Before his motorcycle accident, Travis saw himself becoming a pro
football player. Now, paralyzed from the nipple down, he says, "At
times it's a pain in the ass-literally and figuratively. But it
allows me to not be as threatening to some people the way I was
when] I was still an athlete. Because a lot of times male
interaction is done on the basis of pissing contests: I'm bigger,
I'm tougher, I'm stronger, I'm smarter. When you're in a chair,
they don't look at you like that." At the same time, Travis
complains that many people are uncomfortable interacting with him
because of his disability. "I would rather you make a mistake and
deal with me than not deal with me at all."
Meghan is a high-level quadriplegic, living alone, who uses a power
wheelchair and requires daily attendant care. She laments, "There
are so many people who think we're asexual, we're not pretty, and
we're creeps and weirdoes." To dispel this myth, she envisions a
fashion show of women in wheelchairs parading down a runway. Meghan
has been involved in a number of sexual relationships since
sustaining her injury. While she doesn't think her disability has
diminished her sexual pleasure, she feels that it has affected her
sexual performance: "Well, you can't move it. You can't, like, bump
and grind."
In 32 unusually frank in-depth interviews like these, the men and
women in this book freely discuss their sex lives, their beliefs
about God, how they want others to treat them, and whether they
want to walk again. In each chapter the author presents their
complex voices and comprehensive research about different facets of
spinal cord injury (SCI).
"Wheeling and Dealing" explores the extent to which people with
spinal cord injury locate their challenges in their physical
impairments or in the social environment. Some disagree with those
disability activists who focus almost exclusively on the latter,
but the author examines this issue in depth.
Topics include:
--Physical health from degrees of loss of function to problems like
pressure sores, temperature regulation, and bladder control.
--The stages of psychological adjustment and rehabilitation.
--Obstacles to sexual intimacy, treatment of erectile dysfunction,
and new sources of sexual pleasure and emotional intimacy.
--Religion and spirituality.
--Social and political beliefs, with those with SCI weighing in on
everything from welfare services to embryonic stem cell
research.
--Dating, marriage, and parenting.
--Friendship networks and social supports; concerns about
transportation and accessibility; stigma.
--Education, employment, and economic consequences.
This book is the recipient of the 2004 Norman L. and Roselea J.
Goldberg Prize from Vanderbilt University Press for the best
project in the area of medicine.
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