Yes, I’m disabled. But I still love sex.

Of course, some persons have disabilities that preclude sex entirely. Or, say, a person undergoing chemotherapy might want or need to avoid sex temporarily. It’s imperative that their wishes be met. No one with a disability should be pressured into sex when their body will not accommodate it. Nor should anyone treat them like a sub-species of human. If a person with a disability can’t have or doesn’t want sex, that doesn’t mean they don’t want or need love. That should be clear to all sentient adults.

Too often, the able-bodied seek examples of high-performing persons with disabilities. And many of us are high-performing, maintaining careers and active sex lives. But it’s hard. Harder than an able-bodied person can know. We’re held up as examples, though, as if to chide persons with other disabilities, “See? Look what you can do if you try!” And that’s unfair. Each person with a disability is navigating life as their body allows, inside and outside the bedroom.

Was sex easier for me when I was able-bodied? Unquestionably. Is it still fun for me now? Hell, yes. I’m grateful I can still romp. I’m particularly grateful when a partner understands my body.

In this way, at least, the disabled and the able-bodied might have more in common than they know.