Saturdays News - Sexuality after Stroke

Sexuality after Stroke

So you have come home from the hospital or rehabilitation and the one thing no one ever talked about was sex and intimacy.  How do you approach sex with one hand and a wheelchair or quad cane? Even getting into position to hug someone is a challenge.  In addition, in our society many people don’t think that people with disabilities can have a significant social and intimate relationship with someone.  Older people and people with disabilities are often portrayed as asexual. This idea is, of course, not true. Ideally, you would like to consult with a sex therapist, but that is expensive.  So what are your other options?  You could ask your physio or occupational therapist.  You can also check out the disability websites and now there are a couple of good books.

Check out the Disability information Websites (These are reputable websites):

• Disaboom - is a social networking website, founded by Dr. Glen House as a premier interactive online community dedicated to improving the way individuals with disabilities or functional limitations live their lives.
• This is a British Registered Charity — an online guide to life for 16 to 25 year-olds. They provide non-judgemental support and information on everything from sex and exam stress to debt and drugs. 
• About Sex and Stroke. 

Read about Disability and Sexuality

• The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability: For All of Us Who Live with Disabilities, Chronic Pain, and Illness* by Miriam Kaufman, Cory Silverberg and Fran Odette.  This is first complete sex guide for people who live with disabilities, pain, illness, or chronic conditions. Useful for absolutely everyone, the book addresses a wide range of disabilities — from chronic fatigue, back pain, and asthma to spinal cord injury, hearing and visual impairment, multiple sclerosis, and more. Expertly written by a medical doctor, a sex educator, and a disability activist, The Ultimate Guide provides readers with encouragement, support, and all the information they need to create a sex life that works for them.
• Enabling Romance: A Guide to Love, Sex and Relationships for People with Disabilities (and the People who Care About Them).   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.
• Sex and Disability - This is an academic book that considers how sex and disability come together and how disabled people negotiate sex and sexual identities in ableist and heteronormative culture. 

Sex and Disability

Society’s misconceptions of those living with disabilities. 

Sex on Wheels

Documentary on the issues of sexuality and disability.

Sexuality & Disability 

- from Spanish - Sexualidad & Discapacidad.

- very beautiful images you will have to see it.  

This video shows a series of images of people with different types of functional diversity, showing reflecting their sexuality through affection, love, sensuality, motherhood, seduction, etc ... (Translated from Spanish by Google).

Disability and Sexuality with Gary Karp

The challenges presented by disability and it's relationship with sexuality are seldom explored and just as rarely known to those who have not had to confront them.  Gary Karp will come to Sonoma State to share the obstacles to intimacy that he has encountered while living with disability and the story of the methods he has discovered enabling him to overcome them.  Having been a wheelchair user since 1973, he draws from his personal experiences through which he has learned to cope with the obstacles and used them to discover new connections to intimacy that everyone can enjoy.  Karp puts disability into a historical context and delves into the sensitive questions surrounding sexuality and intimacy faced with such daunting obstacles.  (As well a nice book by Gary Karp - Disability & the Art of Kissing).

Saturdays Comics - May 19th / 2012

For Better and For Worse Lynn Johnston / 2006-12-12 "Aphasia is an extremely frustrating ..."	Dilbert Scott Adams / 2012-05-14 "Gaaa!!! Lower the containment unit!"
Garfield Jim Davis / 2012-05-09 "Doctor, why don't cats fetch?"	Betty Delainey & Rasmussen / 2012-05-10  "Thanks for the opportunity - I'll be in touch."

* For Better and For Worse" is a serious topic of stroke but with a very nice cartoons. It is all about Grandpa Jim had a stroke and 88 further cartoon "strips" that happened to Grandpa Jim. (See as well  the author Lynn Johnston).

** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.

*** Changed from "Pickles" to "Betty" -- "Betty" is a excellent cartoon and Gary Delainey & Gerry Rasmussen are authors/artists/cartoon-strips and they live in Edmonton.

Eclectic Stuff - May 19th / 2012

Definition: Eclectic (noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

Eclectic: MEC Bikefest Edmonton

MEC Bikefest Edmonton
Saturday, May 26, 2012 at Ezio Faraone Park
11:00am – 4:00pm

About MEC Bikefest

MEC Bikefest is a daylong community celebration of all things bicycle related. Our goal is to bring together Edmonton’s bicycle community and those new to bikes, to celebrate the wonders of cycling. Come join us and make it the best bicycle bash in Edmonton.

Location

MEC Bikefest is located in Ezio Faraone Park at 11004 97 Avenue NW. The LRT is also close by, as is the river valley.

