Associate Professor Shanna Kattari discussed breaking the silence around sex and disability earlier this week as a featured guest on National Public Radio's 1A. The conversation covered meeting partners, using props and developing communication strategies to express needs. Kattari also stated the need for changing the perspective — in the media, in our personal lives and with our own bodies. “I think people see pleasure and pain as opposite ends of a spectrum or a scale, and they’re both ways that our body is engaging with the world,” said Kattari. It goes back to this idea of figuring out what works for you … so looking for pleasure and joy in every area of your life and connecting it back to your sexuality, which is not just the sex you have, it’s also those central pieces, those intimate pieces and those moments of connection.”
April 27, 2026
