DALLAS — A physically challenged Texas man is bringing pleasure products to the disabled through his sex toy store, Dallas Novelty as part of a growing movement to reverse the idea that people with disbalities don't have sex.
Nick Mahler, who suffers from a rare and debilitating genetic disorder called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, created the pleasure products company in 2008 (a 2015 XBIZ Award nominee) to cater to the 35.2 million physically disabled adults in the U.S.
"Our boomer population is getting older," Mahler told Mic.com. "They still enjoy sex and masturbation and they want ways to continue experiencing pleasure even if they might be mobility impaired."
Mahler’s business is a welcomed oasis for the handicapped. Most stores contacted by Mic were ambivalent, apprehensive or downright dismissive toward supplying products to the disabled.
And although most pleasure products work well enough with modifications, users have to know how to “hack them,” according to Mahler.
One company noted as an exception in the void is Sportsheets, which Mahler pointed to as a manufacturer considering of disabled people's needs by reducing some areas of vibration to make certain toys easier to grip. The company offers toys for disabled veterans, including customized harnesses and vests to recreate the pleasures of able-bodied intimacy.
Mahler not only offers the products, but much needed advice.
"The main way we are helping our disabled customers is by actually answering the phone and emails when they ask questions. Our customers appreciate the personal service as well as suggestions of products that might work better," Mahler said. "Most toy shops would rather concentrate on the mainstream public, which leaves a growing segment to figure it out for themselves."
Mic’s investigation also noted Andrew Morrison-Gurza and Rachelle Friedman Chapman, as active participants in a growing movement to reverse the thinking that the handicapped don’t have sex.
Morrison-Gurza, who has cerebral palsy, helped organize a sex orgy party for the physically disabled set for Aug. 14 in Toronto, and Rachelle Friedman Chapman, a paraplegic recently posed for erotic photographs.
