Disabled people will have a chance to play out their fantasies when a network of charity members and sex workers gather in Manchester for a special event next month.
Online charities TLC Trust and The Outsiders will be holding their first ever North West lunch at Manchester’s Castlefield pub The Wharf on Saturday June 20.
Dr Tuppy Owens, founder of both charities, explained that the event would offer a rare chance of intimacy for disabled people who might be otherwise unaccustomed to it.
“We hold monthly lunches all around the UK which welcomes everybody who would like to take place and socialise,” she told MM.
“Some simply want to have some fun and maybe experience intimacy, perhaps lose their virginity.
“Others want to learn what their bodies are capable of enjoying and how to please a partner, to prepare them for dating.”
“It can be more of a learning experience than just a fun one.”
Dr Owens, explained why disabled people need help in sexual encounters and why it is important for them to have a healthy sex life.
“Most disabled people have low self-esteem and little sexual confidence as a result of many things,” she said.
“Their parents may have been over-protective or they might have been bullied at school.
“Their teenage years will have found them left out and told they will never have a partner. They watch their friends get married and become engrossed in family life, and can become friendless.”
Even though there are hundreds of sex workers all around the UK who are willing to take on disabled clients, opinions are contrasted on the issue of disabled people paying for sexual pleasure.
Eliot Keane, 41, who suffers from a muscular condition called dermatomyositis, said: “Some people see nothing wrong with hiring sex workers but to me paying for sex is not right.
“It’s kind of a taboo subject, but that’s just my opinion. I don’t think badly about people who go along that route and pay for sex.
“Saying that, Dr Tuppy and the lunches she has been organising for disabled people all around the country has really helped me with my personal life. When you see there are more people like you it makes life easier.
“If someone said to me six months ago that I would be sat here talking about sex, I’d tell them there was no way. But here I am.”
These charities are breaking down the taboo of disabled people fulfilling their desires by connecting them with hundreds of sex workers and other disabled members all around the UK.
However opinions on paying for sex differ from one to other.
Wheelchair user and chronic fatigue sufferer Heather Carol, 50, said: “I will happily pay for sex when I want to. If and when feel like I have the need for it I will pay for it – it is nothing to be ashamed of.
“No matter what my disability is, I still have a sex drive just like any other person. I have been discriminated against by potential partners because I am disabled.
“If I want to pay for sex to release all those hormones and enjoy sex without worrying about any form of abuse or discrimination then I should have the right to do so.”
The London artist also commented on society’s opinion on the industry, adding: “Being a sex worker is just another profession; I don’t understand why anybody has a problem with it.
“It’s just like doing any other job and I think it should be valued and appreciated just like any other job.”
The foundation holds numerous open-to-public lunches and meetings in different parts of the UK every month.
You can fund out more information about the lunches by clicking here.
