Page 18 - Community Living Magazine 34-2

sex and safeguarding
Let’s talk about sex and staying safe

Sue Sharples toured the US and Canada to find out about their allies, have worked hard to raise
efforts there to support healthy sexuality and prevent sexual awareness of the importance of
opportunities for intimate relationships,
harm and look at alternatives to risk-averse safeguarding this has not been transformed into a
joined-up national strategy.
Barrows explained that sexual self-
he words “travel” and “study” can advocacy merges the principles of
make a harmonious combination, self-advocacy with a commitment to
Tbringing together the benefits of ensuring people’s sexual rights are upheld,
stepping into another world along with through campaigning, training and debate.
the excitement of exploring different His group, with others, have become
perspectives and practices. specialists in this area, feeding into and
This sentiment lies at the heart of the supported by Self-Advocates Becoming
work of the Winston Churchill Memorial Empowered (SABE), a national organisation
Trust, which bestows fellowship grants to and their technical assistance projects.
UK residents to enable them to embark Sexual self-advocacy has a set of
on international learning. The deal is that, evidence-based principles (Sandman et al,
having collected ideas and information, 2014) and teaching practices related to
travellers will “return to inspire”, sharing choice, respect, rights, communication
the knowledge gained in their communities and knowledge.
of interest to influence change. In Barrows’ words, it means that “when
As a proud and fortunate recipient of a someone is in a relationship, they can use
Churchill fellowship, in September 2019, I the skills of speaking up, like being able to
started a six-week study tour taking in areas Sue Sharples meets puppets used in Saskatoon give consent and recognise abuse, but
of New England in the US and travelling to help people discuss consent and abuse they can also speak out so that other
from the east to the west coast of Canada. people have the same opportunities”.
I had arranged to visit people and one of the founders of the self-advocacy With colleagues, Barrows has been
organisations who could shine light on the movement. involved in the design and delivery of
question: “What can we do to reduce sexual She is also well known in Canada for her training packs for self-advocates and staff.
harm to adults with a learning disability?” significant role in the 1986 “Eve case”, in In his experience, fighting for sexual
which the supreme court of Canada ruled rights is the most difficult aspect of
High risk of abuse that neither Eve, a young woman with self-advocacy because of disproportionate
This was motivated by the shocking reality intellectual disability, nor anyone else opposition from support workers, family
that in the UK adults with a learning should be sterilised without their consent, members and others.
disability are four times more likely to be unless there was a medical reason. In addition, he echoed the commonly
sexually abused than other citizens Goode told me this story in a humble, held view that talking about sex and love in
(Mencap, 2001) and by personal matter-of-fact manner, belying the impact the same breath as learning disability is the
experience of a reactive, risk-averse her voice had had in the highest court in last taboo in the world of service provision.
safeguarding system. the land. There was also Thomas Caswell,
One of the first comments I came across Responding to the inhumanity of losing another Vermont-based self-advocate,
in relation to the sexual assault of people control over what happens to one’s body who eloquently described his experience
with learning disability was by Pennsylvania and fertility paved the way for a lifetime of of being gay and autistic as “coming out
state official Nancy Thaler, who said: “If fighting against discrimination and for social twice”; he has written informative and
this were any other population, the world justice on behalf of herself and her peers. supportive guidance about this (https://
would be up in arms.” In our conversation, she was keen to tinyurl.com/caswell-guide).
I knew then I was in the right place. stress the importance of having accurate
Here I was going to find people who, information, in plain English, so people
despite differences from the UK regarding could understand the benefits and risks of
political, economic and service systems, actions proposed, alongside having
were driven by similar outrage, with a recourse to legal action if necessary.
thirst to address the statistics. This message continued in discussions
My wider fellowship findings and with other self-advocates, notably Max
recommendations are available in the Love Barrows, who I met at his workplace –
Care:fully report (see end of article). Here, Green Mountain Self Advocates in Vermont
I focus on some of the inspiring individuals in the US. Barrows is a national leader in
I met to illustrate the advocacy-related the sexual self-advocacy movement, a
learning that might motivate others. concept I was keen to explore.
Some of you may have heard of Barb While some self-advocacy groups and A couple who met at a Let’s Get Real event in
Goode, as she is internationally famous as individual self-advocates in the UK, with Vancouver in Canada enjoy an evening out

18 Vol 34 No 2 | Winter 2021 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk