Disability/Race/Community
I'm sure many of you have heard about the movie "Tropic Thunder", which stars Robert Downey Jr. in blackface and Ben Stiller portraying an intellectualy disabled individual. Many activists in the disabled community have protested this movie (including myself), and rightfully so. However, I'm getting sick of hearing "How come people get all bent out of shape about the word n****r but not about the word r*t**d? Why are the voices of minorities being heard, but not the voices of PWDs?"
This ignores intersectionality. It ignores the PWD who are also POC. It's saying "POC, your fight is over, your problems are being solved, now give us a turn!". True, the voices of people with disabilities are often silenced, but this is true for all oppressed groups of people.
How can we, as oppressed people, come together instead of creating this divide?
I also want to talk about a website I have been visiting called Disaboom. It is overwhelmingly white and conservative, and my opinions are often shot down as being "liberal hogwash" or whatever the right-wing phrase-of-the-day is. I knew from the inception of the site that it probably wasn't a community for liberal feminists and radical disability activists. This was mostly due to the wording "connecting the millions touched by disability!" and the emphasis on "getting cured". Despite this, I pressed on, figuring I might find the sense of community that I longed for. I was wrong. Because of my background/ethnicity and my political beliefs I was often ostracized. This is really upsetting to me, feeling like I don't belong even with people who are supposed to be my allies. This is also true in the feminist community, the zine community, and most communities I associate with. I know some of y'all can relate.
The older I get, the more educated I become about activism, the more blogs I read, the more "other" I feel. It's emotionally draining, but I have to keep on fighting. We all have to keep on fighting.
This ignores intersectionality. It ignores the PWD who are also POC. It's saying "POC, your fight is over, your problems are being solved, now give us a turn!". True, the voices of people with disabilities are often silenced, but this is true for all oppressed groups of people.
How can we, as oppressed people, come together instead of creating this divide?
I also want to talk about a website I have been visiting called Disaboom. It is overwhelmingly white and conservative, and my opinions are often shot down as being "liberal hogwash" or whatever the right-wing phrase-of-the-day is. I knew from the inception of the site that it probably wasn't a community for liberal feminists and radical disability activists. This was mostly due to the wording "connecting the millions touched by disability!" and the emphasis on "getting cured". Despite this, I pressed on, figuring I might find the sense of community that I longed for. I was wrong. Because of my background/ethnicity and my political beliefs I was often ostracized. This is really upsetting to me, feeling like I don't belong even with people who are supposed to be my allies. This is also true in the feminist community, the zine community, and most communities I associate with. I know some of y'all can relate.
The older I get, the more educated I become about activism, the more blogs I read, the more "other" I feel. It's emotionally draining, but I have to keep on fighting. We all have to keep on fighting.