Our friends at ‘Gifts For Book Lovers’ are offering a £50 discount code on the ‘Hold-it’, exclusively to ‘Outsiders’.

The Hold-it Lifts the Burden for Senior Citizens & Disabled Booklovers

Most people take reading and writing for granted. We learn these skills as a child and like most skills learnt at that age, they come quite easily. Sadly for many with limited mobility or disability, basic everyday tasks like these are a challenge, depriving many of life’s most basic pleasures — writing letters or e-mails to friends and family, video chatting with loved ones or simply reading a favorite book.

This is why Gifts for Book Lovers is proud to announce the addition of the groundbreaking ‘Hold-it to it’s innovative product range. First conceived as an ergonomic floor standing book holder, The Hold-it has evolved through strenuous design stages to also function as a multipurpose iPad, Air, iPad Mini, Tablet or Kindle holder.

The Award Winning Hold-it enables users to read and perform a number of tasks at any angle — whether sitting, standing, or lying down. It has proven especially useful for users experiencing severe neck, back, arm, and hand pain. Many wheelchair users and those with limited mobility in the hands and arms have found it invaluable.

Tuppy Owens seeks to speak to more people who are physically unable to masturbate, for her work to create a sex toy and a service to allow them to enjoy orgasms without a partner

The Sexual Health and Disability Alliance are starting a project which aims to persuade all the governing bodies to include sex and disability in their training, guidelines and policies. This is because health and social care professionals who work with disabled people say they feel they don’t have permission, nor the training to include this in their holistic care.

Our AGM will provide lively debate and information about our club, and the 2014 Ted O’Dwyer Award for Rising Above It will be presented.

Because so many applicants have been reluctant or failed to get through our payment process, we are allowing all vetted applicants free membership until we can sort out more attractive and easy payment methods

The Sexual Health and Disability Alliance for health and social care professionals was shortlisted for these prestigeous awards. See www.SHADA.org.uk.

Outsiders is forming partnerships with people and organisations around the world who are providing services to support disabled people gain a better body image and more sexual self confidence through various therapies: being drawn naked in life modelling, being painted or photographed, being touched or massaged, or attending classes providing a mixture of these things. For a list, see “Partners” in our Tool Bar.

Fabia, a new member, who runs www.lichensclerosus.org says that as soon as an individual starts medical treatment, they can easily feel disempowered with their body, which may well dampen their spirits. Outsiders needs to support such members to keep their spirits up.

We were interviewed at the BBC podcast Ouch!, during the wonderful Jamboree day, following Andy Crowe’s personal account of how our 2012 Jamboree changed his life, in the online disability magazine, Disability Horizons.