Berkeley Daily Planet
Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002
Page 4
FORUM

Disabled are able to be erotic
by Teresa Cochran, Berkeley

To the Editor:

Councilmember Betty Olds says "When they bring a camera close to a woman's crotch and try to insert a disabled man's penis into a vagina - if you don't call that bad taste, I don't know what is," (Daily Planet, Sept. 3). Well, now I'm intrigued, as a disabled person. I would love to watch a demonstration of the fact that disabled people lead full lives! I read this comment in Braille on the Internet, and I assume the speaker was making an assumption that disabled people wouldn't bother reading it or be able to read it. Guess again.

In all seriousness, however, it greatly saddens me that this kind of condescending tone is still used when referring to disabled people, as if our very lives are in bad taste. Hopefully this is a reminder that there is still a lot of awareness to be raised, and in that spirit, the ACLU is right on the button.

Teresa Cochran
Berkeley

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