LOS ANGELES — Educational organization Everyone Deserves Sex Ed (EDSE) has tapped disability educator, advocate and consultant Andrew Gurza to train attendees of EDSE’s upcoming 25-hour sex educator certification program, scheduled April 6-7 and 13-14 in Los Angeles.
Gurza will facilitate a discussion of the disabled experience with regard to sexual health and education, and how to help budding educators to recognize and reduce ableism in their everyday lives.
Gurza uses his lived experience of disability along with years of work in the field to offer information about sexuality and disability, including the challenges disabled people face while accessing intimate health services. Gurza will guide EDSE attendees through an intersectional discussion that will help prepare and empower them with the language and understanding necessary to provide services that are truly accessible.
“I am beyond excited to bring my lived experiences as a queer person, disabled man, sex educator, and ‘the sexiest queer cripple’ to Everyone Deserves Sex Ed,” Gurza said. “I want to educate attendees by helping them recognize and confront their own ableism regarding sex and disability while still being able to laugh along with me. As a disabled sex educator, my goal is to show attendees that sex and disability is an often overlooked, but vitally important part of comprehensive sex education. I will show EDSE participants that sex and disability education is essential — and also really hot!”
EDSE founder and lead educator Anne Hodder-Shipp, ACS, says she tapped Gurza to handle the Sex & Disability portion of the certification because of his friendly approach to discussing sensitive subjects. Known for his “Disability After Dark” podcast and lead role in The National Film Board of Canada’s “Picture This” documentary, Gurza has become a thought leader for disability and accessibility.
“Andrew has a unique talent for disarming his audience and quickly connecting with people at an authentically human level, which is so important when discussing topics that can be difficult to talk about,” Hodder-Shipp said. “One of the most memorable parts of my own sex education training was learning from disabled educators and advocates and understanding how my own unconscious ableism was affecting the ways I worked with clients. I want to give EDSE attendees a similar opportunity, and Andrew was an obvious choice — he’s a wonderfully entertaining and enlightening speaker, and I am so excited to have Andrew as part of the EDSE educator team.”
The EDSE certification program prepares attendees to have informed, inclusive and confident conversations about sex. Over the course of two weekends, EDSE attendees will learn about human sexuality, intimate health, consent, and communication skills and be trained to respond to sex-related questions in a concise, intersectional, and nonjudgmental manner.
The next EDSE certification will take place April 6-7 and 13-14 in Los Angeles. Individual certification is $995.
To apply, fill out the form here. An EDSE representative will review and be in contact within 48 hours of submission.
“During my time as a sex educator, and a sex blogger before that, there was one thing I noticed most people had in common: a lack of confidence in, and even a little fear about, talking about sex,” Hodder-Shipp said. “This insecurity has a dramatic trickle-down effect. It leaves professionals feeling unprepared for workplace dynamics, parents terrified of having ‘the talk,’ and service providers caught off-guard during sensitive conversations with their clients. My goal with EDSE is give people access to the kind of professional and educational support so many of us have lacked throughout our personal and professional lives.”
For more information, email anne@everyonedeservessexed.com.
