" There is, to me, a mind boggling belief that people with disabilities don't have relationships and therefore cannot have sex with a loving partner. I feel like my head is going to explode with this nonsense."
Yep
Sex, the Disabled and the Terminally Single
by bigmouth 52 Replies latest jw friends
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Lady Lee
Razziel
I guess that depends on where you live. In most of the US those people are sh!t outta luck for any happiness in life. Most have the choice of being institutionalized and giving up what little freedom they have or living on the street begging for money from their wheelchair. Then they're doomed to have their life unhappily extended by feeding tube and ventilator once the rest of their body gives up. We don't seem too concerned with quality of life, we just eek out every second possible, even if it's miserable.
One of the greatest minds today is Steven Hawking
Hawking has a motor neurone disease related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition that has progressed over the years. He is now almost completely paralysed and communicates through a speech generating device. He has been married twice and has three children.
I did an internship at McKay School for the Disabled Children. One of the assignments I had was to organize a workshop for the students and their parents that focussed on the kinds of work that could be open to them. One deaf man that spoke was an engineer who helped create the Canada Arm on the space shuttle. One woman who was deaf became a teacher for the deaf.
There is a young man down the hall from me who is in a wheelchair and he is doing his medical residency. He is a doctor. When I was in Winnipeg there was a man in a wheelchair working at the Human Rights Commission.
Just because a person is disabled doesn't mean they can't live happy productive and sexual lives.
I know some people look at me and see the disability first. But being physically disabled doesn't affect my brain. Or my ability to do take care of myself.
BTW Those disabled people you see on the corner? Have you ever stopped to talk to one of them> Have you ever stopped to wonder how they got there? Years ago in Montreal I regularly passed a man who was always in the same plac with his little cup. The thing is that he was too disabled to get there on his own. Somehow someone brought him there and left him for the day,without food or water or bathrooms anywhere that he could use. Not that he would have been capable of using it on his own even if he could find one.
Someone was using him to make money. I doubt that the man ever got any of it. With his level of disability he would have been recieving a monthly disability check that would have taken care of all his needs. But someone was abusing his power over this man to set him up to fleece money out of people.
The abuse of people with disabilities is serious and it happens a lot more often that you would think. Financial and sexual abuse of this population is a crime. Perhaps that is what you should be thinking about instead of thinking they ought to pay a hooker for sex.
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Awen
I think what two consenting adults (whether disabled or not ) is their choice and not anyone else's. I am totally against government agencies interfering in people's lives. Morality is up to the individual and no group whether Christian or otherwise has the right to inflict their viewpoint upon another human being so long as what the person in question is doing doesn't bring harm to others.
It might not be something I would do, but I will fight for your right to be treated with respect, dignity and to live a happy, fulfilling life.
Peace,
Awen
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Joe Grundy
There is a great deal of rubbish talked about prostitution - money for sex - and many misconceptions.
Prostitution is entirely legal in the UK. What is not legal includes soliciting for prostitution, two or more prostitues operating in the same premises (a brothel) or someone other than the prostitute living off the prostitute's earnings.
Prostitution is illegal in Thailand (the country with a sex trade probably only second to the Philippines per capita). In Thailand prostitution is an ancient and not entirely dishonourable profession with an estimated 90% catering for indigenous Thai customers. In the Philippines a greater proportion of the trade is reckoned to be focussed on foreigners (US occupation/bases playing a large part in this).
It is extremely difficult to legislate against the exchange of money (or more properly, money's worth) for sex. The ramifications of this are almost endless.
Some people have no wish to enter into a relationship. They require satisfaction of a basic human need, and are prepared to pay for it. There are many other considerations and discussions to be had, such as the role of purely sexual versus more 'meaningful' relationships, but if one consenting adult is prepared to provide a legal service which the other consenting adult is prepared to pay for, what business is that of anyone else?
Thought for the day: Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a prostitute? A: There are some things a prostitute won't do for money.
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St George of England
I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy. - Tom Clancey
George
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stillajwexelder
Can, or should, these people be given access to those in the sex trade for 'relief' without cause for fear or stigmatising ? Or is it a case of "That's too bad" (Meaning you're committing fornication and that cannot be sanctioned in any way)?
YES
I heard of a guy in a wheelchair in Vegas, and he paid for a girl. She serviced him in his room. I see nothing wrong with this as long as the girl was not a victim in her own right ( a sex salve to Russian mafia etc).
I certainly will not stigmatise him (or her).
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TOTH
In the foothill farms congo back in the mid 80's there was a disabled couple who had a very hard to manage kid even if he had been born to parents who could keep up with him. The brother if I recall correctly was born disabled and his wife had been the drunk driver who killed everyone in her car and everyone in the other car. She was horribly mangled.
Apparently they had been pushed together by the overlords just for the reason that they should not sin, not be the ugly half of a semi beautiful union. So effed up!
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bigmouth
Interesting insights Lee, thanks.
"People seem overly obsessed with sex on this forum! There is a juvenile tone, IMO>" - Band on the Run I agree entirely with your comments in your main post. However, please note that my OP was not intended to titillate or to excite prurient interest. I posted the idea as much a challenge to my own prejudices as to anyone elses. As far as I can recall I have never posted on a sex thread in the 7 years I've been on this forum.
Thanks for the link BOL.
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bigmouth
BotR - Her first date was a man with multiple sclerosis. They married. Their love and adventure is very apparent. -heartwarming story !