Mother calls for brothels to be reopened

The woman told Gazzettino that her son, who has been in a wheelchair since an accident, has the “same sexual desires as any young man” and that the forced abstinence causes him stress.

The woman has previously paid for her son to use a prostitute due to there being “no other alternative”.

She is now calling for brothels, which have been illegal in Italy since 1958, to be reopened, but “run in a different way”.

“It is essential for them to be safe and have prices controlled, so that people with disabilities like my son have the opportunity to experience sex in the normal way,” she said.

In June, the mother of a 27-year-old man who suffers from Williams Syndrome, a rare mental impairment disorder, appealed for the role of ‘sex assistants’ to be legalised in Italy.

The taboo subject is also the focus of a campaign in Italy by Maximiliano Ulivieri, a disabled web designer, to regulate the profession. Thousands of people have signed a petition in support, Ulivieri told The Local in June.

The issue is less of a stigma in Germany, where prostitutes pay tax and sex workers are given special training to serve the disabled. In Switzerland, the job of sexual assistant has had a legal status for more than eight years. The role is also legal in the Netherlands, where disabled people can get money from the government to pay for sexual relations.