This workshop provides practical information for parents, support workers, and other health professionals to feel more confident helping those they support with sexual aids and their sexuality.

This cozy support group is a space for folx living with chronic pain to chat about our journeys with secccuality. Our time together will be structured with rounds of sharing, reflection questions and practical skill sharing.

Designed to provide the participant with an insight to sexuality and how it manifests itself within children and adults with disabilities. The participant will learn the psychological development of sexuality, approaches to understanding sexuality, education and victimization. Strategies will be discussed about education and the role it plays on shaping individuals with disabilities and their sexuality.

Presenter: Dr. Stephen Gonzalez, BCBA-D, LBA South Texas Behavioral Institute

Our mission? To provide people with all types of disabilities the knowledge, skills, and resources to take pleasure in their sexuality and to clear a pathway for optimal sexual expression.

Our vision? People with disabilities will be empowered to lead the fullest sexual lives possible; and for their caregivers, lovers and allies to help support or be part of their life.

Note: This event is aimed at people aged 18+

This year the Festival will be held October 20-22, 2021, and event organizers are gearing up for an even larger global online attendance. The three day programme is below.

You can find timings and duration of the sessions on www.LoveAbilities.Org

Learn The Difference Between XY And XX and how it affects dyslexia.

Join Exceptional Individuals' last dyslexia awarness webinar.

October 4, 2021 - October 10, 2021. Dyslexia Awareness Week is an annual event aimed at further understanding and raising awareness about dyslexia; what it means, what it is and what can be done to support people who have dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a common learning diffrence that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling. It's a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing. Unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn't affected.

Background

Males are diagnosed with dyslexia more frequently than females, even in epidemiological samples. This may be explained by greater variance in males’ reading performance but is there more?

We explore into research by interacting with YOU on current theory

Sex differences in prevalence are found in many psychiatric disorders, but none have been fully explained. Let's start this conversation!

This group webinar intends to explore the diifrences between males and females with dyslexia.

This webinar is not meant to diagnose. Only a qualified professional can make a diagnosis.

The CYPF ASD Forum is really excited to host Kate and Robyn to discuss Sex Education for young people with ASD.

Speakers: Kate Reynolds is a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Senior Counsellor specialising in relationship & sex education for young people with autism and intellectual disabilities.

Robyn Stewart will discuss puberty and periods in young people with ASD, an autistic author, who has written “The Autism Friendly Guide to Periods”.

The zoom link will be emailed to you a few days before the event. This will be sent to the email address you used to make the booking. Please email [email protected] if you don’t receive this, or email with another email address you wish the information to be sent to.

The Forum is for Occupational Therapists working with children and young people with Autism, further details about the ASD Forum aims are on the RCOT website. Follow us on Twitter @CYPF_ASDForum

If you book a CYPF member ticket you will need to provide your membership number.

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions. If you would like to get involved in helping to plan and run the forums and or be part of the committee please email us.

Historically, people with disabilities have been viewed as asexual beings whose sexuality and gender does not factor into identity, partnering, or the human experience. The lack of awareness of people with disabilities as having experiences as sexual beings had led to a lack of emphasis on sexuality and gender in counseling for people with disabilities. The dismissiveness of the sexual person and how sexuality and gender relate to identity is detrimental to the counseling relationship and leaves individuals with disabilities facing challenges when discussing such issues with their counseling practitioner.

 

This program will focus on the foundations of sexuality and gender-based counseling for individuals with disabilities and how a universal approach to sexuality and gender is applicable to individuals with disabilities, like how universal technology applies to all people. Using the lens of inclusivity, this program will discuss approaches to discussing sexuality and gender, challenges specific to individuals with disabilities regarding sexuality and gender, and will emphasize the importance of practitioner training in the area of disability.

Healthy relationship boundaries are an important skill for us all. We are seeing more and more examples in our culture of those who have crossed lines. Even though people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are sexual beings, just like everyone, they also need the information and skills to navigate these waters and learn what's okay and not okay in various settings.

This webinar will explore tips and tools for addressing sexuality one-on-one with the individuals you work with . We will explore why this topic can be difficult to approach and useful tools that will help you become more comfortable and confident and communicate about this sensitive topic.

