O CORPO COM PARAPLEGIA E TETRAPLEGIA ADQUIRIDA: UM ESTUDO SOBRE SEXUALIDADE.

Abstract

The object of study of this report is the sexuality of men and women with acquired paraplegia and quadriplegia, who are members of the Association of People with Disabilities of the State of Goiás (Adfego). Its main purpose is to understand the social impacts of disabilities in their lives, and also to analyze how the rehabilitation process is and how are the challenges they face to survive with a new body. The research has a qualitative dimension, focusing on oral history, and it demonstrates possibilities of reflection in the scope of Social Service. According to Puhlmann (2000), human sexuality is still a theme full of myths and prejudices, and talking about sexuality means broaching power, prejudice, body interdiction, desire, passion, pleasure, life, death, control, gender, sin and the building of sexual roles. As such, the sexuality of disabled people, real social minorities who passes almost unnoticed by the eyes of society, needs to be rethought due to the segregation and prejudice they face. The number of people with paraplegia and quadriplegia rises day after day in Brazil. The 2000 census showed that 24.5 million Brazilians had some kind of disability, which is about 14.5% of the Brazilian population. Those numbers cannot be ignored. During the interviews, these people related their histories, how they became disabled and how they got to Adfego seeking rehabilitation. This essay is developed in three chapters. The first one indicates the first findings with explanations about the research, towards the data collection tools and the quantitative analysis, the empirical approach that characterizes Adfego, delineating Social Service in the institution and the means used in the research process. The second chapter examines the history of the body, beginning with the platonic vision, the influence of Plato s thought in the Middle Age, debating what was thought about the body at that time and today. Afterwards, it evaluates body and gender, willing a better comprehension of the body of men and women with paraplegia and quadriplegia, as well as their sexuality. The third chapter contemplates the concept of physical disability and sexuality, along with an analysis of the interviews, intending to ponder the challenges that these men and women face to survive after they became disabled.