Box 19.2 Common myths about disability

Myth 1: People with disabilities are brave and courageous.

• Fact: Adjusting to impairment requires adapting to particular circumstances and lifestyle, not bravery and courage.

Myth 2: Wheelchair use is confining; people who use wheelchairs are 'wheelchair-bound'.

• Fact: A wheelchair, like a bicycle or an automobile, is a personal mobility assistive device that enables someone to move around.

Myth 3: All persons with hearing disabilities can read lips.

• Fact: Lip-reading skills vary among people and are never entirely reliable.

Myth 4: People who are blind acquire a 'sixth sense'.

• Fact: Although most people who are blind develop their remaining senses more fully, they do not have a 'sixth sense'.

Myth 5: Most people with disabilities cannot have sexual relationships.

• Fact: Anyone can have a sexual relationship by adapting the sexual activity. People with disabilities can have children naturally or through adoption. People with disabilities, like other people, are sexual beings.