Nearly every person on the planet thinks about and has sex - but some forget that those urges, wants and needs apply to disabled people.
A new initiative has been started to help raise awareness for disabled people and their sexual appetites, desires and methods. Handi is hoping to break down the stigma and existing taboos that exist in this realm.
Handi chief executive and co-founder Heather Morrison tells LADbible: "Hundreds of millions of people around the world are unable to self pleasure due to hand limitations. This has a negative effect not only on their human right to self pleasure, but on their mental, physical and societal health.
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"Shockingly, despite tens of thousands of sex toys on the market, none have been designed for hand limitations."
To assist in their campaign, they have announced a range of sex toys that will help people with certain disabilities.
Some of the toys use chin controls or big buttons so that the user doesn't have to fiddle with the device, others are large so that they don't move around while the user is doing their thing.
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"We live in a society that is still squirmy about sex, layer on top of that masturbation and people get really awkward, layer on top of that disability and its a non-topic," Ms Morrison tells us.
"Disabled people are often believed to be non-sexual, infantilised or fetishised. Unfortunately, this is reinforced culturally and systemically as they are removed from conversations about sexuality and sex education.
"They are often not seen as 'people' with normal needs, urges and feelings. The more we don't talk about it, see this topic as a taboo and hide it away, the more the problem and frustrations persist."
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The brand is also releasing their Handi Book, which includes stories from more than 50 people with disabilities and looks at how they view and conduct sexual activities.
Former Paralympian Elle Steele contributed to the book and says it's about time the world understands that she is just like everyone else when it comes to sex.
She tells us: "Having sex, being sexy or allowing someone to see you in a sexual way is vulnerable, and people see disability as vulnerable too, but in the negative sense of the word.
"You're meant to able to do 'all the things' to 'have the sexiest body' to 'be desirable' which, each human is, but the media profits off our insecurities, so why would they want to flaunt something as 'scary and shameful' as disability?
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"My sexuality and sexual thoughts are just like yours. I have desires, I have like and dislikes. I see myself as whole and beautiful. The only 'worries' I ever have about my body and its abilities have been fed to me by d*ckheads on dating apps or the media who have been too scared to celebrate my body. "
Andrew Gurza is Handi's co-founder and Chief Disability Officer and he believes society needs to evolve their thinking when it comes to the topic.
He tells LADbible that disabled people are often denied access to venues because of their disability and that needs to change ASAP.
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"I want people to know that disabled people 100 per cent have sexual thoughts and feelings, and they are totally valid, no matter what they are. I also want people to understand that disabled sex looks and feels different than non-disabled sex, and that's okay. In fact, it can make disabled sex even better."
If you want to check out Handi or the Handi Book, you can click here.
Featured Image Credit: SuppliedTopics: News