Sexuality issues relating to people with disability deserve a great deal of attention from carers and a good place to start is the Family Planning NSW online bookshop.

Unfortunately, many carers may tend to overlook these sexuality issues – maybe out of shyness, ignorance, fear or just lack of knowledge about how to deal with them.

Some carers may struggle with acknowledging that people with disability, as whole people, also have the needs of whole people – and these include sexual needs as much as the need for food, shelter and other kinds of support and care.

Getting good information is always an excellent first place to start.

At the Family Planning NSW online bookshop you will find lots of resources and books specific to the needs of different types of disability.

In the Reproductive and Sexual Health category, for example, you will find book titles to help you if you are caring for a person with an intellectual disability. These include: About Masturbation for Females; and About Masturbation for Males.

These two easy reading books have been especially designed to help women and men with an intellectual disability, their families and staff, with issues around masturbation. There is an illustrated story for the person with the intellectual disability, and notes to assist staff and families in educating them about appropriate behaviour.

If you are caring for a person with Asperger’s Syndrome or autism, you may find Asperger’s Syndrome and Sexuality useful. It is a unique guide to negotiating sexual and relationship issues and provides practical information and advice on a range of subjects including puberty and sexual development, maintaining sexual boundaries, couple's therapy and guidelines for sex education programs.

Disability and Child Sexual Abuse Lessons shares survivors’ stories for effective protection, prevention and treatment of sexual abuse. It examines how society marginalises, institutionalises and places children with disability in situations of risk, and how patterns of service delivery can contribute to the problem and how to avoid the common pitfalls.

Educators and teachers of people with disability might be interested in a very extensive educational resource called Every Body Needs to Know – dealing with sexuality and relationships.

The format of this wonderful resource (which has been around for a few years) has recently been changed, making it easier to navigate and transport.

It is now packaged in a smaller, lightweight carry case, containing a CD and boxed flash cards. The CD has 38 lesson outlines, 87 worksheets and 295 picture cards (also provided in hard copy as the boxed flash cards), and links to support material are included. Topics covered include bodies; puberty; periods; relationships; sexual relationships; pregnancy information; feeling good; being safe; and sexual health checks. The package costs $490.

In a similar vein, Feeling Sexy Feeling Safe is another extensive resource. It features a 33-minute DVD and a training manual for teaching sexuality education to people with intellectual disabilities. 

It covers four specific areas: Public and Private Parts of the Body; Public and Private Places; Saying Yes and No to Sex; and The Sexual Person.

The DVD is R rated and intended for use only in sessions run by trained educators. It contains some clearly identified, and sexually explicit sections, which are suitable for viewing only by adults aged 18 and over. Other sections can be used more generally, as indicated in the training manual. It is also intended to be shown only in short segments in different teaching sessions interspersed with different activities and resources, and with discussion to process each segment. Price is $82.50.

This DVD should never be used in isolation and is not a complete sexuality program. However it contains a lot of material which can be used as a trigger for topics that need to be covered more comprehensively.

The online bookshop also offers material on a much wider variety of topics as well.

There are books and resources on areas such as communication, friendship, health care provision for people with disability, social skills, meaningful activities for people with disability, mental health care for people with disability, siblings of people with disability, as well as a wide range of books for people with disability themselves. There is a special category for multicultural resources. Many types of specific disability, such as Down Syndrome, spinal injury or Multiple Sclerosis, have tailor-made resources.

For more information visit:

http://www.fpnsw.org/categories/Bookshop/Disability/