with a disability is pretty much the same as any other, just with a few tweaks.
“For me, it’s paying extra attention to detail. Things like helping the client undress and take off their shoes, making certain they don’t slip and can safely shower themselves, listening for any changes in body or signs of distress from nonverbal clients,” she said.
The article goes on:
Sex worker Heidi says the “harsh truth is people with disabilities are not generally seen as sexual beings”.
“They can’t swipe right or stroll into a bar, and many are unable to sustain regular adult relationships, which is why it’s so important that they’re treated like any other client with sexual desires and urges,” she said.
“Nothing makes a client feel more like a “normal person” than being treated as such.”
Madam Speaker, people with disabilities have every right, and should have every expectation, to be able to live a full life. Sex is part of that life, and every healthy adult has the right to a healthy sex life. The existence of sexually repressed politicians and administrators should not get in the way of that. The NDIS should be a scheme that spreads dignity, not one that steals it.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Ms Cody. The question is that this motion be agreed to. I remind people of continuing resolution 10.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (11.39): I want to begin and probably end with how disappointing Ms Cody’s motion is today. I find this disappointing on so many levels—firstly that this is all the government backbench, and Ms Cody specifically, can come up with. It is a federal issue, as are so many of the motions that come to this place. It is a federal issue. She is wasting the time of the Assembly yet again by focusing on this federal issue.
It is disappointing also that of all of the challenges and barriers that people with disability in the ACT face—some of them have trouble having someone to come to
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