View Larger Map

 Read the full article MEC Bikefest Edmonton.

Eclectic: Dean's Stroke Musing - Background

Ask Dean Questions or Comments or would you like me to discuss something?  I will try to answer.  No medical diagnosis given or received.  I am damned opinionated so don't expect fluff.  Contact Dean's Stroke Musing or e-mail oc1dean@gmail.com.  Dean is also available for public lectures, radio, podcast, or other media appearances.  Contact him through the e-mail address above to request an appearance.

My Background

I fell down walking across the bedroom floor that morning, May 21, 2006.  I called to my wife, Sarah asking for help to stand up.  She was already on the phone dialing 911 and answering the questions, drug use, high blood pressure, diabetes, overweight, All were negative. The paramedics came and asked the same questions mainly because there was this healthly looking 50 year old lying on the floor with some stroke symptoms.  I spent the next 4 weeks in HCMC - Hennepin County Medical Center.  In the Emergency room I received tPA, the clot busting drug, within the hour.  I did not get the immediate miracle so the doctor said I would have to settle for the slow miracle recovery.  I had Physical, Occupational and Speech therapy while there.  Deficits from the stroke were left side paralysis.  Mental cognition,  eyesight and speech were not affected.  By the time I left the hospital I could walk with a 4 point cane and AFO - Ankle Foot Orthotic.  This occcurred the day after returning from a strenuous 6 day whitewater canoeing trip on the Dog River, Ontario (23 miles and dropping 1050 feet with a 1.5 mile portage around a 120 ft. waterfall) and driving for 12 hours to get home ...

Read the full article Dean's Stroke Musing - My Background.

Eclectic: Jackie - Dogs, Dogs, Dogs, ...

A famous photographer in california decided to take a few of his furry friends, a ball and a high resolution underwater camera, here are the results  -- enjoy !!!

Eclectic: Monty - Useful Dog Tricks #2

performed by Jesse the Jack Russell Terrier

Presenting, Useful Dog Tricks 2!!  Whoever said tricks can't be useful?  Jesse is back, by popular demand, in this all new video showcasing more Useful Dog Tricks. Jesse's heartwarming charm is bound to put a smile on the face of those who watch his adorable antics.

Jesse loves helping around the house, and there is no better help than that of an energetic little Jack Russell Terrier. We hope you enjoy our video; we had a lot of fun making it!

Our relationship is based on mutual respect, understanding, and trust. We have a wonderful relationship and bond, and that is the foundation of our training. We train all behaviors through the use of positive reinforcement and relationship-based training. To find out more, head on over to:  http://justjessethejack.com

~Heather and Jesse~

Saturday News Articles - May 19th / 2012

Stroke Rehab is Life-long Journey

It been almost 10 years since the day Gary Gray’s life changed forever.  On August 10, 2002, the Montague man had a stroke at age 53.  He has been on the road to recovery ever since and he said it will always be like that.  “When you have a stroke, essentially a part of your brain dies and while that part can never come back to life, other parts can compensate to help you relearn how to do things,” Mr Gray said.

Health PEI is certainly making inroads in providing tools for stroke survivors Mr Gray, who is a member of the Provincial Stroke Implementation Committee said.  Most recently the government announced out-patient clinics for stroke rehabilitation are now ....

Please read the full article Stroke Rehab is Life-long Journey.

By Charlotte MacAulay
charlotte@peicanada.com

Rosetta Stone for Aphasia

Rosetta Stone is an award-winning program designed to teach people to speak and read other languages— English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese ...  It also may be useful for people with Aphasia.

Elizabeth Gates, the daughter of prominent Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, is 28. She suffered a severe stroke, but has made a remarkable recovery from aphasia using Rosetta Stone.  You may have seen Dr. Gates on the news when he was arrested in his Cambridge home by a white police officer.  President Barrack Obama invited Dr. Gates and policeman to a "beer summit" at the White House.

Read Elizabeth’s Story and watch the video.

Rosetta Stone product is available on the web.

Aphasia Toolbox

Tired of leaving your home every day to get to speech therapy?  There are options.  Bill Connors is a speech therapist who understood that people can’t always find the therapy they need in their location.  Others may not have transportation to drive to speech therapy or a speech group.

Aphasia Toolbox provides rehabilitation services for people with aphasia/apraxia online.  Aphasia treatment is no longer a place to go to a clinic. You can now have active interactions with expert clinicians, who are used to working with adults with aphasia.

See http://www.aphasiaapps.com/.

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