WORKSHOP LEADER

Profile

Eva Sweeney is a 22-year-old student at Occidental College, majoring in Gender Studies. Eva has cerebral palsy. She uses a wheelchair and speaks with a laser pointer and letter board. She wanted to provide information for other disabled GLBTQ people because she felt that there is a lack of information, so she started the organization Queers On Wheels.

Queers On Wheels is an organization that serves the physically disabled GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer) community. They provide literature, teach classes and workshops, and provide networking opportunities for physically disabled GLBTQ folks.

Queers on Wheels Mission Statement: The physically disabled GLBTQ population has existed for generations but has not formed a community. Because this community is a mesh of the GLBTQ and the disabled communities, people who are both often have to choose which one they will participate in, negating the importance of this combined identity. This narrow way of thinking does not value a person as a whole, but rather focuses on an aspect of their identity. Queers On Wheels recognizes that people have multiple identities and that those identities need to be valued and appreciated.

Workshop: Adaptive Sexuality

In this workshop, Eva Sweeney will guide you through how to discuss your disability with your partner, how to adapt sex toys such as vibrators and dildos, and some techniques for masturbating if you need assistance. She will also discuss how to hire and maintain healthy working relationships with GLBTQ-friendly aides and how to negotiate dating with aides. You will get general tips and tricks for adapting sex to bodies with physical disabilities, and there will be time for questions and sharing at the end.

Copies of the Queers on Wheels resource guide containing this information will be available for purchase for $10.

We encourage both physically disabled folks as well as non-disabled folks to attend this workshop, as non-disabled folks will be able to better understand this part of the GLBTQ community, and learn about alternative ways of expressing sexuality.

Eva has given this workshop at the Models of Pride conference, at a gay youth group meeting at Bienestar Pomona, and at the recent Genderqueer/Queer genders conference at UCSB.

Contact
www.queersonwheels.com
queersonwheels@yahoo.com