Formative assessment: Intervention summary proposal 

• What aspects of diversity do you want to consider and why? 

“I Can’t Stand Up for An Eight Hour Shift, But I Can Bend Over for One” Elizabeth, M. (n.d.)

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“People with disabilities face rampant workplace discrimination (Harlan and Robert 1998; Schur 2003; Schur, Kruse, and Blanck 2005; Vedeler 2014; Dick-Mosher 2015). Visible cues of disability often prompt discrimination from employers, managers, and co-workers, and employers sometimes outright refuse to hire people with disabilities (Vedeler 2014)”. (Jones, A. 2022)

Therefore, aspects of diversity I want to consider are the lived experiences, and attainment and graduate outcomes of students and graduates who are either: Women or other marginalised gender and/or Disabled, or any mixture of those characteristics, who may consider, or already engage with, Sex Work (SW) alongside or after their studies. This may be out of desperation or empowerment, either route uncovering a sense of alienation from the scholarly world propped up by traditional frameworks of student to professional pipeline, which is not prevalent for a proportion of UAL students and graduates, of whom 18% declared disabled, 76% identifying as female (University of the Arts London 2024).

“Alice (not her real name) started this line of work when she was at university – it was a way to make some extra cash to top up her student loan. She had always intended to quit sex work after graduating… Upon leaving university, she struggled to retain a job. Traditional employment – with a boss and set working hours – proved impossible during depressive episodes and her job came to an end for that reason. (Ryan, 2019)

• How does it link to your practice? 
  
  “Students with disabilities face a range of barriers when transitioning into employment from higher education… Unable to work in many of the sectors that young people typically go into between graduation and their ideal career, some find it difficult to obtain the experience that many employers require.” (Prospects Luminate, n.d.)

As studies suggest, for those who do not adhere to the western ideals, they are underrepresented in the workplace, overlooked for progression, and struggle to gain traditional employment. What with the UK Creative industries being highly competitive, rife with unpaid /underpaid internships, and for those who operate in an expensive city such as London who also embody intersecting marginalising factors, through that logic, would find it hard to start or develop in industry without huge sacrifice or experiencing barriers and debilitating micro-aggressions:

“Research by Comic Relief in 2017 found that as much as 50% of the work disabled people perform is in low-paid, short-term and part-time roles, meaning female disabled workers are contending with the impact of both sex and disability. Even cuts to disability benefits are, in some ways, gendered.” (Ryan, 2019)

Paradoxically, while SW has many occupational hazards, modern modes mean it can be more accessible for those with disabilities, and be a lucrative alternative to traditional employment by taking advantage of the ‘othered’ characteristics, which are often in-turn fetishised.

“As the UK recession and the subsequent austerity measures kicked in, I began to speak to a number of disabled women who had turned to sex work in order to get by… Many of her friends with disabilities and chronic illnesses started sex work for the ease and flexibility it offered to those who are too unwell for traditional employment – or, as she puts it, whose energy levels are sometimes too low to function properly but “who need money to survive in the world”.” (Ryan, 2019)

(Jones, 2022) states “There is a dearth of research at the intersections of disability and sex work studies… there is also a paucity of published academic research about sex workers with disabilities (Erickson 2015; Fritsch et al. 2016; Piper 2019; Tastrom 2020; Jones 2020).” Therefore, taking time to research and spotlight this demographic of the university and graduate cohorts, where the data and realities are unknown and therefore previously ignored, can help to uncover how likely SW is for UAL students and graduates, and what the university can do to understand and support.

As a Graduate Employability Specialist working in the central Careers and Employability team for UAL, my approach to promote inclusive learning in my practice would be to:

• Gather the data on UAL student and graduate SWs, and where possible, how that reflects attainment and graduate outcomes of students and graduates,
• Build awareness of the SW industry and possible route into it,
• Platform voices of the community and lived experiences,
• Highlight the links between disability, gender, and other possible intersecting marginalisations in relation to SW,
• Create a learning resource and staff training so UAL can be better informed in order to support SWs pragmatically and without prejudice,
• Dismantle stigma and negative attitudes towards SW and those who partake in it.

For my practice specifically, my role requires me to have awareness of graduate career journeys and outcomes in order to best support them. So, using the findings from UAL student / graduate EDI data, we cannot ignore this potential income stream, especially during a cost of living crisis, in one of the most expensive cities in the UK, still recovering from a global pandemic with an unstable economy and largely inaccessible Creative Industries.

I aim to create a learning resource and training for UAL staff to become more aware of SW and the wider sex industry, and link it to the realities of UAL student and graduate body. In my work, I support UAL graduands and graduates in their early career. My aim would be for them to know that UAL staff are trained and aware of this line of work so they can speak openly about the support they need to enter or thrive in their chosen industry, whether that be SW, or other, seeing as UAL Careers and Employability’s slogan is: ‘What a Living Doing What You Love’ (University of the Arts London n.d.)

