Sex for the disabled

Disability and sexual confidence

Some people are born with a disability, but others may be affected by one later in life. Whether you're hearing or speech-impaired, have a learning disability, or you're a wheelchair user, different forms of disability and illness can affect the way you have sex, or the amount you do it. Your sex life could be affected by the disability in itself, because of side-effects of your medication, or psychological problems, such as anxiety about your performance and how your body may react.

Having a disability can make you feel less confident about yourself, especially if physical constraints make it hard for you to meet new people and gain confidence.

For some people, it may not just be the actual act of sex that makes you apprehensive. You could be worried about whether you're deemed attractive to the opposite sex and even if you're able to have children.

Out of the 1,115 people who took part in Disability Now's (DN) sex survey in 2005, 84.7% of respondents said they'd had sex and 46.6% had a sexual partner. The survey revealed that many disabled people feel their sexual and emotional needs are being ignored. Many reported low self-esteem and asked to have more access to counselling services. Some requested sex workers who could enable them to enjoy and learn about sex, and 68% said they'd prefer to have a specialist psychosexual counselling service for disabled people.