I mentioned previously that I had discovered a much more positive response to LGBTQ+ disability support than I had gleaned from attending Burlington Pride.

My next stop was Montpelier, the  state capital of Vermont, boasting the prettiest Capital Building in the country. I had a planned a two day visit with Green Mountain Self Advocates, who I was excited to meet because of their commitment to supporting people to speak out about their sexual rights. Karen Topper, their Manager, had among other things arranged for me to visit with Thomas Caswell, who identifies as a gay, autistic man and Rose Martellaro, who facilitates a peer group for people with disabilities who identify as LGBTQ+ at the local Pride Center.

So, it turned out that there was quite a lot happening in Burlington, it was just that this year the group had decided not to have a table of information, instead their details were simply available on the Pride stall. Perhaps this is an example of positive inclusion? Rose also explained that the hustle and bustle of a pride event isn’t the best environment if you are autistic. It was actually the group who had suggested having a ‘quiet zone’ which I had seen, but didn’t immediately associate with being an environmental adaptation.

Thomas proved to be an inspiring interviewee, who
eloquently explained the impact of his autism diagnosis, alongside
the realisation that he was gay, in his late teens.
He describes this as ‘coming out twice’ and you can hear
him talk about this experience in a podcast that he did for local radio station here:
https://www.rumblestripvermont.com/2018/07/thomas-talks-about-coming-out-twice/

Thomas now provides sexual health training and promotes gay rights, as well as working as a peer advocate at Green Mountain Self Advocates. He is also a student at Think College https://www.uvm.edu/cess/cdci/think-college-vermont , a programme for  people with a learning disability at the University of Vermont. This sounded like a brilliant idea,as not only does it provide the opportunity for Thomas and others and  to do mainstream modules such as ‘Society and Disability’, he has also been able to be part of the Universities active gay community.

Rose told me that she works for the Vermont Center for Independent Living, who have partnered with the Pride Center to develop a monthly disability group. I was interested to learn of the success of this cross disability approach and the fact that she widens the meeting topics to include areas outside of the sexuality context, such as housing and sharing information about hobbies. There is also an emphasis on creating peer to peer support outside of the meeting, as she has limited capacity to provide on going intervention.

These are such helpful ideas to consider and potentially implement in the UK and I look forward to sharing them with my colleagues back home.

You may have noticed that I haven’t done a vlog for a little while. I have not abandoned the video totally, it’s just that it does take longer to set up, record and upload than a blog. Time, unfortunately, frequently seems to get the better of me, particularly when taking into account the  long travelling distances between visit sites. Hope to get back to it next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend we arrived in Vermont, home of autumn leaves, ‘White Christmas’, Ben and Jerry’s, Sinatra’s moonlight and Senator Bernie Sanders. Sunday was supposed to be a day off, with a plan to look around picturesque Burlington and have a leisurely lunch by the lake.

By coincidence, it happened to be Burlington Pride, which offered a
fantastic opportunity for information gathering and observation. Not to mention some great entertainment, in a relaxed sun filled environment.

I was able to collect great resources from the many stalls around the celebration site, some of which were dedicated to sexual health.
I was notably on the look out for services that were inclusive or specialised in engaging people with a learning disability.

Unable to see anything, I made an enquiry at the Planned Parenthood table. This is an organisation that provides sexual health services in Vermont. Their response was that they did not have any accessible resources and would usually refer people to Katherine McLaughlin, who happens to be the specialist trainer, whose course I am doing next week.

 
I was puzzled and surprised by this absence, given everything I had heard recently about inclusion and partnership.

Also it underlined the positive work that I know has been undertaken by my colleagues in the UK, to ensure that people who identify as LGBTQ+ have the opportunity to be included in PRIDE events.

We have found that attendance has also been a very good chance to promote and explain the existence of the growing number of specialist LGBTQ+ support groups.

I’m pleased to report that once we moved on from Burlington to Montpelier, I found that  Vermont does have good examples of LGBTQ+  support groups, both discrete and integrated. More of which later…………….

 

So, it’s just about sinking in!It’s almost two months since the envelope arrived telling me that I’d been awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study sexual harm prevention for adults with a learning disability in Canada and America.

A seminal moment in my childhood was watching Churchill’s funeral on a very small black and white television. I never could have imagined that I would be embarking on a voyage of discovery as the result of his legacy.

This voyage was fuelled by the fantastic people that I’ve worked with in Lancashire in recent years, particularly self advocates, whose drive and enthusiasm for improving opportunities for people to have intimate relationships has been infectious. An additional spark was added by the chance to join the fantastic Supported Loving network, which has demonstrated how much can be achieved when people with a shared passion collaborate.

This journey is therefore for everyone in the UK who believes that people with a learning disability have as much right to have safe, meaninful relationships as anyone else, including opportunities to be intimate, if they so wish.

I hope that I can do you justice and will come back with a wealth of information and ideas. My initial plans bode well. I have made contact already with some amazing projects and people who have been incredibly open, welcoming and informative.

Inevitably there will be challenges along the way. Ensuring this blog is in easy read being one to grapple with, alongside setting it up in first place. As using social media pushes me out of my proverbial pensioners comfort zone I am having to learn the art of computer based communication very quickly.

Just as a joke is defeated if it requires explanation, my blog name maybe fails by requiring clarification.The RiSE denotes relationships and sex education and the I is for individual, with the whole reflecting an increase or improvement. More obviously there is going to be alot of roving as I travel around New England and from the east to west coast of Canada.

I am collecting messages from people here, which I will collate into a card to give to host organisations on my travels. So, if there is anything you would like me to pass on, or indeed questions you would like me to ask, please do make contact. Either here or through my email which is sueamberco@aol.com

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton