It was my second or third time teaching sex education to people with intellectual disabilities. A young woman with Down Syndrome was there. She was attending with her boyfriend who mooned at her with such love and longing. After the second class, where we were still getting to know the group and where we were covering non-stressful material in order to develop trust and safety before we got to the part about body parts and the like, she came to speak to me. I was surprised, in the end, that she chose me because a female teacher was present. But, no, she marched up to me. Determination all over her face. “That’s my boyfriend,” she said in a “matter of fact” manner. I told her that I had guessed that. “Well then,” she said pulling a piece of paper out of her purse and slapping it down on the table in front of me, “What’s that called?” She had ripped a page out of some book that had a close up picture of female genitalia and her finger pointed to the clitoris. I told her, quietly, that it was called the clitoris, she turned to her boyfriend, who was waiting with great anticipation, “It’s the clitoris. That what it’s called. That’s what you need to touch more.” She walked away. The two of them left the room. Him giggling with embarrassment  her with real purpose. She wanted the word so she could say what she wanted.

Totally awesome.

Sarah Gordy speaking at the Ted X Youth event

1) she is SO GORGEOUS <3

2) that thing she does with her hand when she is nervous/can’t see her notes is exactly what I do… I think this is a moment of what the person in that last video i posted called “lust of recognition”…

3) I don’t know if anyone else thinks it’s a bit patronising when she gets applause straight away when she can’t find her notes and has to stop? or is it just encouraging? would that happen for a non-disabled speaker? (I don’t like applause anyway, I think that would have made me more nervous/embarrassed than anything else… not that I could ever speak to an audience anyway…)

3) I LOVE it when at about 6.40 she says about always getting characters who have overprotective mothers who are afraid of them having sex

4) I’m not quite sure about the “see the actor, don’t see the disability” stuff, it feels a little bit like denying disability - but I get and agree with the idea that disabled actors shouldn’t just be given stereotypical “disabled” roles but should get to play “ordinary” roles too… though the ethics/politics/whatever of acting and representation is complex and I find it hard to think too far about it… I definitely agree with the conclusion “free to be all we can be” though :)

I don’t know if it’s bad when disabled people themselves talk about liking to “inspire” others in the same way it is when non-disabled people call us “inspirational”… opinions?

Anyway I think this person is very beautiful and VATTA sounds like a cool organisation, maybe interesting to people in Canada: http://cdss.ca/network/vatta/

Moments Art is a Spanish dance and theatre school for disabled performers. Their website is http://www.moments-art.com

I don’t know the names of these performers but I think this is a really beautiful image.

Firstly, Sarah Gordy is *gorgeous*. (And I love/want that dress.)

Secondly… I know this is the Daily Mail, they’re a nasty Tory tabloid whose stories about disabled people fall into 2 categories, hatred of disabled people for being “burdens on the state” or disabled people as saintly “inspirations” (usually the ones who are from rich families or have enough money to not need to depend on benefits), and like all newspapers they misquote people or distort what they said to their own ends… so she could easily have been misquoted. But I still think what Sarah’s mum says about her is really dodgy and upholds stereotypes of disabled people as “innocents” that I really don’t like, especially because they tend to have the knock-on effect of getting us regarded as “sexless” and getting people who are attracted to disabled people regarded as “exploitative” or “perverted”.

(edit to add the actual quote from her mum: ‘She has a highly developed sense of empathy and she’s very bright, but she’s got no comprehension of evil. It just isn’t in her make-up.’)

Nonetheless, I might actually watch this season of “Upstairs Downstairs” if Sarah Gordy plays a major character in it, despite my general dislike of pretty-but-shallow dramas about the family and social life of rich people.

Club Soda is an arts enterprise led by people with learning disabilities in Croydon, south London, which puts on accessible clubbing and music events run and controlled by disabled people. Hannah Marvelly, who appears at 0.41, 2.12 and 5.30, and Catherine O’Rourke, who appears at 3.38, are both incredibly beautiful IMO.

Sarah Gordy is a beautiful and talented actor. I would love to see her live on stage.

These photos are part of a set taken by Richard Bailey which are based on paintings by the Renaissance artist Vermeer, but updated to feature modern clothing and objects (eg. a laptop where the original painting showed a book).

I love how these two are so unashamedly into each other.

Jianna Georgiou, another beautiful dancer with Restless Dance Company