This open access edited volume explores physical disability and sexuality in South Africa, drawing on past studies, new research conducted by the editors, and first-person narratives from people with physical disabilities in the country. Sexuality has long been a site of oppression and discrimination for people with disabilities based on myths and misconceptions, and this book explores how these play out for people with physical disabilities in the South African setting. One myth with which the book is centrally concerned, is that people with disabilities are unable to have sex, or are seen as lacking sexuality by society at large. Societal understandings of masculinity, femininity, bodies and attractiveness, often lead people with physical disabilities to be seen as being undesirable romantic or sexual partners. The contributions in this volume explore how these prevailing social conditions impact on the access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, involvement in romantic relationships, childbearing, and sexual citizenship as a whole, of people with physical disabilities in the Western Cape of the country. The authors' research, and first person contributions by people with physical disabilities themselves, suggest that education and public health policy must change, if the sexual and reproductive health rights and full inclusion of people with disabilities are to be achieved.

This text aims to increase awareness and knowledge of the issues concerning disability and sexuality. It addresses important topics and emphasises physical problems and their associated psychological consequences.

This collection brings together scholars and artists in disability studies, sexuality, queer theory, and feminism, to show how much sexuality studies and disability studies have to learn from each other.

In this exploration of intimate relationships between people with physical disabilities and those without, Rainey shatters the myth of sexless, burdensome partnerships - and in its place reveals a rich and rewarding continuum of emotional and physical intimacies.

This handbook provides a much-needed holistic overview of disability and sexuality research and scholarship. With authors from a wide range of disciplines and representing a diversity of nationalities, it provides a multi-perspectival view that fully captures the diversity of issues and outlooks. Organised into six parts, the contributors explore long-standing issues such as the psychological, interpersonal, social, political and cultural barriers to sexual access that disabled people face and their struggle for sexual rights and participation. The volume also engages issues that have been on the periphery of the discourse, such as sexual accommodations and support aimed at facilitating disabled people's sexual well-being; the socio-sexual tensions confronting disabled people with intersecting stigmatised identities such as LGBTBI or asexual; and the sexual concerns of disabled people in the Global South. It interrogates disability and sexuality from diverse perspectives, from more traditional psychological and sociological models, to various subversive and post-theoretical perspectives and queer theory. This handbook examines the cutting-edge, and sometimes ethically contentious, concerns that have been repressed in the field. With current, international and comprehensive content, this book is essential reading for students, academics and researchers in the areas of disability, gender and sexuality, as well as applied disciplines such as healthcare practitioners, counsellors, psychology trainees and social workers.

Interviews with physically handicapped women from different social and economic backgrounds reveal the impact of their disability on their sexuality, relationships, marriage, and childbearing

This book investigates various experiences of teaching sexual and reproductive health to adolescents with disabilities. Following the adoption of the UNCRPD, adolescents with disabilities still commonly suffer from widespread violation of their rights particularly concerning sexual and reproductive health – often being viewed as either asexual or hypersexual. Contemporary societies do not readily encourage the participation of these young people in conversations or decision making processes concerning their own sexual and reproductive health. This book delves into such complex issues, critically examining how global communities attempt to teach sexual and reproductive issues to adolescents with disabilities in the modern era.