This group is for kinky people with disabilities and their partners. All genders, ethnicities, identifiers, and disabilities are welcome. This can be for people with mental disabilities like Autism, emotional disabilities like PTSD, and physical disabilities like Paralysis.

Sometimes, disabilities aren’t so apparent so it can easily feel like you’re alone when there are plenty of people around you that understand what you’re going through. It is also to celebrate your victories and things that you like from the perspective of your disability. This group is for people to:

• Explain the positives/advantages of living with your disability
• Share with members the victories you've had either with a disabled partner or as a disabled person
• get advice, whether you are a person with a disability or looking to play or be/are in a relationship with someone with a disability
• voice concerns about how disabled people are treated in the community
• talk about challenges that you face as a disabled individual in the scene

It will also be used to post the events for meetings of the Kinky And Disabled Support Group. You can check here or look for the event on Fetlife’s event section. During quarantine, meetings will be held through Zoom.

About Master Chris

Master Chris first entered the public scene in 2010 by attending his first public play party at Threshold. After that, he hasn’t looked back. Kink became an integral part of his life and he developed not only an incredible thirst for sadistic pleasure but an interest in power exchange dynamics as well. Now, Chris wants to pay it forward by passing on what he has learned. He loves teaching and it has been a big part of his life both in and outside of kink. He identifies as a Master, Sadist, Daddy, and Top in that order and loves to help others along their journey in whatever way they need.

ASD is not a new diagnosis, but our understanding of this neurological difference and its implications on all aspects of life is evolving. Issues relating to sexuality and gender identification are no different. In this training, we will explore the complicated relationship between autism spectrum disorder and human sexuality. Participants will gain better understanding of current related research findings, strategies for productively discussing these issues with individuals with ASD, and local resources for ongoing support. The target audience for this webinar is caregivers of persons with ASD for whom these topics seem most relevant. However, professionals working with individuals on the spectrum and adults with ASD are welcome to participate.

Living with chronic pain and disabilities can be anything from a mild nuisance one must deal with every day up to something that is downright crippling. Add to that the idea of physical activity involved in sex and/or kink activity and you end up with one daunting task; so how do we feel sexy and desired during this time? Not only will we cover how to keep that spark, we'll also cover ways to express ourselves and communicate in regards to our needs, wants, and desires, as well as the requests for adjustments related to our chronic pain and dis/ability status.

Speaking of adjustments and making accommodations, how do we do that in public play spaces and conventions without drawing unwanted attention or feeling like we're asking too much of our hosts? We'll discuss common problems in play spaces, ways we can talk to our local space owners about creating accommodations, and subtle ways we can make play possible when we're in temporary spaces.

Lastly, we'll have time to share stories about our own successes and learning opportunities regarding any number of other chronic pain and disability related problems. As someone living with Fibromyalgia, I'll cover things from what it is like to live with chronic pain to what it is like to live with someone who has it; I'll also talk about what it's like personally to be the dominant partner of someone with their own chronic pain and disability issues. There will also be information given out that can help turn a disability into something that makes a relationship stronger from both sides of the slash.

 

Presenter Bio:

Ignixia is an internationally renowned professional kink educator and leather-woman who was the owner and sole-operator of an award-winning leather business designed around creating custom, quality leather goods that are affordable to all. She has used her skills as a leatherworker to create the Kinkability toy line, first of its kind fetish gear designed for those with disabilities. As someone who lives with chronic pain, along with her partner, she uses her experiences to help others with chronic pain and disability through classes designed to make daily life and kink easier to manage.

While leatherwork has provided a means to live, education and outreach fuel her passion for life. When not traveling to teach at kink conventions, she volunteers 2 days per week at the Woodshed Orlando as a DM and educator. Locally she has also been a founding member and Co-Chair of NLA-Orlando, Co-Founder of WiLO (Women in Leather Orlando), Co-Creator of CFL Littles, and a supporter of WinK (Women in Kink), Dominant’s Roundtable, and multiple under 35 groups.

