Differently..abled..
By Angelxtacy • Jul 18th, 2008 • Category: BlogI recieved a call today from a student looking for information about customers with disabilities and I directed her to our handy shopping guide on the Good Vibes site. If you are poking around there you can find it easy at this link:
http://www.goodvibes.com/Content–People-with-Disabilities–id-687
She had a lot of great questions about how Differently Abled customers shop and whether they would respond to a product line made especially for them. While I thought this could make some decision making easier for some customers I looked to myself to think as a customer.
Thank you for the inspiration for my post!
I have Epilepsy. Not a noticeable disability. You wouldn’t know by looking at me on the street, helping you in the store, performing or whatever else I may be doing. I may not share to strangers (although I am now, LOL!) how this effects my life (quite a lot!) and what a struggle it is to feel…egads…normal. I could wax on what “normal” means but for this post I will say not falling on the ground, seizing and unconcious. While this is normal to me and many other folks with this condition, it is not a usual thing that most folks concider when shopping for sex toys. I figured that I wouldn’t wan’t to be treated differently, singled out.
Some suggestions are far easier as I have helped these folks. (See my earlier post on my customer who had a stroke and transformed her and her partners sex life with her first Vibe at 65!)
Need a longer reach?Unable to hold a vibe? Use a wheelchair? I do look at all our products coming in and think “How can this be used? ” I am not the only one. It is a great exercise that all us Sesa employ at different times.
I try to be as concientious as possible. I have spent a few years on a cane after a pedestrian accident. I couldn’t perform my sex gymnastics like I used to. A fact that came up in the mediation with the folks that didn’t honour the stop sign. As I healed and had started a new relationship, a lot of things have to be discussed.
This task can be daunting: How do you tell someone : I can’t spread my legs, can’t put them behind my neck anymore, can’t stand up or sit for long periods of time…that being from the accident alone. And then add seizures and how they can factor into one’s sex life. That’s a lot of cant’s, but as i am writing this my optimism kicks in and says ” think of all that you can do and the fact you are doing it!”
I kinda feel like it’s similar to the conversations one has when they have an STI such as Herpes or HPV, many people deal with that and it is a common conversation many people have with customers: “how do i tell my partner?” hmmm….some of our communication books can help…and “what kind play can we do?” maybe some schoolin’ in the Safer Sex section may be in order; it’s like a treasure hunt for me, finding the right ergonomic fit for different bodies and with different needs and the simple and beautiful fact:
People still do “it”!
Yes we do, we find a way and the journey can be oh so sweet. All the more reason for you to come on by and let us help you find something for your journey. Differently abled or not, if there isn’t a product out there, lets think how we could adapt one.
Hit me back, let’s cook some ideas. I think there is a whole Market of us out there. Let’s blaze a trail.Sounds like an awfully good way to save the world, eh?
Angelxtacy >> Angelxtacy a busy little bee. She's a leads-by-asking-nicely sort of gal. Jack and Jill of all trades and master of none, she runs a sex store, sings in a few bands, tattoos, puppeteers in an adult puppet troupe, paints, dances, models, plays Theramin, flute, accordion, washboard and anything else she can rig together. In her “spare” time she indulges her #1 fetish... reading. A LOT. And writes erotica for differently-abled and indentified folks.
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