A MOTHER of a 21-year-old man with Down syndrome has gone public in her search for volunteers to help him lose his virginity.
Lucy Baxter says her son Otto wants to have sex for the first time and not only is she helping him find a woman, she says she is willing to pay for it.
"I'd like all my boys to find love and enjoy sex," Miss Baxter, who lives in Oxfordshire, UK and has four adopted sons with Downs syndrome, told the Daily Mail.
"I would have no problem paying for Otto to go to Amsterdam to visit a brothel if that's what he wanted but I dare say he could afford to pay for it himself."
Miss Baxter said she just wanted her son to have the same opportunities available to people without Down syndrome.
"I strongly believe that society has a learning disability when it comes to Down syndrome," she told the Daily Mail.
"Why should these people be kept separate and pigeon-holed when they have the same emotions, desires and feelings as so called 'normal' people.
"He has the same expectations as everybody else. If he doesn't get a girlfriend, I will feel really bad, because I have sold him this thing that he is like everybody else."
Down Syndrome NSW chief executive Steve Clarke said that everyone faced barriers to finding love and that people with Down syndrome faced a few more.
"People with Down syndrome have high expectations from life these days and want to have lives that are fulfllling in many ways including in love," he said.
"It may not be something that people think about but they should be aware that people with Down syndrome have much the same feelings, emotions and instincts as we all do and love can be just as tough for them as it is for the rest of us."
The association ran regular workshops on sexuality which were always well attended, Mr Clarke said.