Who is Danilo Ragona and how he created a chair to facilitate the sexuality of people with disabilities (who also likes Rocco Siffredi)

Those who think that people with disabilities are a sort of Asexual angelsand who have no desires, drives and patterns like all other people, makes mistakes. And it is not clear why talking about sexuality linked to disability still represents a taboo today to deal with.

Confirms it too Danilo Ragona43 -year -old Turin industrial designer. Danilo is a Turin entrepreneur who creates innovative wheelchairs for the disabled. In addition to being president of the company Able to Enjoy and of the Association B-free it is with the friend Luca Paiardi Traveler, blogger and documentary maker for the portal Viaggiitalia.org and for the program Kilimangiaro On Rai Tre.

At 21, Danilo has a serious accident automotive that leaves him paralyzed from the life down. “Suddenly I understood that I was reborn with a new body, “he says. «The choice I made is that, I always say it, of return child and grow, Indeed, regrow with a different body. I had the lucidity and, I believe, the strength of accept my situation “.

At that moment Luca decides to do something that was a Gamechanger, that could change the rules of the game. «I started creating my new life, a draw my future. I was already a creative, art was my job: I had done the artistic high school and after the accident I enrolled in the IED (European Inspectual of Design)with the desire to design something that improved the quality of life in terms of independence of mobility, but that at the same time had one style: «I wanted – and in the end I succeeded – transform the wheelchair from medical aid to Design product, beautiful and personalized».
Following the same philosophy, that is, using design to improve life, Danilo created and launched on the market Intimate swingone particular rocking chair which facilitates the movement of people with motor disabilities in sexual intercourse.

How did this idea have?
«From the desire to use the design to give a person with disabilities the possibility of rebalance the agreement with the partner also from a sexual point of view. I thought of a product that could facilitate positions. Everyone lives the sexual sphere in their own way, but I wanted to find a solution to make all the various positions that with a disability is no longer possible to reach, so from allow greater freedom in movements. Also, I was interested in using the product and his design as Methods to change vision on the theme sexuality of people with disabilities. I am certainly not a sexologist, I have no specific titles: yet, just starting from the chair Swing I managed to enter the spinal units and other hospital contexts to talk about sexuality in disability ».

True sign inclusiveness of the chair is its design, functional both to the male and female body: «Swing can be used by him with her, with her, by her with her or with him with him. In the full rInspect of all diversity O sexual preference », explains its creator. “You must always think about the project below Many more points of view: From genres, nationality and therefore to the different life habits of people: if you are in Brazil, the approach will be different from that in China.

Can we consider the Swing chair plus a design object or a sex toy?
«In reality it is in all respects a design objectnice to keep in the living room as in the bedroom. It is not something to hide, on the contrary. However, everything can be improved, even aesthetics: the chair may not please, but in fact the design goes in the direction of Remove the products (as well as the prams) from the medical sphere. So, beyond its functionality, the next step was to make the chair a furniture product that could be used not only from people with disabilitiesbut also to entertain able -bodied people “.

How exactly does it work?
«It is a normal mechanism: a rocking movement of the session, which is activated simply with the movement of the shoulders or head. There is nothing electronic.

He presented it to the last Milan Design Week: on that occasion how was the product welcomed?
“Very good. Because he knows, when there is Something fun, which is beautiful and that makes you smilethen that design product becomes the Sorry to talk about even difficult themes, such as sexuality. Fun, design and beauty These are those three important elements that allow you to deal with serious topics with a little more serenity and to share their reasons with a smile, while those who listen do not have a performance anxiety deriving from the desire to understand. However, to have completely cleared the Swing chair also for use by the able -bodied people was Rocco Siffredito which I with Luca Paiardi We personally delivered it to Budapest: he appreciated it, I have to say ».

So far they have requested the Intimate swing More able -bodied or more people with disabilities?
“For now I would say 50 and 50and in some time I will have greater data ».

Can this chair also represent a starting point to create something larger and ambitious in the future on the theme sexuality and disabilities?
«Yes, the Next Step has already started. To explore the theme in its more appearance culturalone will soon come out Podcast series that we are recording from Living room 88 (in Corso Principe Oddone 88 in Turin), a space set up like a living room Bespoke. Each episode is a time of inclusive sharing, of free dialogue and without prejudices where we speak of sex and feelings authenticly, inclusive and without hypocrisy. Here, every sensitivity, experience and preference finds voice in an intimate, ironic and stimulating comparison. The format in fact it welcomes people of all kinds, age, culture and sexual orientation, to tell All the nuances of sexuality “.

PThe rocking chair will remain Swing Even in hospital environments?
“I will make a presentation in a few days at theSpinal unit of Novara. Have a beautiful project relating to REQUIRE OF THE AUTONOMY OF LIFE Of the people who, after suffering a trauma, move to the wheelchair. Before returning home, they can live for a period with their family or partner in a furnished apartment so that everything is accessible. There, after introducing it to doctors, physiotherapists, patients discharged and still hospitalized patients, I will leave the chair so that it comes tested To facilitate the return of people with disabilities to management of one’s intimacy “.