As a queer, nonbinary,
disabled person, I understand the intrinsic need to recognize and honour
people’s intersecting identities. We are never just one identity, just one
issue, and yet society often addresses us with one narrow image in mind, leaving
many unseen, unheard, unconsidered. My experiences with ableism, cissexism, and
anti-queerness are very much rooted in capitalism. An Indigenous’ person’s inability
to access the medical system is very much rooted in racism and colonialism. A
Deaf person’s failed attempts to interact with a medical system is very much
rooted in ableism and audism (anti-Dead/hard of hearing). We never easily fit
into only one box.
One of the most
important precepts of Disability Justice is the valuing of lived experience,
the leadership of those most impacted. Well-meaning people can try to help
those who live in poverty but no matter how hard they try to imagine life in
poverty, they will not know what it is actually like to live under the crushing
weight of poverty, thus they should seek counsel, understanding, and lived
experience from those who do live the reality, day in and day out. As a person
with a disability, I can tell you that the majority of perceptions I encounter
about my life are wildly off track. I don’t want someone guessing what my life
is like, I want someone to ask for my expertise and listen to what I say,
respect my hard-won knowledge, and work with me to address the issues.
Ableism encourages the centering of “normal”
and “productive” and devalues disabled bodies, brains, and senses, seeing them
as “invalid”, “unnatural”, and “unworthy”, leading to exclusion, isolation, and
oppression. Disability Justice recognizes our inherent worth and sees us as
whole beings with differing strengths and needs. People should not have to
prove they are worthy of assistance, to jump through hoops set up by people who
don’t truly understand what they are going through, in order to access what
they need. We need to respect each person for their experiences, history, and
knowledge and not because they fit a certain image.
Part of honouring
people for their inherent value is working against isolation and this is deeply
rooted, for many, in accessibility. We should not exclude disabled people because
their body, brain, or senses are different. Currently, society is quite
comfortable excluding disabled folk. Even when accessibility is considered, it
is often incomplete, only for one type of disability, or offered in a way that
expects gratitude or the accessibility is snatched away. Often, a person’s disability is not actually
what restricts them from accessing their community, it is the negative thoughts,
misperceptions, and judgements of others that keeps them excluded, isolated,
and feeling unwanted.
Disability is a
natural part of life. One of five people self-disclose as having a disability,
that number increases as we age. There has been no point in time when
disability did not exist but our current systems of oppressions prefer us to
believe that there are valid and invalid bodies, brains, and senses, and we are
taught in small and large ways to only honour those that fit a certain image.
Did you know that 93% of these disabilities are invisible? Most likely, you did
not know this, particularly as the International Symbol of Accessibility is an
image of a person in a wheelchair. The system itself is rooted in the notion
that disability must look one way and it severely impacts people’s lives, how
they are treated, and their emotional and mental health. One place this plays
out is the designated accessible parking. There is more need for the spaces than
spaces themselves, and some people try to protect those spaces by harassing
those who “don’t look disabled”, except there is no one look for disability and
so they often harm the very people they say they are trying to help. This is
just small example in the much broader scale of ableism that is played out on a
daily basis.
Instead of seeking to
divide, disability justice, however, is rooted in our interdependence. It understands
that no one person ever goes through life unaided, unsupported. We need to
strengthen these relationships, these connections, the basic understanding that
we are all in this together. We will only achieve liberation by working collectively.
We must commit to leaving no one behind. Ask yourself: Who is missing from your
work? Who is present with your work but doesn’t have a voice? Who has a voice,
but that voice is not valued or respected? We must continually ask these
questions. We must seek connections and relationships that expand our part of the
collective nature of our work.
When we recognize that everyone has the
right to exist exactly as they are, with any or many intersecting identities,
we will begin to move forwards. When we join that belief with collective action,
we will gain momentum. As we gain momentum, we must constantly seek people
being kept from our gatherings, watch for missing, silenced, dismissed, and/or
devalued voices and work to do what we can to raise them up so that their
existence and voices ring out strong and clear and unavoidable. Together we can utilize disability
justice values and practices to work towards building cross-movement organizing that moves
away from segregation, isolation, and ableism towards accessibility, inclusion,
connection, and interdependence. Collectively we can challenge our way of
thinking and fundamentally shift the way we organize and fight for social
change.