Interview Series on Sex and Disability

The Sex and Disability interview series debuted at SEXPO 2023! In this interview series, we discussed how people with disabilities are sexual beings. It is often assumed that people with disabilities are not interested in sex and moreover are not interested in relationships. This is not true! We wanted to open up the conversation by having interviews with disabled folks and those who work in a variety of sex-related fields. The interviews were recorded and have been posted below for folks to watch at their own leisure.

Interviewees

Kori Doty

Kori is a queerly gendered parent, caregiver and freelance community educator based in Lekwungen territories. They have worked in the field of community organizing, sexual health, harm reduction and supporting groups and individuals in visioning liberatory futures for many years, on and off, while also tending to the human needs of recovering from injuries and surgeries, gestating and parenting a small human, tending home and family in the face of cancer and chronic illnesses, fleeing violence and the other unexpected turns that punctuate this life. They are a student of the Institute for Somatic Sex Education and are passionate about bodies, pleasure, and imagining our ways past colonial mythologies of scarcity and disconnection. They descend from European settlers and walk through the world with access usually granted to white men; utilizing these privileges with integrity is a project that they try to approach with humility and nuance.

WATCH INTERVIEW HERE!

Landa Fox

Landa Fox, MA, BCBA, Certified Sexual Health Educator (she/her) is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst and Certified Sexual Health Educator living and working in lək̓ʷəŋən Territory (Victoria, British Columbia). She has worked in the field of autism and disability support since 2003. Currently, her work focuses on sexual health, relationship, and safety education for autistic and neurodivergent people. Her work often centers around creating and modifying existing sexual health and relationship education to be meaningful, accessible, and inclusive. All of her work is grounded in principles of harm-reduction. Her special interests within the area of sexual health education include how to promote a culture of consent and body autonomy for autistic children and youth; developing affirming and rights-based sex education; and advocating for access to sexuality and sexual health for everyone.

Website: www.positiveconnections.ca

Email: landa@positiveconnections.ca

Instagram: @positiveconnections

Podcast: Sex Ed Book Review (sexedbookreview.com)

WATCH INTERVIEW HERE!

Lou

Lou (she/her) is a queer femme, white settler, and neurospicy intimacy coach living with complex chronic disease. She also works at PEERS as program lead training sex workers as peer health educators in their communities. One of her special interests is the intersection of sex worker liberation and disability justice movements.

WATCH INTERVIEW HERE!

Melanie & Wallace

Wallace Upper (aka Randy, as work necessitates its use) has a Master of Social Work degree and is a Registered Social Worker. He is currently working as a Clinical Research Associate with a focus on spinal cord injury (SCI) and other acquired neurological disorders. Wallace is also providing therapy to individuals, couples, and families. As a person with a t6 complete spinal cord injury (SCI) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), Wallace lives his life to the fullest. He sustained his injuries in 1988 at the age of 20. Although the event changed the trajectory of his life, he would argue that it was for the better. After the accident, Wallace learned that he had an undiagnosed learning disability. This knowledge enabled him to get the supports needed to be successful in school. He would also admit that aging with a spinal cord injury is a real kick in the pants. But he’s up for the challenge. Melanie Earle has a Bachelor of Arts… with a focus on English and Gender Studies. From an early age, she has been interested in topics of social justice. For a time, she supported herself and her daughter by working as a Human Resources Professional. When she and Wallace united as a team, she was able to focus on her passion for working with people and making connections, centring people whose voices are often silenced or dismissed. As a person with an invisible disability, Melanie also lives her life to the fullest. She would also argue that her disability has positively shaped her life and its path (forks, bumps and pits included), and has led her to here – exactly where she wants to be. Together, this interabled couple are using their knowledge, skills, and experience to keep the conversation going with their peers in the disability community. There is a vast amount of untapped peer knowledge and experience out there. They would like to gather and share these resources as a means of serving those within the disability community. They also firmly believe that every Saturday night should be a wild karaoke party, sharing snacks and good cheer with others. To dispel myths, illuminate truths and share as a community, Wallace and Melanie also need to acknowledge the privilege they have as settlers of European descent. They are committed to learning more, including how they can acknowledge land rights in a meaningful way, and how they can establish and further an anti-racist mandate through intentional intersectional inclusion of various lived experiences. They both recognize that to learn and grow, they must watch for and address the biases they have internalized. This includes, but is not limited to race, disability, class, gender identity, and sexual orientation. They acknowledge that their personal experience in these areas is narrow but are committed to widening their lens by intentionally seeking other points of view.

WATCH INTERVIEW HERE!

Interviewer

Adrean Meuser

Adrean locates themselves as an uninvited queer settler with European ancestry and with lived experiences of disability and economic disadvantages. They do this work intentionally, and acknowledge that they hold tremendous privilege as a young person who got to decide to carry their child to term, and parent them as they see fit. Their guardianship of this child has never been questioned or threatened. Over a decade later, Adrean had access to a gender-affirming hysterectomy and acknowledges that the access to this type of surgery indicates their deep privilege within Canadian healthcare structures. Not only did Adrean have access to this life changing procedure, this does not limit Adrean’s capacity to grow their family – they are expecting their newest family member in April 2023 through a known-sperm donor agreement.

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