Apr
22
Submissions are now open~!
-Zee.
Fuck Yeah Queers with Disabilities
This blog exists as a way to connect people with disabilities that identify somewhere in the queer spectrum. If you are submitting an image post please include a caption.
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Anonymous asked: Do you have a disability?
Hey there. This is Zee [ http://floofychu.tumblr.com/ ] …aaaand. Yes, I do. I have spina bifida, scoliosis, and possible hydrocephalus [Not sure if I NEED the shunt, but I have one.], and am in a wheelchair.
[Image description: Photo of a genderqueer individual in a wheelchair with hand in a “thumbs up” gesture, a half smile, messy dark brown hair, glasses, and a dark grey hat, against a white door.]
Apr
7
Translating the Crip
Copyright 2010 by Laura Hershey
Can I translate myself to you?
Do I need to?
Do I want to?
When I say crip I mean flesh-proof power, flash mob sticks and wheels in busy intersections, model mock.
When I say disability I mean allthe brilliant ways we get through the planned fractures of the world.
When I say living in America today I mean thriving and unwelcome, the irony of the only possible time and place.
When I say cure I mean erase. I mean eradicate the miracle of error.
When I say safe I mean no pill, no certified agency, no danger to myself court order, no supervisory setting, no nurse, can protect or defend or save me, if you deny me power.
When I say public transportation I mean we all pay, we all ride, we all wait. As long as necessary.
When I say basic rights I mean difficult curries, a fancy-knotted scarf, a vegetable garden. I mean picking up a friend at the airport. I mean two blocks or a continent with switches or sensors or lightweight titanium, well-maintained and fully-funded. I mean shut up about charity, the GNP, pulling my own weight, and measuring my carbon footprint. I mean only embrace guaranteed can deliver real equality.
When I say high-quality personal assistance services I mean her sure hands earning honorably, and me eating and shitting without anyone’s permission.
When I say nondisabled I mean all your precious tricks.
When I say nondisabled privilege I mean members-only thought processes, and the violence of stairs.
By dancing I mean of course dancing. We dance without coordination or hearing, because music wells through walls. You’re invited, but don’t do us any favors.
When I say sexy I mean our beautiful crip bodies, broken or bent, and whole. I mean drooling from habit and lust. I mean slow, slow.
When I say family I mean all the ways we need each other, beyond your hardening itch and paternal property rights, our encumbering love and ripping losses. I mean everything ripples.
When I say normal I don’t really mean anything.
When I say sunset, rich cheese, promise, breeze, or iambic pentameter, I mean exactly the same things you mean.
Or, when I say sunset I mean swirling orange nightmare. When I say rich cheese I mean the best food I can still eat, or else I mean poverty and cholesterol. When I say promise I mean my survival depends on crossed digits. When I say breeze I mean finally requited desire. When I say iambic pentameter, I mean my heart’s own nameless rhythm.
When I say tell the truth I mean complicate. Cry when it’s no longer funny.
When I say crip solidarity I mean the grad school exam and the invisible man. I mean signed executive meetings, fighting for every SSI cent.
When I say challenges to crip solidarity I mean the colors missing from grant applications, the songs absent from laws. I mean that for all my complaints and victories, I am still sometimes more white than crip.
When I say anything I know the risk: You will accuse me of courage. I know your language all too well, steeped in its syntax of overcoming adversity and limited resources. When I say courage I mean you sitting next to me, talking, both of us refusing to compare or hate ourselves.
When I say ally I mean I’ll get back to you. And you better be there.
*ALL THE APPLAUSE* oh, Laura Hershey, one of the most brilliant voices in our community, our movement. I only wish I could’ve met her in person.
Apr
6
T-Day.
Yes, I am awkward and a bit hard to understand. Take it or leave it.
Might stop doing these, haha…Sooo awkward.
“If you’re not disabled now, then one day you might be. When that happens you’ll want to go to the pub or get on public transport. You’ll want to be seen as a person, not as a disability. Purely out of selfishness you should be fighting for disabled rights. If you don’t, you are prejudiced against your future self. And your future self hates you and thinks you’re a dick.”
Richard Herring
“Disability is an issue that confuses and embarrasses.”
