Opening thoughts

Have you noticed there is often an assumption that people with a disability, specifically people in wheelchairs, are often perceived as asexual or physically incapable of having sex? Where does this perception come from?

Men who have suffered severe spinal injury and therefore end up in wheelchairs can get paralyzed from the waist down and that can make their sexual organs inactive but even then, as a couple of friends have confirmed, sexual activity other than intercourse is possible. And some have used artificial insemination to have children is possible

People who are in wheelchairs due to cerebral palsy or any other neuro-muscular disability are usually perfectly and biologically capable of intercourse and even in the rare cases when they are not there is no reason to think it makes them asexual. It is important to make a distinction between people who have walked most of their lives and suddenly have an accident and those like myself that have been in and out of a wheelchair for their entire life. I see my disability as a way of life and something I was born with rather than something to get use to.

I think sexuality in relation to people in wheelchairs is a taboo topic that deserves to be addressed. How many well known books or movies can you think of that touch upon the subject? I will draw from personal experience and the experiences of friends both with and without a disability to start a conversation. I also welcome your questions, comments and stories on this issue.