Relationships, Intimacy and Sexuality
Celebrating individuality and relationships
At Life Without Barriers, we support people with disabilities in pursuing respectful, consensual, and safe relationships. We celebrate individuality! We want everyone to be comfortable in their own skin, and to feel free to express who they are. This includes pursuing relationships and exploring intimacy and sexuality.
Our policy on Relationships, Intimacy and Sexuality
The NDIS Practice Standards ensure that a ‘person’s autonomy is respected, including their right to intimacy and sexual expression’.
Life Without Barriers upholds the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which support the right of people with disability to make choices and form relationships. We heard through the Disability Royal Commission that people with disability have not always been supported to pursue relationships with dignity and in ways consistent with their rights.
Relationships are an essential part of physical and emotional well-being. We want people we support to live their best, most fulfilled lives. An obvious part of this is making sure they can connect with others in ways that makes them happy. Supporting people to connect and feel good is a no brainer. It is what we all want.
What is our commitment?
Life Without Barriers is committed to supporting people with disability to pursue respectful, consensual and safe relationships.
We commit to:
listening to the people we support when they talk to us about how they feel and what they want;
starting conversations about relationships and ensuring the people we support feel comfortable to talk about their existing relationships and ones they hope to have;
enabling and encouraging people we support to invite friends or partners to their home;
providing practical support where needed to explore intimacy or sexuality, including supporting access to sex facilitators or workers where appropriate; and access to advice and products to promote sexual health.
Real Stories
Start a conversation
Talking with the people we support about relationships, intimacy, and sexuality empowers them to live fulfilling lives on their own terms. At Life Without Barriers everyone has the right to make choices about intimacy, relationships and sexual experiences. The first step in supporting a person in these areas, is understanding what they want. This video shows how simple it can be to start a conversation, using everyday moments to open discussions, build trust and understand each person's needs.
Helpful resources
Real Stories
Everyone has the right to decide what information they want to share about their lives and who they want to share it with.
Every person has the right to privacy, including the people we support. They can choose what information about themselves they want shared, and who they want to share it with. This video is a little reminder that the private lives of people with disability are exactly, that: private.
Get in touch!
If you have questions about our Relationships, Intimacy and Sexuality Policy Guideline, our team at Life Without Barriers is here to help. Send us an email at RISproject.support@lwb.org.au to:
Get information or resources on topics like relationships, boundaries, and personal rights.
Find out about training or support materials available for people with disabilities, their families, and support workers.
If you’d like to share feedback about our services or raise any concerns, please use the Feedback and Complaints button below. Your input helps us improve our support and create a respectful, safe environment for everyone.