Product Description

Considered by many to be "The Joy of Sex for people with disabilities," Enabling Romance candidly covers: shattering sexual stereotypes; building self-esteem; creative sexual variations; reproduction and contraception for people with disabilities; specific information on several different physical and sensory disabilities, including spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, postpolio syndrome, muscular dystropy, cerebral palsy, amputation, blindness and deafness.

Note: Includes explicit illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #501545 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 218 pages

Review
... reminds us that the pursuit of sexual happiness, regardless of the condition of our bodies, belongs to us all. -- Betty Dodson, author of Sex for One

About the Author
Ken Kroll is a writer, editor and advocate who specializes in disability and sexuality issues. Erica Levy Klein is a screenwriter and playwright whose screenplay "Slightly Imperfect: A Love Story" chronicles her romance and marriage to Ken Kroll.

Customer Reviews

Was informative
This book was good-but it only had short sections on a specific diseases,But overall it was a somewhat informative book.

Giving Inspiration to the Disabled
The "Joy of Sex" for the disabled is as good of a summary that anyone can write. And that sums up both the good and the bad of this work. The best feature, and the element for which I am personally grateful, is that the book states unquivically that the handicapped are sexual beings, just like anyone else. For that, all of us who are disabled, give a heart-felt "thank you!" When we moved from the general to the specific the book was less strong. I look forward to a time when the authors can assemble a more condition-specific work that has a bit more of the "how to do it" as well as "why do it." This book is sensitive and well written, and I praise it as a good start. But I also hope it is only a start as well, for it left me wanting more.

Useful only for the inexperienced
I am severely disabled. I read the first few pages of this book and was encouraged. I then read the remaining 165 pages or so and was incredibly disappointed.

This book is unbelievably trite. If you have little or no experience with relationships or creative sexuality, this book might help you. If you are at all experienced or knowledgeable about establishing relationships and fundamental variations on ways of being intimate then do not waste your money.

Two basic themes dominate the book and are repeated over and over:

1. Disabled people need to learn to be creative and open to new ways of doing things, including being intimate.
2. When dealing with the disabled and partnering with the disabled, people need to learn to be understanding, respectful, and open to new ways of doing things, including being intimate.

The vast majority of disabled people become good at #1 above very quickly out of necessity. We do not need a sixteen dollar paperback to explain that to us.

And as far as #2 goes, how obvious is that?

The book does a good job of identifying problems that persons with disabilities might encounter, but solutions offered are simplistic and obvious - if they are even offered at all. An example of this is the in Chapter titled, "Attendants and Sexual Intimacy." The basic theme is that some of us have severe disabilities that require full time attendants and that it can be awkward to have an attendant around during intimate activities.

Gee, really? Who would have guessed?

Okay, so what to do about it? Here's a quote from that chapter's concluding paragraphs starting immediately after the second of two real-life examples, "Despite the drawbacks, having an attendant available can make a world of difference for someone with a disability. Naturally, not every person makes a good personal aid. The most important qualifications are experience, sensitivity, and dependability. An excellent book about finding, managing, and keeping attendants is..."

So their answer for this problem is...Buy a different book!

I recommend you take their advice. Skip this one and buy a different book.