World News Disability groups decry exclusion of sex work from NDIS Blog

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People with disability have a right to access a wide range of safer sex support services. Disability organisations are calling for proposals to exclude sex work from the NDIS to be condemned.

Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, has announced plans to remove access to sex work through the program because it “fails the bar test”.

But ten organisations representing Australians with disabilities condemned his comments.

In a joint statement, People with Disability Australia, Touching Base and other groups claimed that excluding sexuality and sex work services from the NDIS would undermine the right to choice, control and access to supports that enable full participation in all aspects of life.

“Sexual support is crucial to the well-being of people with disabilities,” they said.

“People with disabilities are often denied full autonomy over their own bodies and made to believe they are either asexual or hypersexual.

“Our right to make informed decisions about our bodies, our sexual and reproductive health and our intimate relationships must be protected.”

The Federal Court ruled in a 2020 decision that the National Disability Insurance Agency should authorise specialised sexual services, and such resources have been available to NDIS participants since then.

These services can help people with disabilities develop a positive relationship with their bodies, gain confidence around sex, intimacy and touch in a safe and supportive environment, and provide them with opportunities for self-expression and pleasure, the statement said.

They also include a range of supports, including consent education, therapies to support healing from sexual abuse and trauma, gender affirming care, reproductive resources, and more.

But Mr Shorten’s comments reflect a worrying definition of NDIS support that “fails to take into account the critical needs of many people with disability”.

The organisations called on Mr Shorten to retract his comments and commit to developing a comprehensive sexuality policy in consultation with members of the disability community.

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