(via mazzlestar)
So, obviously everyone should be treated the same humanly way! Everybody faced different needs and abilities, some are just more visible and impossible to hide from our judging world. Be proud of who you are and RESPECT all and treat everyone with kindness and not pity. It’s truly, really simple.
(via queerinnature)
(via bumblebrumble)
Apr
4
An ongoing psa
Disabled people of every type of disabilty
Are not there
To inspire you as figures of noble suffering
Nor are they there to pity
We are just people
We are human beings first and foremost
(via genderbitch)
Feb
16
![tuuli:
[photo: black and white image of a bearded, white, tattoo’d, bespectacled person wearing a black tshirt, overalls and cap, sitting in a motorized mobility scooter, clasping their hands together while smiling big, with their forearm crutches sticking up behind them; text reads: “Know what i’m tired of? Images of disabled people doing random things, turned into “inspiration porn”. These images (e.g. children joyfully running with their prosthetic legs, someone painting with their toes, an elder skiing, etc), are then emblazoned with text like “what’s your excuse?”, “your excuse is invalid”, “if ___ can do it, why can’t you?” and other gems. They call on non-disabled people to buck up and stop making excuses for not doing something, and guilt other disabled folks into feeling like crap for not being able to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps & “just do it”. These images & sentiments are an ableist tool. They exceptionalize disabled people based in ablesist notions of accomplishment & worth. They build on & reenforce able bodied pitydom of gimps. Just fucking stop it ok? We’re just doing our thing, yknow? We are not a goddamn guilt-trip tool to get you to do stuff. Please, if you need to use gimps as a tool to get you to do stuff, yer using the wrong starting point. (*for example, in this photo, i am simply enjoying a moment with a friend… I AM NOT YOUR INSPIRATION!)”]
I see that this is getting reblogged again without captions. WTF? Captions stolen from this post.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzhpd2yY511qh5dt0o1_400.jpg)
[photo: black and white image of a bearded, white, tattoo’d, bespectacled person wearing a black tshirt, overalls and cap, sitting in a motorized mobility scooter, clasping their hands together while smiling big, with their forearm crutches sticking up behind them; text reads: “Know what i’m tired of? Images of disabled people doing random things, turned into “inspiration porn”. These images (e.g. children joyfully running with their prosthetic legs, someone painting with their toes, an elder skiing, etc), are then emblazoned with text like “what’s your excuse?”, “your excuse is invalid”, “if ___ can do it, why can’t you?” and other gems. They call on non-disabled people to buck up and stop making excuses for not doing something, and guilt other disabled folks into feeling like crap for not being able to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps & “just do it”. These images & sentiments are an ableist tool. They exceptionalize disabled people based in ablesist notions of accomplishment & worth. They build on & reenforce able bodied pitydom of gimps. Just fucking stop it ok? We’re just doing our thing, yknow? We are not a goddamn guilt-trip tool to get you to do stuff. Please, if you need to use gimps as a tool to get you to do stuff, yer using the wrong starting point. (*for example, in this photo, i am simply enjoying a moment with a friend… I AM NOT YOUR INSPIRATION!)”]I see that this is getting reblogged again without captions. WTF? Captions stolen from this post.
(via beaverbunnydelight)
Feb
7
![[IMAGE: Two images of conjoined twins, joined at the head. One is much smaller and sits on a stool-like wheel chair while the taller twin stands. Both are wearing red shirts]
Apologizes if my image description isn’t very detailed, if somebody feels as if they can improve it, please do so. I’m also trying to write this without any sort of cissexism or ableism. If you feel this is poorly written, please correct it.
Lori and George Schappell are the longest living conjoined twins, they turned 50 on September 18th, 2011.
George Schappell has designed support equipment for people with physical handicaps, including a specialized wheelchair and a mobility aid for dogs. He has also performed country music before he came out as male in 2007, performing widely in the US, Europe, and Japan. In 1997 he won a L.A. Music Award for Best New Country Artist. He also sang “Fear of Being Alone” over the credits for Stuck On You, a film about fictitious conjoined twins. He lives with spina bifida, with his sister Lori as a caretaker.
