A woman who cares for her quadriplegic boyfriend has details of their sex lives in an effort to debunk myths around disability and sex.
Jessikah Lopez, 29, watched her future boyfriend George Dowell from West Sussex in an episode of the Channel 4 dating show The Undateables.
The couple share details about their relationship on social media and people are often curious about their sex life in particular, assuming they don’t have one but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
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“We have a normal and healthy sex life,” Jessikah told NeedToKnow.online.
"It’s different of course but nothing that can’t be overcome with good communication and working with each other to find out what works best, pretty much the same as any new partner.
“Most challenges in our relationship come from the outside world as it’s not built for people with disabilities and therefore can make things difficult for us at times.”
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“We luckily have not had any negativity towards our relationship but we would certainly defend it if we did.”
George, 30, was paralysed from the chest down following a horrific car accident in 2010, when the vehicle flipped and he sustained a spinal injury.
George now has ‘limited hand and arm function’ and while adjusting to his new life, he was worried about being rejected by women when dating.
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He explained: “Dating isn’t as easy when you’re in a wheelchair, because people automatically have assumptions about you or can’t see themselves with someone with a disability, so I often worried about being rejected straight away.
“In the early days it was hard but as I’ve got used to my life post-injury, I have had stable relationships and actively dated before I met Jessikah.”
“I thought George was really cute and sweet, so I followed him on social media but never spoke to him," Jessikah said.
The couple officially met after George slid into Jessikah’s DMs. She added: "Then about two years later, George messaged me on Facebook in relation to a story I posted, we got chatting and the rest is history.
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“Our first date, I went over to his house, brought lots of snacks and we watched movies.
"I got there at 12pm and didn’t leave until 9pm, we had so much to talk about and got on really well.”
George has made Jessikah is primary caregiver to allow their relationship to progress. "Because I met Jessikah so far down the line into my injury, I know what works well for me so it was easy to navigate around things that may seem different from the average couple.
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"We were thrown into each others' lives quickly due to covid and decided to bubble up together.
"We were able to tell early on that we could live together very easily, only adjustment I had to make was adjust my care plan so Jessikah was my primary carer because I wanted to have more independent and alone time with her as our relationship progressed."
Gregory Robinson