Page 19 - Community Living Magazine 34-2

sex and safeguarding

Randy Lizotte in Vermont, employed by
a provider organisation, demonstrated his
skills in delivering a session on assertive
communication and consent.
I met the Right2Love group in Calgary,
who campaign for healthy sexuality and
education for everyone who talked about
how they had changed provincial policies.
Like many of the groups I met, they
were generally more militant than their
UK counterparts, having taken to the
streets with placards to raise awareness, Above: Sue Sharples with Thomas Caswell, who
relentlessly lobbying politicians and calling has written guidance about being gay and autistic;
for approaches they referred to as “radical”. Max Barrows: sexual safety and empowerment
In Vancouver, I learned about Real Talk, are “the hardest of advocacy nuts to crack”
whose members were making and sharing
video conversations about dating, love, the more academic concept of “intimate
relationships and sex and visited the Let’s citizenship” (Ignagni et al, 2016).
Get Real community, who practise There are certainly people in the UK
ordinary conversations about relationships from a wide range of backgrounds who
in everyday settings of the type that you are working tirelessly to raise awareness
might have down the pub with your mates. about the importance of love, sex and relevance of trauma-informed support to
I was inspired by sexual self-advocacy relationships and their impact on service quality and, specifically, to
ally Mandy Doyle in Boston. With anti- individual wellbeing, notably through teaching about sex and relationships.
abuse organisation Impact:Ability, she organisations such as Supported Loving. So for sexual self-advocacy to thrive,
has designed a self-defence programme There are also a growing number of there needs to be a continued focus on
that incorporates self-esteem, self-advocacy groups which have organisational culture, alongside provision
assertiveness and sexual awareness, and undertaken relationships and sexuality of skills-based tools and practical resources.
aims to enable people to recognise and training and research, as well as providing To test whether this resonates in the
address potential abuse. useful and informative resources. Sexual UK, I plan to work with already vociferous
self-advocacy benefits from its birth within self-advocates in Lancashire to co-design
the self -advocacy movement, its evidence a trauma-informed sexual rights
Talking about sex and love in base and an accessible framework. information and training pack, which will
the same breath as learning Bringing findings back home be made available to champion and
challenge nationally.
disability is the last taboo in So how might these pioneering North This may not result in a figurative call to
the world of service provision American practices translate to the UK? arms but, hopefully, will contribute to a
Sexual self-advocacy perhaps names and movement to address sexual safety and
frames an existing rumble of discontent empowerment, areas that Max Barrows
among self-advocates and allies in this referred to wistfully as “the hardest of
I witnessed many examples of country, which might be enhanced and advocacy nuts to crack”. n
collaboration, sometimes across informed by the voices and experiences of ● Love Care:fully. Sexual Safety for Adults
untraditional boundaries, such as between our transatlantic colleagues. with a Learning Disability. Lessons from
rape crisis and transport services. Theirs are inspiring, practical actions Canada and the USA; https://tinyurl.com/
It was striking to find leaders in the designed to challenge and redress yyc6cq4b
statutory sector, such as Pat Carney in inequalities. They come from a place of
Massachusetts, who works with the shared injustice, which has developed into Sue Sharples is a retired social worker and
state’s adult protection service to a subset of the self-advocacy movement provider chief executive, and now works
coordinate a whole-system approach to working to champion sexual rights. as a trainer, campaigner, advocacy ally
preventive education. Reflecting on what can be learned from and member of Supported Loving
Whether through individual or shared the exceptionally generous people who
effort, these examples demonstrate a welcomed me into their world for a short References
grassroots groundswell of commitment to time, they have a strong commonality of Mencap, Respond, Voice UK (2001) Behind
changing perceptions and opportunities, purpose that transcends the vast spaces, Closed Doors: Preventing Sexual Abuse Against
with a supported, perceptible unity of different terrains and increasingly polarised Adults with a Learning Disability
purpose that makes it feel like a movement. political landscape in which they operate. Sandman L, Arnold K, Bolyanatz L, Friedman C,
Saunders C, Wickey T (2014) In my Voice:
Many people spoke of the need to fight One of the binding forces seems to be a Sexual Self-advocacy. Chicago: University of
the continued prejudices and injustices focus on proactive, preventive Illinois. https://tinyurl.com/yyzulfxj
associated with trying to have safeguarding measures, with shared Ignagni E, Fudge Schormans A, Liddard K,
relationships, while being able to cite local value-based principles. Runswick-Cole K (2016) “Some people are not
and national groups or activities that were I heard and saw more references to allowed to love”: intimate citizenship in the
acting as vehicles for change. person-centred planning than I have for lives of people labelled with intellectual
Arguably, sexual self-advocacy is nothing some time in the UK. I was heartened to disabilities. Disability and Society; 31(1): 131-5.
new – perhaps it is the younger cousin of listen to self-advocates explaining the https://tinyurl.com/y4fzabmo

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