As Someone Who is Disabled, I am so thankful for Sex Work: Alternative Approaches to Access Among Disabled Sex-Workers

Authors: Jay Rodolitz, Megan Hofmann, Ada Lerner, Madiha Tabassum, Vaughn Hamilton, and Butterfly Hope

Description: Based on interviews with disabled sex workers, the paper expands traditional notions of accessibility by examining how people create systems of access in social environments that may be stigmatizing, exclusionary, or actively harmful. Rather than focusing solely on technological accommodations, the authors argue that accessibility must be understood through intersectional and critical frameworks that account for complex social realities, power relationships, and harm-reduction practices. The paper introduces the concept of “systems of access” to describe the ways marginalized disabled communities build support structures and adaptive strategies in contexts where conventional accessibility approaches may fall short. By drawing attention to a highly underrepresented population and challenging researchers to engage more deeply with questions of safety, marginalization, and adversarial environments, the work broadens the scope of accessibility research and demonstrates the value of studying communities that are often absent from mainstream research agendas.