These sultry shots may not be the way we're used to seeing a woman with a disability - but this woman hopes that it'll change the way we see them in future.
Rachelle Friedman Chapman has posed for the stunning shots in her lingerie, but she's not the usual underwear model, because she's paralysed.
Thanks to a freak accident during her hen do in May 2012, she was pushed into a pool by an unnamed friend and broke her neck, leaving her paralysed from the neck down.
Rachelle, who's now 29, saw herself characterised in the media as "the paralysed bride", and was told she would never walk again by doctors.
She told People magazine: "All of a sudden I realised there were people who viewed me as undateable and you start to look at yourself and say, 'I don't like this about me, I don't like that about me.' "
Marrying Chris - her fiance at the time of the accident - she has recently given birth to their daughter, Kaylee, who is now just two months old.
The couple had spoken extensively about surrogacy when she wasn't sure if she would be able to have children herself.
Detailing the story of what she's been through in her new book The Promise: A Tragic Accident, A Paralysed Bride and the Power of Love, Loyalty and Friendship, it's clear that she's a strong, positive women, and she wants to share that around.
With that urge to re-educate people about disability, she decided to strip down for this shoot, which is set to be released on social media on Monday.
She said: ""The big thing that I am self-conscious about is the catheter I have to wear all the time.
"I have to accept it, and I wanted to show people that just because you have this, just own it. It doesn't have to be the focus of what you are, what you look like."
Writing on her Facebook page, Rachelle explained of the accident: "My body changed and its ability to do what I wanted it to do faded. With that came some serious body image issues that were only augmented by my catheter.
"I saw in the media this seemingly overwhelming consensus that people with disabilities are unlovable, asexual and just plain not sexy.
"I wanted to do something for not only my confidence, but for anyone in my situation who thinks they aren't beautiful because of a flaw.
"The paralysis is part of me. The catheter is part of me, but neither is all of me. Confidence will outshine flaws.
"I'm doing this for those who can't see past a wheelchair. I'm doing it to show that we are capable, sexual beings and we are not to be overlooked. I'm not glamorising disability.
"My paralysis is an awful part of my life and I hope for a cure. But, in the meantime I need to love myself."
Rachelle calls for people to share what they love about themselves with the hashtag #WhatMakesMeSexy.
No comments:
Post a Comment