Jake is a
21-year-old sports journalist who has lived in both Dubai and England. He discusses how he navigated his teenage years, sex education and having a relationship.
As a teenage male living with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Epilepsy I have always contemplated how my disability would affect me both
sexually and when in a relationship. The thought of a relationship appeared
completely alien, with me constantly wondering how on earth anyone would find
me attractive. I was the same as most of my peers, puberty hit me, and I began
to find girls attractive and I was going through changes which are perfectly
normal.
My sex education
It was a challenge growing up. I saw others experiencing things
I thought were completely out of reach, such as teen relationships or first
kisses, and it was difficult to accept. I was faced with continuous doubt about
whether I would experience any of this. I also never knew how to approach the
subject of girls and sex with my parents and would only occasionally discuss it
with my uncle and cousin. Other than that, I kept my doubts and insecurities to
myself. I consider myself to be very open about my CP and Epilepsy and I’m more
than happy to talk about it. However, when it comes to things such as sex or relationships,
I tend to avoid such conversations.
From the ages of 9-16 years I lived in Dubai. With the
United Arab Emirates being a Muslim country, it made the changes I was going
through, such as puberty, a bit more challenging. For instance, sex education
in my British curriculum secondary school consisted of an anagram, a crossword
and a wordsearch. I never actually considered how different this was to my
peers in England. This became apparent when I first encountered a condom as an 18-year-old
during freshers’ week at university, to everyone else it seemed normal.
My mum bought me a book when I was around 13 years old called
Living with a Willy. As the title indicates, it goes into the changes that
occur around that age, as well as other things to do with puberty. I’m pretty
sure it’s in my bedroom somewhere hidden among the books I’ve read over the
years. Although the book was useful in explaining certain elements of what was
happening to me, it never gave me the whole picture.
The start of relationships
We moved back to the UK in 2014 and I once again became the
newbie at school. I had the challenge of settling into a cohort of students
aged between 16-17 years who had been together since they started in Year 7. My
induction day and the first few weeks passed by relatively quickly and I seemed
to make a good group of friends.
However, I was made aware of a girl who had told others that
she was interested in me. This came as a shock as she was a beautiful girl, I never
would have suspected that she’d be interested. I didn’t see myself as good
looking and I thought the disability would put her off. This was due to being
rejected by many girls who I had asked out previously. I was extremely
apprehensive and nervous, as well as not knowing how I would mention my disability.
After spending time with her at lunchtimes, I got to know her more and I
thought things were going well. Shortly after, I found out she was now in a
relationship with someone else in our year, this really hurt and affected my
confidence.
The impact my disability has
Due to being self-conscious about my disability and my looks
in general I was always nervous around girls and was generally quite shy, which
is very different to my normal demeanour. So much so, I had begun to count the
number of girls I had asked out. The fact that none of them had said yes really
affected my self-esteem and led me to believe it was because of my disability.
In the past I have tried online dating with little success. I
often struggled to communicate how my disability affects me, both physically
and mentally. It’s hard to explain to someone who has never met me compared
with someone who sees me often. I also struggled with the reactions I got when
revealing my disability over text. Because I never got to the stage of meeting
someone in person, it made it difficult to gauge their true reaction.
I currently have a girlfriend who sees me for who I am,
without being defined by my disability. If my experiences have taught me anything
it is that the saying ‘you are not defined by your disability’ is even more so
relatable to sex and relationships as it is to anything else.
Have you experienced barriers when mentioning your
disability? How have you found dating? Let us know in the comments below!
