25th anniversary
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be holding an in-person event in Sydney on the 7th December to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Planning is well underway with very special guest speakers and performers in our line up to make this a special occasion.
We will send out a separate notice soon with more information. Touching Base members will get an opportunity to purchase a ticket before tickets are made available to non-members, on a first-in first-served basis. So please put aside this date if you would like to join us to celebrate our quarter century milestone and be ready to act quickly once ticket sales open to secure your place.
NDIS lobbying
Encouraged by NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, Touching Base began negotiating policy guidelines for NDIS-funded ‘disability-specific sexual supports’ with the Department of Social Services (DSS) and NDIS last September, working alongside peak disability peer organisations and others.
After a promising start, since the beginning of this year the DSS and NDIS have fallen silent after we raised concerns about them including all supports provided by sex workers under the term ‘sexual services’. This is of course incredibly disappointing but it isn’t the first time this has happened. We continue to actively lobby while the peak disability organisations have had to prioritise resources to other key areas.
As part of our lobbying efforts, we have:
- Provided a submission to the DSS final consultation on the NDIS Section 10 In & Out support lists. Our submission highlights how the proposed blanket ban on funding sexual supports for people with disability goes against the core principles of the NDIS, which are to provide choice and control. We explain why sexual supports can be essential and not simply about sexual gratification, but are also for education, therapy, and assistance with assistive technology. We call for guidelines to be co-designed to provide clear instruction on the range of disability specific sexual supports the NDIS will fund. Link to the submission on our website
- Reached out to some State and Territory Disability Ministers and spoken with their advisors. Although they weren’t optimistic about us making any political headway at this point in time, as the overall NDIS landscape is unfavourable to our cause, they did provide suggestions for other key disability advocacy groups we could connect with to share our concerns, which we are following up.
- Scarlet Alliance and Touching Base have compiled recent case studies, illustrating unintended consequences and significant challenges adults with disability face in accessing essential sexual supports through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). While names and details have been altered to protect identities, these stories reveal the urgent need for comprehensive and consistent NDIS policy regarding disability-related sexual supports.
- We are now working on a critical case study about a married couple who both use wheelchairs and need sexual supports to achieve conjugal relations.
PDAT workshop
We are excited to announce the next Professional Disability Awareness Training (PDAT) workshop for sex workers has opened for registrations. The workshop will happen online on Friday 7th Nov 2025 and Friday 14th Nov 2025. Here is the link for sex workers to register for the workshop.
Remember if you are a paid up member of Touching Base you get a 10% discount to attend.
Submission to review of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act
Touching Base’s submission to the NSW Law Reform Commission’s review of the Anti-Discrimination Act (ADA) addresses key areas of discrimination experienced by people with disability and sex workers. We argue that the current NSW ADA is outdated and fails to protect these vulnerable groups effectively.
Our submission calls for several vital reforms, including:
- Updating the Act’s language to reflect a social model of disability.
- Introducing “sex work activity” as a new protected attribute to prevent discrimination against sex workers in all areas of life.
- Explicitly applying the NSW ADA to the criminal justice system, which disproportionately affects people with intellectual disability.
- Adding “irrelevant criminal record” as a protected attribute to combat hiring discrimination.
- Creating a positive duty for organizations to proactively provide reasonable adjustments for disabled people.
- Removing the ineffective “comparator test” for discrimination.
- Ensuring the complaints process is trauma-informed and allows for third-party advocacy to protect the identity and safety of vulnerable complainants.
Please follow this link to read a PDF of the full submission
Social media
We have welcomed Maddy Wilson as our new social media manager. Maddy is looking forward to working with the Touching Base team to expand our social media presence and using her graphic design skills to enhance future postings.
Moving away from X (ex – Twitter)
In our last newsletter we invited members to provide feedback on whether they felt it was in the best interest of Touching Base and our members to transition away from X to an alternative platform. Members who responded to our questionnaire weren’t overly concerned about potential reputational risks if Touching Base Inc continues to use the X (formerly Twitter), but some of them identified other reasons to move away from X:
- X is not a safe environment and is actively banning sex workers and sex related content
- Reputational risk due to unpopularity of Elon Musk
- The reasons given in the newsletter, plus so many Sex Workers are being deplatformed on X
Bluesky was clearly the preferred alternative and here is the link to our new Bluesky account.
New research published
Dr. Rachel Wotton, an inaugural member of Touching Base, has now published her full thesis Exploring the experiences of people with disability who access sex worker services, in Australia, otherwise referred to as the PASA-Research study. This important research focuses on the experiences of people with disability.
Through online survey and interviews with people with disability, the barriers and facilitators to accessing sex worker services were explored, as well as motivational factors for doing so.
This research provides a “robust empirical dataset to inform evidence-based policy development, training programs, and educational workshops” that Touching Base looks forward to using in our future work.
