Human sexuality is something that transcends culture, language, geography, and gender. No matter who, or where we are, nearly everyone experiences the undeniable biological need for some form—and there are many—of sexual expression. For those who live with physical disabilities, however, sex can become a misunderstood, and oftentimes uncomfortable subject to broach. That’s why a team of Canadian organizers have decided to throw what is being called the “Accessibility Orgy,” a night of sex and sexuality for the disabled community to both celebrate, and expand, what it means to be a sexual being who happens to have a physical impairment.
Officially dubbed “Deliciously Disabled,” the party is the brainchild of Stella Palikarova, a disability awareness consultant and academic who herself has been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and is thus confined to a wheelchair. As she explained to The Toronto Sun, “By making this party accessible, we are saying openly that people with disabilities are sexual beings … and not only in more conventional ways.”
For Palikarova, co-coordinator and fellow disability activist Andrew Morrison-Gurza, and party planner Fatima Mechtab, simply finding a venue for the party proved to be something of a challenge. Toronto sex club Oasis Aqualounge isn’t accessible by wheelchair, and most local hotels weren’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of hosting an orgy. Ultimately, Deliciously Disabled found a home at the Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, a fully accessible venue that will accommodate the party’s limit of 40 standing guests, and 25 in wheelchairs.
The event is scheduled for August 14th, and will coincide with the tail end of Toronto’s Parapan Am games, during which the city will fill with disabled athletes hoping to qualify for the upcoming Paralympics. Tickets to Deliciously Disabled will cost participants $20, although their personal support workers will be allowed in for free. The party will be open to anyone—disabled or otherwise—and will feature burlesque performances and sex toy educational seminars as well, for participants who prefer to keep their clothes on.
While long-held societal stigmas liking physical disability with a supposed absence of sexual appetite may persist, efforts like Deliciously Disabled (along with the “Deliciously Disabled” sex positive movement, founded by Morrison-Gurza, from which the upcoming party presumably takes its name) are making serious strides toward bringing an affirming sense of sexuality out into the open for this often underserved, and misunderstood community.
As Palikarova told The Toronto Sun, “The Berlin wall of sex for people with disabilities is coming down!”
[via medical daily]
