Professional Disability Awareness Training – for sex workers only

We need a minimum of 10 registrations paid by Sat 2 March in order to ensure that this training can go ahead. Get your registration form in as soon as possible if you don’t want to miss out on this rare training opportunity for sex workers.

Tuesday 12 March 2013 – Sydney Inner West NSW
Supported by Family Planning NSW & People with Disability Australia
click here to download Flyer and Registration Form (Word 165kb)

Target Audience

This training programme is reserved for sex workers and sex industry staff only.

This respects the right of sex workers to protect their identity as they pursue their professional development in the company of their immediate peers.

Rationale

By developing the Professional Disability Awareness Training (PDAT) programme, the Touching Base Committee pursued two of the key recommendations from our first Forum – Training and Partnership.
Although many experienced sex workers may have provided services to clients with various disability, a lack of specific awareness or training has been identified as being an issue for some people with disability and many sex workers themselves. It has also been identified that some service providers may find themselves more able to support their carers to assist clients in accessing sexual services, if there are sex workers available who have received specific training on working with clients with disability.

This training addresses several of the many barriers clients with disability, their carers and service providers may face when considering their options in accessing sexual services in NSW.

Goals
  • Progress the concept of professional training being made available to sex workers and sex industry staff who wish to gain greater awareness and skills in working with clients who have a range of special needs
  • Assist sex workers and sex industry staff to challenge myths and prejudices they or their workplace may have regarding clients with disability
  • Inform participants of the diverse sexuality of people with disability
  • Educate participants on how discrimination may create barriers for people with disability to access the sexual lifestyles of their choice – including accessing sex workers and sex services premises
  • Inform on better practice for providing accessible services to people with disability
  • Inform on how to arrange services through a third party (personal care attendant, family member or friend of client, etc)
Outcomes/Objectives
  • Participants will gain knowledge and skills on how to increase the accessibility of their services/premises to people with disability
  • Participants will gain skills in working with clients with various disabilities – including mobility and communication impairments
  • Increased awareness and skills on a range of Occupational, Health and Safety issues
  • Increased awareness of the sexual rights of people with disability
  • Increased recognition of the rights of sex workers to have access to courses for professional development
  • Sex workers and people with disability will be empowered through their vital collaboration in the development and presentation of this training programme
  • Increase of the numbers of sex workers available for referrals through the Touching Base database of sex workers who have completed the Professional Disability Awareness Training (PDAT)
  • Increased networking and support for sex workers who see clients with disability
Evaluation

On completion of the training programme, sex workers will receive a Certificate of Attendance from the auspicing Registered Training Organisation, Family Planning NSW (formerly FPA Health). Certificates are available to participants in their working and/or personal names, allowing sex workers to safeguard their anonymity.

In the future we hope to be able to offer Certificates of Attainment based on Competency Standards which are yet to be developed. When these standards are recognised by the Australian National Training Authority, they would have a place within the Australian Qualifications Framework.

Outline

The course is run over two or three days and covers a range of topics from the following list:

  • Definitions of disability
  • History of people with disability
  • Values and attitudes
  • Communication
  • How sex workers can breakdown the myths and assumptions – peer discussion
  • Medical aspects
  • Access
  • Occupational health and safety
  • The role of parents and carers in the lives of people with disability
  • Legal issues
  • Psychological health and safety for workers

Click here for a more in-depth details about PDAT for sex workers.