I do like the refreshing sense of humor wintermute2_0 has shown in the blog he posted at http://www.the19thfloor.net/archives/2005_01.html on January 19, 2005 with regards to Breaking Taboos. He seems to be a person who had completely accepted his disability and is totally oblivious with people who are being too careful around disabled ones, especially with regards to sexuality. He seems to have completely overcome his shortcomings as a disabled person and have reconciled completely with the whole matter. As such, he can really talk about all aspects of becoming disabled and all the factors about it.

Conducting a speech for Hamline students on disability issues is a tough thing to do. The tough thing about it is that you, as a disabled person, unfolding your personal experiences to total strangers and handle your discussion with a sense of normalcy is quite an unnerving experience. You must have a lot of courage and enough acceptance of your life as it is now in order to draw out lessons from it and share it on other people. Why, people who are aren’t that tactful enough may gawk at you or laugh at what had befallen you. But wintermute2_0 seem to get along just fine. In fact he’s already on his second year of talks with classes of students.

He does know and is sensitive that some people get awkward with discussing issues concerning sexuality or, as I get it, the sexual activities of disabled persons…or the lack of it. Sometimes people are very careful about discussing such topics for fear hitting a nerve that sometimes they quit entirely on talking about it when a disabled person is around. Truth to tell, some disabled persons indeed shun away from the topic because of the terrible pain they feel on not being able to do sex as normal people would anymore. However, getting an appropriate audience who wouldn’t react too violently on the topic of sexuality may be a good way to overcome people’s unease about it.

After all it’s not as if you are not anymore human once you have a rather inactive sexual life. You can still think about sex…or think about being a “sex-among-the-disabled” guru – like what wintermute2_0 is planning on.

Lala B. is a 26 year-old Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a non-government organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Book reading has always been her greatest passion -- mysteries, horrors, psycho-thrillers, historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she was but a shy kid.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns -- imagined and observed, to bear witness.

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carmelo@wheelchairspower.com