TW: FORCED INSTITUTIONALIZATION
Lori and George spent the first 24 years of their lives living in an institution in Reading in which the majority of patients had severe intellectual disabilities. Although neither is intellectually disabled, George’s physical condition required special care. A court decision was made that their parents would be unable to care for them properly and they were removed and institutionalized. In the 1960s there were few hospital institutions for people who had special needs that were particularly unusual. In order that they might be placed in the institution, they were diagnosed as suffering from intellectual disability. When they reached adulthood, George, with the help of Ginny Thornburgh, wife of former Governor of Pennsylvania Richard Thornburgh, fought to have this diagnosis overturned and Lori and George were able to go to college.
[source for info]
[source for image]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz1av9B8361qidi04o1_1280.jpg)
[IMAGE: Two images of conjoined twins, joined at the head. One is much smaller and sits on a stool-like wheel chair while the taller twin stands. Both are wearing red shirts]
Apologizes if my image description isn’t very detailed, if somebody feels as if they can improve it, please do so. I’m also trying to write this without any sort of cissexism or ableism. If you feel this is poorly written, please correct it.
Lori and George Schappell are the longest living conjoined twins, they turned 50 on September 18th, 2011.
George Schappell has designed support equipment for people with physical handicaps, including a specialized wheelchair and a mobility aid for dogs. He has also performed country music before he came out as male in 2007, performing widely in the US, Europe, and Japan. In 1997 he won a L.A. Music Award for Best New Country Artist. He also sang “Fear of Being Alone” over the credits for Stuck On You, a film about fictitious conjoined twins. He lives with spina bifida, with his sister Lori as a caretaker.
TW: FORCED INSTITUTIONALIZATION
Lori and George spent the first 24 years of their lives living in an institution in Reading in which the majority of patients had severe intellectual disabilities. Although neither is intellectually disabled, George’s physical condition required special care. A court decision was made that their parents would be unable to care for them properly and they were removed and institutionalized. In the 1960s there were few hospital institutions for people who had special needs that were particularly unusual. In order that they might be placed in the institution, they were diagnosed as suffering from intellectual disability. When they reached adulthood, George, with the help of Ginny Thornburgh, wife of former Governor of Pennsylvania Richard Thornburgh, fought to have this diagnosis overturned and Lori and George were able to go to college.
Jan
30
On Being Brown, Chronically Ill, An Activist & Surviving:
Chronic illness changes your life. In many ways it takes what you used to have and devours it. It is easy to have it consume everything you once knew, including your passion if you are not careful enough. You are thrown to rebuild a new life and at the same time being a person of color navigating the medical world can be devastating.
Who I am has changed but the core of my being hasn’t. I am still an activist, I am still a writer, queer, brown & beautiful.
Don’t get me wrong. I struggle. A lot.
But over time, (A LOT of time) I have had to learn and truly re-learn extremely important realities; to cement them in to my being in the hardest of times. If you are one amongst the many who have a disability, you may find these truths that I use as mantras, useful:
- I am good enough. My existence and being is good enough. Regardless of what expectations others have of me, they are not me. They are not in my physical body.
- What I contribute is good & a true contribution. Even when I feel it isn’t as good as what someone who can put in physically active hours, what I do makes an impact.
- I know myself best. Navigating the medical world is complex and often times downright discouraging. Even if a doctor looks at you with transparent judgement, there are countless other doctors.
- I am not alone. There are others with similar disabilities. In fact, there are so many people like me that there are communities.
- Self care is not self indulgence or laziness. It is literally a matter of prioritizing my health & life. Remember, you hurt yourself by pushing past what you are physically capable of. And this is very, very real. A reality that others may not be able to see in front of them but you understand daily because it is your existence.
- Pace yourself. Pace what you do even when you feel like you are being slow and you are being judged. Someone’s judgement of you is not worth being sick in bed for days if not weeks because you pushed yourself that hard.
- Friends are understanding and supportive. If someone is not understanding and supportive of your illness/when you are ill, they are not a friend.
I hope this helps anyone who comes across it that needs it.
Much love,
N.H.
This just made me cry so much, I really needed to read this right now. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
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