People With Learning Difficulties 'Left Behind' By Sex Education
Children with learning difficulties in the North East are being left behind when it comes to sex and relationship education. That's according to Claire Murphy Morgan, who runs the Jack and Josephine project in Newcastle, which uses life size dolls to engage young people in discussions about sex. She told us we need to do more to make sure everyone, no matter their specific needs, gets a proper understanding of the issues.
Claire said: "A number of people with learning difficulties are in main stream schools, and often they find they get left behind from their non-learning disabled peers.
"I think there's a lot of anxiety around the S-E-X word and a lot of 'oh my God, how to we approach that' when it comes to teaching it."
She also said we need to make sure everyone is taught the issues surrounding sex to make sure they're not put at risk of abuse or exploitation.
The Jack and Josephine project is run by art group Them Wifies, who're based in Newcastle and use art to tackle social exclusion.
The two life size dolls are anatomically correct and were developed with help from people with learning disabilities to make sure they work with their needs.
In the last year they've worked with hundreds of men and women across the North East, discussing issues with sex and relationships.
Josephine & Jack are life size, three dimensional anatomical cloth figures: 2 people in their own right!
Josephine has a detachable breast with a lump, a head where you can place questions or thoughts: a body that reveals the journey of the sperm to the ovaries, a foetus, a feeling heart and a thinking head. Interactions with her stimulate physical awareness and wellbeing. She is a creative resource for women with learning disabilities, approaching sensitive issues like sex, sexuality and sexual rights: health issues like pregnancy, periods, menopause and cervical and breast cancer. Drama / role-play based workshops and sessions with Josephine explore a range of health and sexual health issues in a confidential and supportive women only environment through Josephine’s journey. Josephine is accompanied by a series of workshops and experiences which she records in her diary and which she shares with other learning disabled women.
Jack has a head where you can place questions or thoughts, body hair, a penis which can become erect, a prostate and a bag with sperm and happy and sad faces to show how he might be feeling. He is a creative resource for men with learning disabilities, approaching subjects such as healthy living, friendships and relationships, talking about feelings, sex, sexuality and sexual rights. Jack also uses drama scenarios to explore a range of different issues in a men only setting.
Josephine & Jack are the ones in the spotlight so the emphasis is on her/him rather than on individual women/men in the group, so that workshop participants are able to share what they feel comfortable sharing.