Humanity Platform

 My relationship to sexuality can be broken into two distinct phases; almost forty plus years of personal sexuality, and eighteen years as a sexual advocate and educator.  When you put both these phases together I have learned one very important lesson.  Sexuality must be a priority! Personally, sex and sexuality is what drives me the most. It has been my ultimate source of pleasure and frustration. The frustration comes when the people who are supposed to support me to live my best life ignore my desire for sex and sexuality.  Allied health professionals, such as occupational therapists, can be the bridge  between uncomfortable disability services and clients wanting to express themselves in a healthy and safe way.  The occupational therapy podcast OT After Dark has many episodes that perfectly capture how therapists can engage in the occupation of sexuality with their clients.  There are also a number of great publications covering the topic. I reco...

 It cannot be denied that my forty years on this planet wouldn't be the same without some important assistive technology. I am independent because of an electric wheelchair, a free standing hoist, and a very special automatic front door just to name a few of my assistive devices. Advances in technology have allowed me to have lighter, more portable ramps for easier access; voice activated software from my laptop to smartphone has enabled faster and simpler communication. My life is living proof of the power assistive technology has to a person with a disability but what happens when good tech goes bad? My wheelchair is my only access to mobility and in the past when something went wrong it was quite often a simple mechanical fix that my dad could perform. Now my chair runs on a computer software program which does allow for increased capability of the chair but when it breaks down there is no simple fix. Error warnings with convoluted number systems will pop up and instantly immobi...

 From the age of three I have used an electric wheelchair. When I got my first wheelchair all I could do was go round and round in circles but now my wheelchair is my independence.  Over the years I have had a total of five electric wheelchairs and each time the process for getting a new chair is slightly different. Before the NDIS, the amount I was allocated for a new chair depended heavily on the report writing skills of the occupational therapist.  Each time I tried out a new range of chairs I always felt a bit uncomfortable because in my opinion I do not think that enough time for trialling new chairs is allowed. Once the selection process has been made, you then have to fit the chair to my individual needs. In years gone past this meant literally carving and sculpting the chair to my body type but in 2021 wheelchair providers prefer to use off the shelf mix and match components to supposedly cut down on costs. In my experience this means the final product is not as c...

In my years as a disability sexuality advocate I have been taught the importance of making sure disabled people of all sexuality backgrounds are represented. This is what has made me a LGBT+ ally.  Every year I am asked to speak to disability organisations, universities, and more about the topic of sexuality; and although I do not know what it’s like to be a part of the LGBT+ community, my disability has given me an insight into some of the negativity around sexuality that exists in our society.  I have been told: 'How dare I be attracted to an able bodied woman? Shouldn’t I just stick to my own type?’  In my life I have had many friends with disabilities from the LGBT+ community and a number of them have been told that their disability has made things complicated enough, why would they want to add the extra complication of being gay on top of it?  Sexuality is not a choice. It is simply a fundamentally human instinct and disability or not we all deserve the right to...