Man overcomes bullying for his cerebral palsy with sex surrogate, now he's becoming one himself
A man who was bullied in school for having cerebral palsy (CP) has revealed how 'powerful' a sex surrogate has been in his life.
James opened up about 'feeling very lost' whilst growing up with CP, which refers to a group of lifelong neurological disorders that affect movement, muscle control, posture and coordination.
CP is not contagious and is usually not progressive, meaning the underlying brain injury does not worsen over time.
Speaking to This Morning presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, James explained: "I guess there's a weird thing where I sort of walk the line between disabled and able-bodied and people don't really know how to handle that."
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He revealed that in school it reached ‘a point where I just stopped leaving the house because I'd have people spit at me, throw apples at me’.
As an adult, a friend recommended that he should consider a sex surrogate, as James explained: "It becomes one of those things where you go, once you've gone through it, you go, 'I wish I'd done it sooner'.
"Because, it can be extremely life-changing. It changed a lot for me.
"You don't sort of, realise the need for connection and things because it's not what people think it is. It's not like, there's a lot of preconceived notions about it and different things, and that's why I wanted to talk about it."
What is a sex surrogate?
A sex surrogate, or surrogate partner, is a trained professional who helps people overcome problems with intimacy and sexual confidence.
They work alongside a licensed therapist and the client as part of a therapeutic process.
James’ sex surrogate Saurora Grace said on the ITV programme: "Sex surrogacy is all about the intention behind it. So it's more holistic. There's a more of a therapeutic aspect to it. It's all about connection, intimacy, and literally seeing and hearing the person. Like, a lot of us all want to be seen and heard as human beings, and so that is ultimately what it is.
"Obviously, you do have, like, your standard sex work, which is just come in, have sex, and leave. But we do a lot more to do with literally what James has just said - connection, intimacy, seeing and hearing, and helping him to understand that because he's got a disability, it doesn't make him, you know, any different from anybody else.
"He's just the same, and he deserves to have a loving relationship and, you know, deserves to have sex and a juicy lifestyle."
"It honestly, in all ways that I could count, it's changed my life," James added.
"It changed the trajectory of what I'm gonna do with my life. So it's just been extremely powerful. It's taken me in directions that I just thought were never doors that would open to someone like me.
"So Saurora's training me to be a surrogate now. So that's the career change for me."
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Health
Anish Vij