​In addition to donating products to multiple events’ charity funds, she is the creator of over 100 kink/fetish based designs including #KinkyCoexist and dozens of “Pride” Facebook profile frames used by thousands around the world. Her latest endeavor has been the creation and management of Kink Positive, a project designed to promote kink and sex positive thinking through education by joining efforts with other educators, vendors, and events to maximize reach.

Navigating discrimination in the workplace is complicated enough. When you must deal with multiple layers of discrimination based on your circumstances, it can be even more frustrating. Hear from this panel of legal professionals their stories of discrimination, the tools they use to navigate and thrive in the legal industry and how they believe we can show up as better allies.

Cripping Masculinity explores how Disability, Deaf, and Mad Identified Men (Cis or Trans) and Masculine Identified Non-Binary People create and experience their identities through clothing in their everyday lives.

On April 7, join members from the Cripping Masculinity team for a conversation with members from their community. They will engage with the relationship between Deafness, Madness, Disability and fashion, uncovering clothing as a tool for identity formation, resistance and community building.

This event will centre the often hidden and forgotten conversations in the fashion industry, highlighting space for development and social change.

For more information on Cripping Masculinity, please visit their website: https://www.crippingmasculinity.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/crippingmasculinity/

Access Features

This event is free to attend. There will be Live Captioning and ASL Interpretation. This Zoom event is in webinar format, meaning all event attendees will be off camera.

Featured Panelists

Kristina McMullin (She/Her) is an arts administrator and emerging academic with an activist’s heart. She is currently a Grad student with various academic and freelance jobs. Her work investigates how principles of disability justice influence our relationship to labour.

Ben Barry (He/Him) is a queer, disability-identified fashion educator, researcher and activist who is passionate about exploring how disability introduces new design and aesthetic possibilities into the fashion system and society. He serves as Chair and Associate Professor of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Fashion at Ryerson University.

Sean Lee (He/They) is an artist and curator who is currently the Director of Programming at Tangled Art + Disability. His work explores the notion of Disability arts as the last avant garde; his practice gestures towards the transformative possibilities of crip community building and accessible practices that desire the ways disability can disrupt.

MG (They/Them) is a settler in Tkaronto, and is a support worker with the YWCA. They are currently working on agency-wide Gender Policy implementation within the YWCA. MG is a huge advocate for grassroots initiatives, and continues to do frontline volunteering in areas of food sovereignty and encampment support.

Connor Yuzwenko Martin (He/Him) identifies as Deaf and is descended from settlers. He recognizes and strives every day to honour and act upon the fact that his work and accomplishments take place on Treaty 6 territory in amiskwacîwâskahikan. He has nurtured a lifelong passion for theatre and accessibility, and he is currently working with Deaf Spectrum, Intrepid Theatre, and Edmonton Fringe Theatre.

Date: April 7, 2021

Time: 6pm EST

*The zoom link will be sent out to attendees approx. 2 hours before the panel begins.

Healthy relationship boundaries are an important skill for us all. We are seeing more and more examples in our culture of those who have crossed lines. Even though people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are sexual beings, just like everyone, they also need the information and skills to navigate these waters and learn what's okay and not okay in various settings.

This webinar will explore tips and tools for addressing sexuality one-on-one with the individuals you work with . We will explore why this topic can be difficult to approach and useful tools that will help you become more comfortable and confident and communicate about this sensitive topic.

Learning Objectives:

Discuss the benefits of providing sexuality education

Examine activities to teach healthy boundaries:

Different types of relationships

Public v. Private

Moving from Friend to Partner

Body language

Communication

Speaking Up

When: Thursday, March 25 from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EASTERN time (please note your time zone)

This is a 60-minute online event for professionals, administrators, self-advocates, parents, etc. We use Zoom to deliver the workshop. There will be opportunity for questions and live engagement with the presenter.

Access Instructions: After you register you will get a confirmation email with instructions on how to access the workshop. You must have a stable internet connection to join, or you can call in via phone. Please check your spam folder if you don't get email confirmation from us after you register.

