A group of disability advocates is trying to bring touch back into the lives of women who may avoid services such as massages or manicures because of their intellectual disability.
At an event in Launceston, run by Citizen Advocacy and Soroptimist International, advocates offered hair brushing, manicures, neck and shoulder massages and belly dancing performances to women living in group homes or being cared for at home, to help them break out of their social isolation and connect with the wider community.
"I don't really get the time to relax and do these sorts of things usually," one recipient called Katie said.
Cost, transport difficulties and nervousness could inhibit women with a disability from accessing tactile services, Citizen Advocacy chairperson Margaret Wilson said.
"Often they've felt discrimination or feel they've been looked down on, many have a low sense of self-worth, and many … have tended to be hidden away, so it takes courage to get out into the community.
"Why shouldn't they be pampered? We all love to be pampered, to feel special, to have someone look after us, to do something special for us, and [these women are] no different."
Ms Wilson said many of the women were socially isolated, and connections were often limited to their service providers.
"I hope they feel special, treasured, and part of something bigger than being just at home with carers coming in who are paid to be there," she said.
Retired physiotherapist Margaret Barlow offered massages at the event, but said it was about more than just pampering.
"[Touch] is a basic human need," she said.
"People who are nervous and jiggly, with extraneous muscle movements, while they are being massaged, they'll relax."
She said touch — with consent — not only benefited the person who received it but also the person massaging, in an "exchange of energy".
"From being a small baby, we need touch. You'll often find small children will come around and grab a person's leg, or want to be close to people, snuggle in.
"As a baby, you are swaddled in your mother's arms, small children crave touch … crawl into bed with mum and dad, they love having hugs. As we grow, we may get married, that's more hugging, more touch.
"As we get older, things change, but for the clientele we work with, their circle of friends is small, often they've lost mum and dad because they've got older.
"They don't have the same touch a lot of other people have, but they still have the basic human need."
Ms Barlow said for people with an intellectual disability, physical contact often occurred only in professional contexts such when they were being bathed by a support worker and that, by necessity, was extremely limited.
"You need within your life somebody else who is your friend, a neighbour, or somebody else in your life who can give you that hug, or give you that touch," she said.
Soroptimist International Launceston member and event organiser Tracey Wicks said many of the women they worked with had low self-esteem and lacked confidence.
She hoped the experience would offer the women community connection and empowerment.
"[I hope] they know that there is a trusting community, that there are people in the community who want to be with them, who want to share with them, who want to accept them as they are, which is what we all want," she said.
"We all want to be accepted for who we are, we all want to be part of a bigger community."
