Touching Base Inc is a charitable institution, based in Sydney Australia, that has been active since October 2000. Touching Base developed out of the need to assist people with disability and sex workers to connect with each other, focusing on access, discrimination, human rights and legal issues and the attitudinal barriers that these two marginalised communities can face.

Information for people with disability or their carers on how to access the sex industry and the Touching Base Referral List is contained in the Clients section of this website.

Information for sex workers including training workshops, resources and information about disability is contained in the Sex Workers section of this website.

We also regulary offer training workshops tailored to Disability Service Providers. Please click here for more information.

This website contains some material of a sexual nature suitable for adults only. Currently, Touching Base does not receive any government funding.

Service Provider Awareness Training – for disability service providers and carers

1 day workshop – Supporting people with disability to access the Sex Industry

Thursday 20 June 2013 – Family Planning NSW (Hunter), Newcastle NSW
Supported by Family Planning NSW & People with Disability Australia
click here to download Flyer (PDF 226kb)

June 2013

Touching Base to present at a Parents Forum run by Family Planning NSW

Saul Isbister will be presenting to a Sexuality and Relationships forum being run by Family Planning NSW in Ashfield on the 15th June. The forum is for parents and carers of people with intellectual disability of all ages. See more information about time and cost etc in the flyer for the forum (PDF 992kb) or on the Family Planning website

April 2013

See all the latest news about Touching Base recent activities and upcoming events in our April Newsletter  (Word doc 2.45 MB) | April Newsletter  (PDF 284 KB). Read all about the three student projects we have for the first half of this year, news on the worldwide journey of the documentary Scarlet Road and much more.

Touching Base at the PossABLE IDEAS EXPO 2013 – Newcastle

Touching Base has been invited to run 3 workshops at the IDEAS EXPO in Newcastle. We will be running a stall during two day expo – so if you are in the area pop along and visit us at stall 87.

We are thrilled to have GLYDE HEALTH & GLYDE TOTAL PARLOUR SUPPLIESas our generous sponsors and partners for the IDEAS Expo in Newcastle. See more info about the Expo and our workshops in our April Newsletter  (Word doc 2.45 MB) | April Newsletter (PDF 284KB)

December 2012

We topped off the year having our AGM at The Rocks, Sydney – with a meeting room and lunch generously hosted by Ashurst Australia, one of Australia’s leading law firms. An overview of the year’s activities can be found in The President and Treasurer’s Annual Reports – now available on our About Us page. At the AGM members of our Committee of Management were re-elected unopposed.

We will be running more workshops in 2013 than any previous year, so keep an eye out for announcements of the dates and locations. Or send us an email if you want to be put on our waiting list – just remember to let us know if you want to attend the SPAT workshop for disability service providers or the PDAT workshop for sex workers.

Thanks to all our volunteers, partners, friends and supporters who have made 2012 our most successful year to date. Wishing you all the best for the holiday season and we look forward to having a great time with you all in 2013.

November 2012

Touching Base hosted the New Zealand Premier of the Director’s Cut of Scarlet Road in Wellington on Tuesday 6 Nov. This led to some great media covering the documentary and our work at Touching Base. While in NZ, Rachel and Saul were also invited as international guests to speak at a special gathering celebrating the 25th anniversary of the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective.  Rob Hardy and Saul provided workshop to the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability Annual Conference which was held at the Wellington Town Hall.

The release of the new movie The Sessions, starring Helen Hunt as a sex surrogate working with a client with polio, has unleashed another layer of acute interest in our own work at Touching Base –  from many important media players and outlets. We are working on making the most of these opportunities and will update our Media page as more articles and broadcasts become available.

October 2012

In Oct we held two very successful one day Disability Service Awareness Training (SPAT) workshops in Tasmania – in conjunction with Oak Community Services. These workshops were so popular they were sold out before the flyer had even been distributed! As a result we now have two more workshops in Tasmania completely booked out for June 2013.

Interest has also built up for our next Professional Disability Awareness Training workshop for sex workers, so the next one is likely to be held in Sydney in early 2013.  Any sex workers who have asked to be kept informed will be advised by email as soon as the date is finalised.

The documentary Scarlet Road continues on its relentless journey around the world, having been screened at film festivals in Norway, Germany and the USA within the last month alone. Scarlet Road was also unexpectedly replayed on SBS in Australia on the 25 Oct 2012 – releasing another round of enquiries from stakeholders all around the country.

September 2012

Touching Base gets busier every year and 2012 has certainly been our busiest yet. Our regular Sept SPAT held at Family Planning NSW in Ashfield was fully booked and we continue to receive great feedback from participants via their evaluation forms. Keep an eye on our website for dates for our 2013 workshops.

June 2012
May 2012
February 2012