FULFILLMENT OF THE SEXUAL NEEDS OF DISABLED PERSONS: REALITY, PERSPECTIVES, AND CONTROVERSIES Cover Image

REALIZACJA POTRZEB SEKSUALNYCH PRZEZ OSOBY NIEPEŁNOSPRAWNE: RZECZYWISTOŚĆ — PERSPEKTYWY — KONTROWERSJE
FULFILLMENT OF THE SEXUAL NEEDS OF DISABLED PERSONS: REALITY, PERSPECTIVES, AND CONTROVERSIES

Author(s): Izabela Ślęzak-Niedbalska
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN
Keywords: physical disability; niepełnosprawność ruchowa; intellectual disability; niepełno- sprawność intelektualna; sexual needs; potrzeby seksualne; prostitution; prostytucja; sexual assistance; asysten

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to examine how the sexuality of disabled persons is perceived by persons in their immediate surroundings (parents, caretakers, health professionals). The latter’s understanding of the question is one of the factors affecting how disabled persons define their needs and what possibility they will have of fulfilling them. On the basis of the literature on the subject, the author presents the findings of research concerning the satisfaction of sexual needs by persons with a physical or mental disability. She also indicates various ‘alternative’ methods of fulfilling these needs, such as sexual assistance, sexual therapy with a substitute partner (on the basis of the literature on the subject), and prostitution (on the basis of her own research). Consideration of the scientific and popular perspectives and the socially accepted or unaccepted manners by which disabled persons can satisfy their sexual needs makes it possible to determine to what degree these persons’ right to fulfill their sexual needs is realized in practice.

  • Issue Year: 60/2016
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 59-80
  • Page Count: 22
  • Language: Polish