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People With Disabilities Embrace Their Sexuality in Semi-Nude Photo Series

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Charity organization Enhance the UK has launched a new project through its “Undressing Disability” campaign featuring stunning photos celebrating the bodies of people with disabilities.

The series hopes to inspire people with disabilities to embrace their sexuality, but also to challenge “the misconceptions that create unbalance and ensure that better access to sexual health, sexual awareness, and sex education is granted to disabled people.”

“We want to be recognized… and challenge the notion that we can’t, won’t or don’t have sex,” the campaign’s website reads. “We want the right to be sexy, to feel sexy and be seen as sexy.”

Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography
Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography

Many of the series’ subjects will also have their stories featured in what will be Enhance the UK’s first literary publication, also called “Undressing Disability.” The book chronicles the love lives of 19 disabled individuals, some anonymous, and all proceeds will go towards developing inclusive sex and relationships education resources.

Enhance the UK founder and director Jennie Williams has degenerative hearing loss, which is believed to be linked to her heart condition, Long QT syndrome. In a blog post, Williams stated that she hopes the campaign will challenge the public’s misconceptions and help other people with disabilities feel less isolated.

“Everyone has the right to have human touch, even if it is not sex as we know it,” she wrote.

Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography
Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography
Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography
Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography
Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography
Image courtesy of Enhance the UK/Makenzie Whittle Photography

“Undressing Disability” will be unveiled at a photo exhibition in a collaboration with Scope at The Gherkin in London on Thursday, Oct. 22. For more information, be sure to visit Enhance the UK‘s website.

Originally published: October 8, 2015
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