Disability, Sexuality and Intimacy

Disabilities and sexual expression: A review of the literature

“…Block et al () offer sexual facilitation as another example of how disabled sexuality can challenge conventional ideas regarding sex, pleasure, and intimacy. Defined by Block et al as “assistance with a sexual activity provided to a disabled client by a personal assistant or other provider,” sexual facilitation can include assistance with a variety of sexual or romantic acts including, “positioning the disabled person for masturbation or for sex with a partner, helping her or him undress, assisting with stimulation, transferring them to a bed or couch, transporting them to a partner's residence, purchasing condoms, or providing reminders about using birth control” (Block et al, , p. 166; see also Earle, ; Hamilton, ; Kulick & Rydström, ; Mona, ; Shapiro, ; Tepper, ; Willock, ).…”

“…Block et al () offer sexual facilitation as another example of how disabled sexuality can challenge conventional ideas regarding sex, pleasure, and intimacy. Defined by Block et al as “assistance with a sexual activity provided to a disabled client by a personal assistant or other provider,” sexual facilitation can include assistance with a variety of sexual or romantic acts including, “positioning the disabled person for masturbation or for sex with a partner, helping her or him undress, assisting with stimulation, transferring them to a bed or couch, transporting them to a partner's residence, purchasing condoms, or providing reminders about using birth control” (Block et al, , p. 166; see also Earle, ; Hamilton, ; Kulick & Rydström, ; Mona, ; Shapiro, ; Tepper, ; Willock, ). Several scholars detail how forms of facilitated sex “transgress the cultural view of sex as private and as an autonomous project of the self,” and note that depending on the socio‐legal context, people who assist disabled people with sexual activities may be at risk of legal and social ramifications (Block et al, , p. 166; see also Fritsch, Heynen, Ross, & van der Meulen, ; Kulick & Rydström, ; Mona, ; Shildrick, ).…”

“…Furthermore, these attitudes become reified in laws, social policies, and public spaces that deny the fact that people with disabilities are sexual beings. Ultimately, these laws, social policies, and public spaces concretize attitudinal barriers into structural and institutional barriers that prevent or limit disabled people's opportunities for sexual expression and sexual activity (Block et al, ; Shuttleworth & Sanders, ). The fact that marriage equality remains elusive for many disabled people serves as an example of an institutional barrier that disabled people face.…”

“…Additional research involving people with “significant” impairments is important, because as Kulick and Rydström note that these individuals are often “the ones who need the most help in exploring their sexuality” (Kulick & Rydström, , p. 3). Although research involving people with intellectual disabilities and people with no mobility and/or little verbal speech is increasing (see Fish, ; Hamilton, ; Kulick & Rydström, ; Löfgren‐Mårtenson, , ; Shuttleworth, ; Turner & Crane, ), this tendency has left people with these types of impairments relatively under‐studied when compared to people with other impairments (Block et al, ; Martino, ; Noonan & Gomez, ). Unfortunately, this gap within the literature obfuscates the complexity of intersectional experiences of discrimination that people with disabilities face when exploring and expressing their sexuality, as well as their positive and pleasurable experiences.…”

“…For example, literature on paralysis and spinal cord injury has shown that although some people with these impairments may lose sensation in traditional erogenous zones, they can also gain erotic sensation in other parts of their body (Barrett, 2014;Siebers, 2012;Waxman & Gill, 1996;Whipple, Richards, Tepper, & Komisaruk, 1996). Similarly, literature has provided descriptions of what Guldin (2000) describes as "more abstract orgasms" (p. 235) among people with disabilities, including mental, spiritual, heart, and full-body orgasms (see also Block et al, 2012;Kaufman et al, 2007;McRuer & Mollow, 2012;O 0 Toole, 2000;Shakespeare et al, 1996;Shuttleworth & Sanders, 2010).…”