Archive for identity
Politics of Identity
Disabled. Grrl. Femme. Queer. Dyke. Activist. Gendertrash. Working class. Survivor. Slut. Freak. Cunt. Ally. Anti-racist. Feminist. Humanist.
I think identity is a pretty radical concept. To identify allows community, solidarity, and the ability to relate to shared experiences. Too often though, people who will relate to you in one category of identity will spew oppressive attitudes toward other identities. For me personally, I have experienced this most profoundly in a queer context–indeed some of the harshest ableism I have faced has been from fellow queers. Such an idea is certainly not new or limited to a queer/disabled context though; I am reminded of a friend’s telling of the story of this years Women’s Studies conference in which bell hooks spoke about how there was no cohesive womanist movement and that women should be focusing on the feminist movement instead. It angered me to hear this, that someone who was supposedly so progressive in gender politics was at the same time so regressive about race politics. To quote Audre Lorde, “There is no such thing as a single issue struggle because we don’t live single issue lives.” In other words, we must be allies to each others’ struggles. We must not step on each other to fight to the top, nor must we play the “oppression olympics”. Indeed all issues and struggles have importance.
Happy Thursday.
37th Edition Disability Blog Carnival
I just spent the last 10 hours finishing up a paper and am too nauseous and jittery from all the caffeine I consumed in order to keep myself awake, so I have decided to put my awakeness to good use. Cripchick is hosting the 37th Edition of the Disability Blog Carnival for bloggers with disabilities and their allies to write about and contribute other pieces about disability identity and culture. The deadline is May 4th, so please contribute your voice! More info can be found here.
Last thoughts on a school year
As I am finishing up my second year of college and preparing to transfer, I am left with a lot of mixed feelings. This last year and a half has been the most difficult for me health-wise as I’ve observed the deteriorating of muscles and tendons, of my mental clarity, and of my general sense of wellbeing. People ask me frequently what it’s like to be in pain all the time, and honestly it still baffles me. It baffles me that though I have gotten used to feeling this way, physically, I’m still not used to all the repercussions.
I have virtually lost my ability to do some of the things I was once able to do, such as climbing stairs by myself. In the event that I have to climb up or down more than two or three, I have to have someone to lean on, to balance most of my weight on, because the muscles in my legs get tight and spasm. As many who are disabled probably know by now, having to rely on others puts a person in a very vulnerable position. For me, a former significant other would hold this over my head, would shame me, would complain about how much of a burden my disability was on her.
This idea of the burdensome disabled person is not unique to relationships I’ve had, however. It’s something I have, if you’ve read my posted e-mail from disability services, felt from my school as well. It seems to be a common trend among students to be othered by their schools’ disability services offices, to be treated as if the students’ needs for accommodations are unreasonable or unwarranted or untrue or giving some sort of unfair advantage to the disabled student. Indeed my school’s inability to accommodate me, or to listen to my grievances when I’m not being accommodated, is one of the main reasons why I’m leaving–well, and then there’s the blatant classism, but that’s a story for a different post perhaps.
Any school, however, that that has demonstrated to me that it is going to allow their administrative officials say things that are insensitive and disrespectful to ability, class, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, belief, country of origin, or any other way a person identifies or is marked without repercussions is surely not getting my money next year. I’ll take my butt somewhere else, thanks!