“Eight motivational factors were identified for seeking sex worker services: sexual enjoyment, desire for sexual variety, combating loneliness and isolation, seeking genuine intimacy and connectivity, lack of other sexual outlets, increasing sexual literacy, therapeutic healing, and recovery and rehabilitation.” (Wotton, 2024)
CONGRATULATIONS to Rachel on completing this incredible body of work which will no doubt provide useful insights for those in both the sex and disability sectors, and meaningful evidence for future policy decision-making.
The full PhD thesis is 427 pages and available to the public via this link. You can also listen to Rachel discuss this research on podcasts and radio here: https://www.rachelwotton.com/pasa/
Advanced notice AGM
We will hold our AGM online on the 24 November at 6pm AEDT time. We will send out formal notices closer to the AGM but in the meantime please make a note in your calendars if you’d like to attend.
Strategic plan 2025 – 2027
Background
Last year we were blindsided by the move to prohibit sexual services being funded under the NDIS. This meant we only made limited progress on strategies to implement the following broad goals from our Strategic Plan 2022-2024:
- Goal 1: Increase awareness of our organisation and the services we offer, across Australia and internationally
- Goal 2: Build an accessible online training centre for stakeholders
- Goal 3: Develop and maintain current and relevant resources for our stakeholders
We are pleased to report we at least partially achieved Goal 4 and fully achieved Goal 5:
- Goal 4: to enhance our independence and increase our self sufficiency (we increased our income in the 2024 financial year – but income dropped again in 2025 after the NDIS Act was changed in Oct 2024 to prohibit sexual services being funded)
- Goal 5 Transition to an online virtual organisation.
_________________________________
We will carry over the same broad Goals 1 to 4 into our Strategic Plan 2025-2027, along with a new Goal 5 related to the NDIS.
- Goal 1: Increase awareness of our organisation and the services we offer, across Australia and internationally
- Goal 2: Build an accessible online training centre for stakeholders
- Goal 3: Develop and maintain current and relevant resources for our stakeholders
- Goal 4: to enhance our independence and increase our self sufficiency
- Goal 5: Change the way sexual supports are funded under the NDIS
…
Website Upgrade and Membership Payment Issues
If you’ve visited our website recently you would have noticed that we’ve done an upgrade. This isn’t the full website rebuild that we have on our strategic plan but we hope you’ll agree that updating the theme has refreshed the look and feel of the website.
Our apologies to anyone who has had difficulty paying for, or renewing your membership recently. Our Techie Team has worked very hard to investigate the glitch and we think it has been resolved now. If you do have any problems paying membership fees please reach out to our Operations team for assistance – we’re here to help operations@touchingbase.org .
New Arts Project for sex workers and clients
Touching Base supports the intrinsic right of people with disability to sexual expression and physical intimacy, and values the professional services that sex workers provide to members of the community, including those living with disability. We support the Darling Darling project as an innovative and creative way for sex workers and disabled clients to explore and share their experiences with a wider audience.
If you are a sex worker or client interested to become involved in this project based in Newcastle NSW, please click the website link above, or here is a link to a Darling Darling Instagram post describing the project.
Here is an Instagram promotion for the first in-person workshop for sex workers on the 21st Oct.
Your Voice Needed: Shape Cancer Care Training on Sex and Disability
The University of Sydney is working on a Program called SexFICC. SexFICC is a government-funded initiative aimed at upskilling the cancer workforce in identifying and managing concerns about sexual health, sexual function and intimacy in people with lived experience of cancer. SexFICC partners with VCCC Alliance and Movember.
The training program will include a module where they will talk about the specific effects of cancer treatment on sex and intimacy for people with disability. SexFICC is inviting people with disability with / without a history of cancer to contribute. They have funding available to reimburse participants for their time.
If you are a person with disability interested in being involved, please contact Mary Hayes:
Project Manager of SexFICC
Cancer Care Research Unit
Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery| Sydney Nursing School
Faculty of Medicine and Health
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Email: mary.hayes@sydney.edu.au
Ph: 0420 527 045
Sex worker $1,000 Education Commencement Grant 2026
Are you a current or former sex worker planning to start study in a health related program in 2026? A $1,000 grant is available to support the beginning of your education journey.This grant aims to encourage sex workers entering the health field by easing the financial load that comes with starting study. It recognises the importance of lived experience in building more inclusive and effective health care services.
Eligibility
To apply, you must:
• Self identify as a sex worker
• Be commencing study in a health related program (TAFE, university, or accredited training) in 2026
• Submit an expression of interest by 30 January 2026
Selection and Payment
The successful applicant will be notified on 10 February 2026.
Payment will be made to the nominated account once enrolment is confirmed at census date.
How to Apply
Send your expression of interest by email to:
admin@skyridgeoccupationaltherapy.com.au
All data collected for the purpose of administering this grant is stored and managed in accordance with health care legislation and privacy requirements.
_________________________________
That’s all from us for now. Keep an eye out for upcoming notices about our online AGM (to be held on the 24 November) and our 25th Anniversary celebration (7th December).
Until then,
All the best from the Touching Base Team