PDAT for workers – in depth
Touching Base Professional Disability Awareness Training (PDAT)
Have you seen a client with a disability? Felt unsure of what to say or do? Wondered about the sexual functioning of someone in a wheelchair? Been unsure or how to handle catheters and other medical apparatus?
Whether you answer yes or no to these questions, the Touching Base Professional Disability Awareness Training series of workshops will add skills to your professional sex worker repertoire.
Over time, sex workers develop their own strategies to handle new clients with any special needs. This training provides the opportunity for sex workers to share their own hands-on experience. You can also gain new information, strategies and techniques – not only from other sex workers, but also from the talented people with disability and service providers who tutor some of the many topics covered by our training workshops.
Sex Workers Privacy Respected
Two of the most important features of this training are that participation is limited to sex workers only and workers can choose to study and receive their Certificates under their working name and/or their personal name. This allows sex workers to progress their professional development and maintain their personal anonymity, which Touching Base acknowledges as being very important to almost all sex workers.
Recommendations for providing professional development courses for sex workers
- Ensure anonymity/privacy and confidentiality for participants.
- Use working names during the workshop.
- Start Time – not early, negotiate appropriate start times.
- Discreet venue and signage.
- Certificates for participants to be provided in both personal and working names.
- Ongoing issue – achieving accreditation of the training into the Australian Qualifications Framework.
Comments from sex worker participants
“Since completing the training I have worked with deaf clients, clients with cerebral palsy, a client with an intellectual disability, a regular client I hadn’t seen him for nearly two years because he had a stroke, a client with a brain injury and a client with a congenital spinal injury.”
“I feel very honored to have been a part of this pilot training course. I cannot state strongly enough how excited I am that this could be a permanent course that sex workers not only from NSW but the rest of Australia and the rest of the world could participate in. It has already positively impacted on the lives of people with disabilities, sex workers, carers, organisations and the general public through discussion around sex and the rights of people with disabilities to be given equal access to the services of sex workers.”
“The training has highlighted the dire need for people with disabilities, parents, carers, people working in the medical field and service providers to engage in discussion and positive action around addressing the sexualities of people with disabilities and encouraging affirmative solutions with these issues. This course is so exciting to be part of and the professionals who have been involved with the training have all respected us as professionals in our chosen careers as sex workers, for which I would like to thank them all.”
When will the next training take place?
Sex workers who would like to attend our next workshop are encouraged to join our waiting list. We will be able to notify you directly once the new date has been set.
Brothel Owners and Managers: we can also arrange specific in-house training for your business and adapt workshops to meet your workers training needs in relation to Occupation Health and Safety (OH&S) practices to protect the health and safety of workers and clients on your premises.