Stigma and a fear of the unknown are making Canberra's sex workers reluctant to offer services for people with disability creating an added barrier for an area already challenged by taboos, a former sex worker has said.
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Sex Worker Outreach Program education officer Lexxie Jury said only a "handful" of sex workers in the ACT were willing to see clients with physical disabilities and some were qualified through Touching Base – a Sydney-based charity aiming to help people with disability and sex workers connect.
"I would love to see more sex workers seeing clients with a disability, it's something that we do lack in the ACT, but it is quite specialised," she said.
While the reluctance of some sex workers to provide services for people with disability may just be fear of the unknown, others simply couldn't deal with it, Ms Jury said.
"I'd prefer to be able to send a person with a disability to a sex worker knowing they'll have a good time and not walk away going 'I feel like I was ripped off'… or 'she was nasty to me'," she said.
"It's different with every client, some don't have mobility, some can't move their arms or legs… there's more of a conversation around what the client can do.
"It's a little bit more hard work, but the joy at the end that you see on your client's face makes up for all that."
Ms Jury said carers or parents were often uncomfortable about organising a sex worker for a person with disability, but she wanted everyone to understand sex was a "human right".
She hopes to help break down the taboo when she speaks at the Feel the Vibe forum about sexuality for people with physical disabilities on Friday.
"Whether you're disabled or able-bodied we all deserve to have sex and skin-to-skin contact that's not your mum putting your pyjamas on," she said.
"As able-bodied people we tend to take being able to get sex for granted.
"Parents don't usually have anything to do with your sex life, that must be such a hard situation as a mum or a dad having to organise your child's sex life."
Ms Jury said carers and people with disability should talk upfront with a sex worker before making a booking and not be afraid to ask questions.
"Sometimes [clients] come in with very limited movement, they may not have had sex before and this poor guy is lying there saying 'oh my god I only came in for a massage' and that can be confronting for the worker as well," she said.
"It isn't there to provide things which individuals, whether they have a disability or not, might seek to have as part of their life," she said.
"It's there to provide supports so they can do and achieve things which are made a little more difficult because of the disability that they have."
It's something Ms Jury said she would like to see change as for some people with disability seeing a sex worker was a lifeline.
"It's a therapy within itself," she said.
Ensuring people with disability have access to sex is a cause close to her heart because of her brother's intellectual disabilities.
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