• How feasible do you think it would be to implement? 

I think it will be hard to implement. This is down to the stigma, misconceptions and prejudice attached to this line of work. After seeing the knee-jerk reaction UAL had to the change in UK supreme court policy making change for trans and non-binary folk, I can see how UAL may also be resistant to considering SW as a reality for its students and graduates as it strives to be progressive, but operates within conservative views enforced by government and senior individuals. But if we are to truly decolonise the curriculum, which ‘seeks to challenge colonial and imperial legacies, disrupting ways of seeing, listening, thinking and making in order to drive cultural, social and institutional change’ (University of the Arts London, n.d.) and create a welcoming learning environment for all, we should work to dismantle this archaic and rigid perception, and take a pragmatic approach to supporting students and graduates who may consider, or already engage with, Sex Work (SW) alongside or after their studies.

Through this process, my practice I hope can positively benefit those who embark on SW as a means of survival or artistic expression, and highlight how SW plays as a test of attitudes an institution such as UAL has generally around workers’ rights and women’s rights combined.

“Often local authorities include sex work under their Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy (VAWG) due to the idea that sex work is intrinsically violent and degrading to women even though they might not have consulted sex workers themselves and considered whether they share this notion and how they consider sex work in relation to other income livelihood options available to them.” (UK Parliament, n.d.)

I am aware of previous attempts to focus on SWs in the context of university training though University of Durham, and the backlash from the UK press: “The training’s target audience is those who support students, so they understand the legal, safety, and wellbeing concerns of students and how to respond to disclosures sensitively. I am glad the minister agrees that we need to be “raising awareness”, and that is what this training achieves. Anyone who cares about the safety of students should support this training, and educate themselves about its actual content before making poorly judged comments… The vast majority of universities don’t have formal processes in place that staff can follow when they encounter a disclosure – a fact that could be harmful for students. Student sex workers are a fact of modern life, to deny them support in higher education is a grave mistake with real world implications for the students I represent. I am proud of my students’ union for pushing for support, and proud of my university for offering this training.” (Graham, 2021) This response shows that dominant western society is currently not able to accept the compounding realities of students that results in SW.

• Initial discussions about interventions with your peers, and what do my peers think about the ideas? 

I have presented to my colleagues at UAL Careers and Employability an overview of the law around SW in the UK, and possible routes into this and the wider industry from creative subjects and skill set. This was well-received, with a discussion about next steps and ways UAL staff can learn and contribute.

I requested that colleagues let me know of any interactions they have with people who engage with SW, however more would need to be done to clarify with the SWs how that knowledge and data would be stored, and what would be included, and what for. This proposed intervention for change would act as the moment that this clarity and process is put in place and developed, with guidance.

Having been rejected twice for the UAL Education Conference, Tim Stephens Educational Developer Curriculum gave feedback on the applications of the same theme: that due to its sensitive nature, it would need more thought to realise the idea before taking it to a more exposed arena such as the conference.

Speaking with Arts Student Union, we collaborated on the Student Sex Worker guide, however it was never published.

I have not yet spoken to my course mates about this idea yet, but look forward to their thoughts.

Prospects Luminate (n.d.) Employment levels among graduates with disabilities. Available at: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/employment-levels-among-graduates-with-disabilities (Accessed: May 2025).

Ryan, F. (2019) Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People. London: Verso Books.

Jones, A. (2022) ‘“I Can’t Really Work Any ‘Normal’ Job”: Disability, Sexual Ableism, and Sex Work’, Disability Studies Quarterly, 42(3). Available at: https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/9094/7750 (Accessed: May 2025).

UK Parliament (n.d.) Written evidence submitted to the Women and Equalities Committee: Written evidence from Changing Lives (MIS0056). Available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/105729/html/ (Accessed: May 2025).

Elizabeth, M. (n.d.) Sex Work & Marxism #2: Disability & Self-Determination. Interviewed by Revolutionary Lumpen Radio [podcast]. Available at: https://soundcloud.com/revolutionarylumpenradio/sex-work-marxism-2-disability-self-determination  (Accessed: May 2025).

University of the Arts London (n.d.) Careers and Employability. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/careers-and-employability (Accessed: May 2025).

University of the Arts London (n.d.) UAL Decolonising Arts Institute. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/ual-decolonising-arts-institute (Accessed: May 2025).

University of the Arts London (2024) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion data report 2024. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/472836/UAL-EDI-data-report-2024-PDFA.pdf (Accessed: May 2025). 

Graham, J. (2021) Coverage of student sex worker training “wildly untrue”. Durham Students’ Union. Available at: https://www.durhamsu.com/articles/jonah-graham-coverage-of-student-sex-worker-training-wildly-untrue (Accessed: May 2025).