Asta Anthony Philpot is an American (born

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, 1982) man who was the protagonist of a 2007

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

titled ''For one night only''. He was born with

arthrogryposis Arthrogryposis (AMC) describes congenital joint contracture in two or more areas of the body. It derives its name from Greek, literally meaning "curving of joints" (', "joint"; ', late Latin form of late Greek ', "hooking"). Children born with one ...

, which impairs his physical ability of movement. He advocates the right to an active

sexual life ''Sexual Life'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Ken Kwapis, who would go on to chronicle modern romantic life in the better-known '' He's Just Not That Into You'' in 2009. Produced by Ken Aguado and distributed by Sho ...

for people with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

, even if this means paying for sex. After hearing of a legal

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

with access for

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

during a vacation in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 2006, he visited the place and lost his

virginity Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. He found this experience very interesting and decided, therefore, to organize a trip with other people sharing his extreme difficulties in finding a romantic or sexual relationship as a consequence of physical disabilities, advertising his intentions through dedicated

Internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

s. Although finding initial resistance to the idea, two other young men, affected with different medical conditions (one legally blind and the other

paralysed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

in a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

accident) accepted to join the vacation with the purpose to visit the Spanish night club and have the opportunity of a sexual encounter. A BBC documentary team headed by Producer/Director Jane Beckwith filmed it: the documentary opened some controversies about the opportunity to legalize prostitution in UK, as a means of giving sexual experiences to physically disabled people, who often lack enough social opportunities to build a love relationship, although having a normal social potentiality and normal

feeling Feelings are subjective self-contained phenomenal experiences. According to the ''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; and feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations ...

s and sexual needs. His views contributed to the acclaimed Belgian 2011 film ''Come as You Are'' (original title ''Hasta La Vista''), written by Mariano Vanhoof and directed by

Geoffrey Enthoven Geoffrey Enthoven (born 6 May 1974) is a Belgian film director, screenwriter and film editor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent in 1999, he achieved several nominations and awards during his career. His first full-l ...

External links

Asta Philpot official websiteBBC News article
regarding his story and the documentary.
BBC One
page of the episode of the documentary series ''One Life'' dedicated to the story of Asta Philpot (episode 3, serie 9).
Interview with Asta Philpot
on the Young Turks liberal talk radio show, May 2010 on YouTube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Philpot, Asta 1982 births American disability rights activists Living people People with arthrogryposis People from Miami American activists with disabilities

See also

External links