The Sexual Health and Disability Alliance ran a ground-breaking Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine, London in November 2009.  It was organised by Tuppy Owens of SHADA and the aim was to educate, inform and inspire health professionals about the importance of recognising and supporting the sexual needs of people with disabilities.

The pioneers who run the Sexual Health and Disability Alliance see the need to respect the sexuality of their disabled clients. SHADA designed a conference to convert the intrepid. Recognising the fact that it is very difficult for most medical and care staff to address their clients’ sexual problems, a programme was created to present a new model to help them, policies to aim for, and clarification on the law.  A powerful moment in the conference was a demonstration by Sue Newsome of a multi-sensory experience that she has developed with Dominic who is a tetraplegic.  The demonstration received very positive feedback including that some people were actually moved to tears!

Full details at www.Shada.org.uk