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Intimacy Despite Disabilities | Part Two

January 8, 2022

Love and sex between people with cognitive impairments is often still taboo. At supported accommodation offered by Lebenshilfe in Langenhagen, a charitable facility in Germany, the approach is: Everyone should have the chance to find intimacy in a way that suits them.

https://p.dw.com/p/45HxF

Thekla Schünemann and Lars Nowak are a couple. They’ve known each other since childhood and have rarely spent a day apart. Others can argue all they want, they say - they’ll always stick together. Theirs is a love story with a difference: Thekla Schünemann and Lars Nowak have Down’s syndrome. People with impairments also need love and intimacy, but sometimes the necessary support is lacking from organizations providing care, as well as within their own families. But at this particular facility in northern Germany, things look very different: Here, people get to make their own decisions about who they want to share their lives with - or maybe just their bed! Konstantin Kluß is still searching for that special someone. In Part One, he had a bit of a browse on an online dating platform for people with disabilities - will Kati reply to his message? Part Two of the report by Axel Rowohlt.

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