CYBERSPACE — Once of the first fears that many who’ve lost the use of their legs confront is the possible loss of their sex life, as well. Thanks to technology, although both may be limited, neither need be entirely gone.Lighter manual wheelchairs and increasingly dexterous motorized ones help adults with a wide range of disabilities navigate the sidewalks and floor plans of America, while nerve and tissue stimulating vibrators and erection inspiring medications are helping them navigate the intricacies of shared sexual intimacy.
According to the Columbia News Service, extreme skier David Bucks was able to orgasm three times after a half hour of using a powerful vibrator from Denmark’s FertiCare — something he’d been unable to do during the seven years since being paralyzed from the chest down as a result of a California avalanche. So effective was the self-proclaimed fertility aid, that Bucks was able to help conceive a child within two months of using the device.
Now he’s not just a customer, he imports the vibrators to the United States, where the medical journal Spinal Cord reported that most of the country’s 250,000 spinal cord injury survivors consider it more important to regain sexual function than to walk — and where many are experimenting with possible solutions.
Currently, most sexual aids of special use to the disabled are marketed toward men, including the FertiCare vibrator, which requires a doctor’s prescription and which Bucks sells for $695. The Columbia News Service reports that vibrators specifically for paraplegic women has been developed by the International Collaboration for Repair Discoveries in British Columbia, and will be on the market within a year. Those women who don’t want to wait a year can a prescription for the Eros Clitoral Therapy Device clitoral vacuum, which received Food and Drug Administration approval in 2000. The FDA approved FertiCare vibrator is a Class 2 device, considered to have the same risk to the user as an oxygen monitor, according to Karen Riley of the FDA.
Those surfing for information about remaining sexual while living with a disability can find information at websites including MyPleasure.com and Toronto’s ComeAsYouAre.com.
