Interview Series on Sex and Disability
The Sex and Disability interview series will debut at SEXPO 2023! For this interview series we will be discussing 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 people who work in a variety of sex related fields.
Date: Monday Feb 13th 2023
Time: 11:00am to 12:30pm PST
Location: SUB Upper Lounge & UVICSSD.CA
The Interview series will be first streamed at SEXPO as their debut but will also be posted here and remain on our website to keep the conversation going. The videos streamed in-person at the SUB Upper Lounge and online will have closed captioning and an ASL interpreter. The SUB Upper Lounge is located on the ground level of the SUB and is accessible by stairs which are located through the west facing main entrance. The ramp entrance is located beside the UVSS Board of Directors offices down the hallway with rooms B106, B108 and B116. There is a large double door entrance located after the stairs and a single door entrance located after the ramp. The room has lots of natural light with large warm white coloured lights and several warm white coloured pot lights. Seating within the room is adjustable and can be altered if needed. Accessible washrooms with a lift and gender neutral washrooms are located close by. The SUB is a scent free space, but cannot guarantee adherence to this policy. Masks are recommended at the events hosted in this space. Masks and COVID tests will be available at all events. SEXPO strives to host inclusive and accessible events that engage all individuals fully. To request an accommodation or for further accessibility inquiries please contact uvicssd@uvic.ca.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
