In Bed with Caoi Featuring Charlotte Faragher

This week’s episode is a first, I’m really excited for you to listen to it! We’ve got Charlotte Faragher reading her poem ‘Not what you need’ on her experience of unrequited love as a disabled woman. Charlotte is a 32-year-old who lives in Oldham Manchester. She has lived with quadriplegic cerebral palsy since being born at 26 weeks.

About the episode:

• You can follow along and read her poem here: https://chazzda16.blogspot.com/2023/01/not-what-you-need.html
• Charlotte shares the reality of sexuality as a disabled woman and how it’s raw, messy and exciting
• Why its important to talk to people with disabilities like they’re normal people and not put them on pedestals aka calling them brave just for being out and about living their lives going dancing etc
• Society puts physical and attitudinal barriers in the way for disabled people which blocks Charlotte from experiencing her life as fully as she wants to 
• Attitudinal barriers against disabled people include pitying them and never being portrayed in a sexual way. This lack is demeaning, and means it’s less likely for disabled people to be in relationship. Those with disabilities are also more likely to experience physical abuse in relationship
• Sex educators need to do better about understanding and supporting disabled people’s sexual experiences
• Charlotte wants her poem to go further into a short, filmed piece with a disabled actress in a filmed monologue. She’s looking for people to help, so please reach out to her if you feel inspired to

More about Charlotte:
Although she is very physically disabled, her mental abilities are not affected. As a result, she became acutely aware of the prejudices and challenges that befall people who are deemed different in society. She is a keen advocate for challenging harmful assumptions about disability and differences. She also highlights to the non-disabled community that even though disabled people do have some differences; they have the same dreams, life ambitions and hunger for a full and authentic life as anyone else. She often finds it devastating when she comes up against presumptions, that because she is very physically challenged, she must be mentally challenged also. This has led to a lack of self esteem and confidence. In order to further solidify her opinions on challenging assumptions around disability and what that means; she has written several articles on subjects such as sex and loneliness. She have also spoken on several popular podcasts to help promote further discussion around these issues including Disability after Dark, Aces Interviews and CP and Me.

You can find Charlotte online here:
https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.faragher.1
https://www.instagram.com/charlottefaragher/
https://twitter.com/YOCHARLOTTEF
cfaragher@sky.com