“Desire is a human right for everyone.”
That’s the driving tenet for a provocative new documentary from Brazil called Acsexybility which explores sexuality and queerness within the vast, diverse, and sorely underrepresented community of those living with disabilities.
Get it? Accessibility + Sexy = Acsexybility? The title may hurt to look at, but sound it out and it makes perfect sense.
Your dose of fabulosi-TEA
Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.
From the very first shot of its trailer, Acsexybility announces itself as a film willing to go there and show its audiences they’ve never seen before, as we watch a short woman in a motorized wheelchair moving through a neon-lit room and whipping out a leather BDSM whip.
But her story is just one of many told in this fascinating documentary, which features candid interviews with people from across the spectrum of queerness and under the umbrella of people living with disabilities.
We meet a nonbinary, pansexual person with a physical disability. There’s a man with Down Syndrome who’s not new to the dating scene, but who hadn’t had sex because his partners’ parents wouldn’t allow it. There’s a blind woman who bravely shares her experiences with sexual assault.
Woven together, these varied experiences all work to deconstruct the stereotypes that people with disabilities are sexual. Once you see this raunchy, kinky, revelatory documentary, you’ll understand that is definitely not the case.
Related*
Inside the utter chaos of trying to date when you’re gay, disabled, & in your 30s
It’s a strange place to be.
Acsexybility comes from Brazilian director Daniel Gonçalves, who turned the camera on himself for his first feature My Name Is Daniel, which followed his day-to-day life with a rare, undiagnosable disability that impacts his motor skills.
Within that autobiographical film, Gonçalves openly discusses some of his first sexual experiences, and that’s what made him realize how little the world discusses—let alone celebrates—the sexuality of others with disabilities like (and unlike!) him.
In an interview with The San Diego Union Tribune, Gonçalves plainly lays out the goals of his latest documentary:
“The first one is to celebrate the diversity of bodies and different ways of feeling pleasure; the second goal is to boost the debate on ableism and its intersections with other forms of prejudice; the third is to promote the debate on the issue of sexual violence against people with disabilities; the fourth is to facilitate access to information and services on the education of sexual violence for people with disabilities; and to promote training and qualifications of public agents to provide better assistance to victims.”
And while Acsexybility does indeed delve into some heavier subject matter, it also keeps things light, fun, and sexy. Because that’s what sex should be—no matter who you are—fun!
Acsexybility premiered last summer at the Oufest LGBTQ+ Film Festival in Los Angeles before screening at fests across the globe. As of this week, it’s finally available for digital rental our purchase on Apple TV, courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures. Check out its titillating trailer below:
Related*
5 tips for talking to disabled people on dating apps (It’s easier than you think!)
So how can non-disabled people go about talking to folks who are disabled on apps without making a complete asshat of themselves? Well, I’m glad you asked!
hey scotty
everyone deserves a chance at happiness. some people even find it.