A 29-year-old woman is finding time to be a wife, mother, and lingerie model. She’s doing it without the use of her legs.
Rachelle Friedman Chapman became known as “the paralyzed bride” when a poolside horseplay incident at her bachelorette party left her paralyzed from the chest down, just weeks before her wedding in May 2010. She eventually turned that crisis into an opportunity as a motivational speaker and author, but she’s again defying expectation by putting her body on the line.
Friedman donned Victoria’s Secret lingerie for a photo shoot to remind the world that people who live with disabilities are still sexual beings. Her pictures ought to help make the case obvious. She told People that this shoot was the first time she had donned a bikini since the accident that left her paralyzed more than five years ago.
https://twitter.com/FollowRachelle/status/625810399502462976
.@FollowRachelle poses in lingerie to prove disabilities don't limit sexuality http://t.co/2Ny3d0Kvm6 @HuffPostWomen pic.twitter.com/2WSKhQPJqj
— Alanna Vagianos (@AlannaVagianos) July 29, 2015
https://twitter.com/FollowRachelle/status/627569171413499904
My ability to see the good in people. And of course my sense of humor! #WhatMakesMeSexy #BeYourself pic.twitter.com/0WT5xp8ETP
— Rachelle Chapman 📎 (@FollowRachelle) July 31, 2015
https://twitter.com/infowe/status/627042894591856640
Another photographer, Michael Stokes, is addressing the same issue from another direction. His photo series, “Always Loyal,” puts male military amputees on sexy display, and the Kickstarter project to release the photos as a book raised more than $400,000.
https://twitter.com/Stokes_Photo/status/620302703311261696
https://twitter.com/Stokes_Photo/status/618823255072182272
Disability consultant Lee Rachel Jurman explained to the Daily Dot that “the down-and-dirty is that, in general, people with physical disabilities tend to be seen as asexual people. All kinds of people are people, and some are sexual. Having a disability doesn’t automatically preclude you from that.”
H/T Huffington Post | Photo via Rachelle F. Chapman/Twitter