Today is the International Day of the Disabled Person according to the UN. There have been so many interesting sex and disability events that I haven’t been able to attend lately (and a few which I have) that I’ve been feeling extra excited about the attention sexuality is getting from people inside and outside of the “disability community” lately.

But a quick search of the news today shows a serious lack of sex content in the International Day celebrations (the only article that comes up is about soldiers in Sierra Leone). In order to rectify the situation, here are a few ideas on how to put the sex back into the International Day for People with Disabilities:

Check out the Intimate Encounters Photo Exhibit (which is where this image comes from)

Learn something new about sex and disability from one of these amazing resources.

Find out who Lawrence Carter-Long is, and then email him to ask if you can bring his Embodying Sexuality: Disability in Film evening of sex and disability film to your neighborhood.

Rent the film Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan

Find a copy of Ragged Edge, and read Barbara Waxman Fiduccia’s essay “It’s Time to Politicize Our Sexual Oppression”

All that’s for your entertainment. If you want to do make trouble and raise a little consciousness, here are a few more ideas:

• Get a list of any or all of the anonymous HIV testing sites in your city or town. Call them and ask if their locations are physically accessible. When they say no, ask why and if they can direct you to the nearest one that is.
• Use the yellow pages to get the phone numbers of sex toy stores, bath houses, or adult movie theatres in your city or town (if there are any left). Call them and ask if they are accessible.

(These ideas are simple, and only deal with physical access issues, which are not the only, or the most important, obstacle when it comes to sex and disability. If you’ve got more ideas, share them here.)

Photo used with permission from Belinda Mason-Lovering

Image taken from Intimate Encounters