The book Aan Hartstocht, a photo-text collection that explores disability and sexuality was actually first published in 1993 in The Netherlands, so when I travelled to Amsterdam I was concerned about the 'timeliness' of producing a story on it. What I discovered was that the premise of the book turned out to be timeless.

People with a physical or mental disability struggle with things day-to-day that most of us who are able-bodied simply take for granted; whether it's walking into a restaurant, driving a car, or (gasp!) having a sex life. It's easy to relegate those with disabilities to the sidelines because it's not easy for most people to handle the realities of it all. It's equally difficult for most people to discuss and face sexuality in an open, frank manner. When you combine disability and sexuality in one discussion, the stigma simply becomes too uncomfortable for many people to contemplate.

The reality is that most people with a disability are still sexual (it sounds obvious when I write it down), but most of us forget about it. The book Aan Hartstocht was about normalizing sexuality and disability and show that one is not dependent upon the other. The form in which an individual's sexuality is expressed may be altered by their disability, but it's not defined by it.

I think it's important to face the things that we don't understand and deal with them. As I continue to produce SexTV I learn more about sex and the human condition than I had ever anticipated, and look forward to producing and airing more indepth stories on sexuality and disability. To me, provocative, dangerous television is not The Cindy Margolis Show, but shows that present ideas that perhaps are uncomfortable or unfamiliar, but worthy of contemplation and understanding.

That's all we're trying to do here.

Brad Brough
Producer/Director, SEXTV