Webinar led by:

Katherine McLaughlin, M.Ed., CSE is a national expert and trains individuals, staff, and parents on sexuality and developmental disabilities. She teaches sexuality education to people with DD/ID as well as trains them to be peer sexuality educators themselves. Katherine is the author of an agency and school curriculum: Sexuality Education for People with Developmental Disabilities, and has developed two online courses; one to train professionals, Developmental Disability and Sexuality 101, and one for parents: Talking to Your Kids: Developmental Disabilities and Sexuality. Katherine has spent her career trying to elevate the status of all people, which is why the new name for her growing company is Elevatus Training.

Come and join Supported Loving's Reflective Learning Group for anyone working with people with learning disabilities and/or autism delivering relationships and sex education. Working in this area can be challenging but as a community we can grow and learn - there is always something new to learn!

Each month we will take a topic to discuss and reflect upon what are the challenges and what has worked/ positive approaches.

This class discusses disabilities in relation to BDSM relationships. This workshop is for EVERYONE. If you are a dominant or submissive who plays with or wants to play with individuals with disabilities, this class is for you! If you have disabilities yourself and are finding it difficult to navigate BDSM with them, this class is for you too!

Physical and mental well-being are important to everyone in our community and through this class you will learn more about the different types of disabilities, how they relate to BDSM, how to discuss disabilities with sensitivity, learn to play through disabilities and how to recover, and how you can manage to live a happy kinky life with them. At the end of the workshop, we will have an open discussion so we can discuss your issues and help come up with a plan to address them.

About the teacher

Lady Solaris is a married, poly, pansexual, lifestyle Dominant living in Los Angeles, California. Always open-minded and interested in different types of sexual relationships and sexual expression, she entered the scene in 2005 after seeing someone do shibari-style rope bondage. She has trained under some of Los Angeles’ finest Dominants and has worked with and learned from many different types of submissives. Her collegiate studies have included extensive course work in psychology, sociology, intra/inter-personal communications, and kinesics (the interpretation of body language).

“To me BDSM play is a journey between two or more people that can involve meditation, emotion, reflection, release, and mutual satisfaction. Play is my meditation and fuels my creativity. Connection, whether it be physical, mental or spiritual, is very important to me. I can be very protective over my play partner simply because I feel as if it is a true gift that they are joining me in my BDSM escapades. It is not my ultimate goal to break the bottom, just to bend the bottom until they can’t take anymore.”

Lady Solaris has a passion for educating the kink community and those in the “vanilla world”. She has given lectures and interviews on BDSM related subjects and continued work with Count Boogie and the Perverted Circus on kinky music/comedy videos. Some of the most well-known projects she’s worked on with Count Boogie are “BDSM Turkey”, “Kinky Fucky Time”, and “Foot Fetish Guy Anti-Creepy Training Video”. Lady Solaris has also appeared on the Perverted Podcast. Lady Solaris is currently a moderator of SOAP, (Social of Age Players,) which she runs with her husband, Caelum. Founded in 2012, SOAP has become Southern California’s largest monthly gathering of age players.

Discussions of consent are a vital part of sexuality education, and this is no different for people with disabilities. Protection from exploitation must be balanced against the right to sexual expression, with an emphasis on building a person’s capacity to give informed consent. This online workshop will examine several models for determining sexual consent. Participants will apply consent criteria to several case studies and discuss strategies for improving a person's consent abilities.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this 90 minute workshop, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate different models for determining one's capacity to give sexual consent.
• Apply consent criteria to situations involving sexual decision-making.
• Consider strategies for improving one's sexual consent capacity.

This is a 90-minute online workshop for professionals, administrators, self-advocates, parents, etc. We use Zoom, a video conference platform to deliver the workshop. There will be opportunity for questions and live engagement with the presenters.

Workshop Date: Thursday, March 11, 2021 from 2 pm to 3:30 pm eastern time (please note your time zone)

Access Instructions: After you register you will get a confirmation email with instructions on how to access the workshop. If you don't get the email check your spam. You must have a stable internet connection to join, or you can call in via phone.

Workshop Led by:

Bill Taverner, MA, CSE, is the chief editor of the American Journal of Sexuality Education, author or editor of more than 75 publications related to sexuality education, including Verbal Informed Sexual Consent Assessment Tool, and the founder of the Sex Ed Lecture Series.

