Being confined to a wheelchair doesn’t mean that your life is over. And neither is your sexuality. A public speaker, author and a married mother of one, Rachelle Friedman Chapman’s gutsy tale is a testimony to one who takes life head-on despite handicaps. She was 24 years when she was playfully pushed into a pool by her best friend at her bachelorette party just weeks before her wedding. She hit the bottom of the pool head first, breaking her neck which robbed her off her ability to walk and paralysed her from chest down.
To refute the common assumptions that disability limits your sexuality, Chapman volunteered for a lingerie photo shoot, ditching her wheelchair. Sharing the message she wants to send out with The Huffington Post, she says, “I hope it will make people think. People with disabilities still have sexuality and honestly I’m tired of being something that we can’t talk about as a society”. She added that she is not doing it to glamourise disability but it is an attempt for people to view disabled people in a proper light. In the meanwhile, she confesses that she needs to love herself.
While she sometimes struggles with self esteem issues, intimacy and sexuality forms an important part of her life even now. “There is no shame in talking about sexuality because at the end of the day it is an important part of who we all are as individuals. When my story hit the media, people were so impressed that my fiancé would stay with me ‘like this’,” Chapman said and on an honest note confessed, “Sure, it affected my self esteem but most of all it made me sad for my fellow wheelchair users who are still looking for love. We are smart, courageous, funny, beautiful and yes… sexy.”
Look at the pictures below to believe that disability doesn’t take away from your beauty and sexuality.
Images via Rachelle Friedman Chapman // Revolution Studios
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