Fulfillment of the Sexual Needs of Disabled Persons: Reality, Perspectives, and Controversies

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