Workshop Hosted by:

Katherine McLaughlin, M.Ed., CSE is a national expert and trains individuals, staff, and parents on sexuality and developmental disabilities. She teaches sexuality education to people with DD/ID as well as trains them to be peer sexuality educators themselves. Katherine is the author of an agency and school curriculum: Sexuality Education for People with Developmental Disabilities, and has developed two online courses; one to train professionals, Developmental Disability and Sexuality 101, and one for parents: Talking to Your Kids: Developmental Disabilities and Sexuality. Katherine has spent her career trying to elevate the status of all people, which is why the new name for her growing company is Elevatus Training.

The conference is currently expected to take place online.

This conference will explore the intersections between disabilities, arts and sexualities from an interdisciplinary and multimedia perspective. We refer to the plural of disabilities and sexualities, as in each category there exist many variations and representations which cannot be reduced to a simple or singular meaning.

Fundamentally, the question of desire/s is at the heart of this exploration. In Sex and Disability, Anna Mollow and Robert McRuer state, “rarely are disabled people regarded as either desiring subjects or objects of desire”. In this conference, we shall redress the balance of this stigmatised presumption and look to the many ways that people with disabilities experience and express sexuality through art. Or to put it differently, how can artistic mediums like film, theatre, literature, music, visual art contribute to an understanding of the experience of disabilities and sexualities?

This conference shall also explore how the arts provide a platform to represent disability in a way that differs from the day-to-day legal and official discourses, such as politics, sociology or narratives of equality and human rights. We can think about how artistic representations work to transform narratives of disability from the politically correct context that may inhibit bodily realities, into a language where pleasure and pain (as they relate to disability and sexuality) are given expression.

This group is for kinky people with disabilities and their partners. All genders, ethnicities, identifiers, and disabilities are welcome. This can be for people with mental disabilities like Autism, emotional disabilities like PTSD, and physical disabilities like Paralysis.

Sometimes, disabilities aren’t so apparent so it can easily feel like you’re alone when there are plenty of people around you that understand what you’re going through. It is also to celebrate your victories and things that you like from the perspective of your disability. This group is for people to:

• Explain the positives/advantages of living with your disability
• Share with members the victories you've had either with a disabled partner or as a disabled person
• get advice, whether you are a person with a disability or looking to play or be/are in a relationship with someone with a disability
• voice concerns about how disabled people are treated in the community
• talk about challenges that you face as a disabled individual in the scene

It will also be used to post the events for meetings of the Kinky And Disabled Support Group. You can check here or look for the event on Fetlife’s event section. During quarantine, meetings will be held through Zoom.

Want to learn more about community led projects and world-leading research supporting LGBTQIA+ people with disability?

Access

Pride Foundation Australia and Deakin University are committed to making this event accessible and welcoming for all. In conjunction with this event, Auslan interpreters will be provided. We would love to hear if you have other access needs at [email protected].

Event details

Please join Pride Foundation Australia and Deakin University for the highlights of Pride Foundation’s granting program, including launch of the “More Than Ticking a Box” 2021 Report, a world-first qualitative study on the lived experiences of LGBTIQA+ people with disabilities, led by Deakin’s Dr Amie O’Shea.

Hear from researchers and community advocates about their projects supported by Pride Foundation’s disability grants program. With presentations from the peer-led community, we will showcase projects and research which will provide information and practical support for you, your organisation and LGBTIQA+ people with disabilities in Australia.

Please join:

• Harriet Shing MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Equality, Parliamentary Secretary for Creative Industries and Parliamentary Secretary for Water

• Ro Allen, Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities

• Professor Iain Martin, Vice-Chancellor, Deakin University

• Dr Ben Gauntlett, Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Commissioner

• Mr Graeme Head, NDIS Quality and Safeguard Commissioner

• Peer leaders from the Pride Foundation LGBTIQA+ Disability Advisory Committee

This event is for our broader community, particularly LGBTIQA+ people with disability, their allies and, disability, health and social justice policy specialists and social researchers – those working in Australia with people with disabilities who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning, or who have intersex variations.

We look forward to seeing you at this important event.