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Description:

This artifact explores disability, sexuality and social perception, the excerpts used in the poems draw from their personal experiences and challenges assumptions and stereotypes. The pieces are styled into mobility devices, a wheelchair and crutches and the pieces while from different creators tell a story about intersectional identities.
The piece explores the way that disabled people navigate the stereotypes that come with their identities.

Significance:

I chose to create this piece due to the clear disconnect of how society views queer and disabled identities, usually faulting to stereotypes and assumptions. As a queer person, I understand the difficulty of navigating society when you do not fit the societal norms, but I also understand how the intersectionality of being queer and disabled can add and extra layer of difficulty that can often be ignored. By using the excerpts from the poems of disabled individuals, I attempt to highlight their voices when examining how these identities coexist and are viewed.

I feel that this piece is significant because it brings to light the often ignored intersectionality between queerness and disability, giving weight to the experiences and lives of queer-disabled individuals. I wanted to incorporate these experiences to challenge the narrow ideas that are often assumed with both queerness and disability, this helps to push others to truly think about their preconceived notions and gives them an avenue to unpack it. I believe that this work is helpful in providing not only a place to reflect personally but also allows for space to explore personal biases and how they engage with marginalised identities.

Positionality:

I am interested in the intersections of disability and sexuality because as a queer person, I understand feeling different from everyone else and now that is crucial for there to be visibility and representation present for marginalised identities. While I do not have a disability, I am aware that a lot of challenges that queer people like myself face – like feeling invisible, questioning how you are perceived and societal judgement. These things can be even more prevalent for those whose queerness intersects with disability. I am interested in how these intersections interact and change our understanding of love, intimacy and identity.

By incorporating the words of disabled poets, I hope to reflect on how sexuality and disability exist together and parallel to each other within society. This piece allows for me to interact with and magnify the voices of disabled people who have been shut down and disbelieved in conversations where love, sex, and intimacy are present. I was also able to explore my own understanding of these things in regards to my own queerness. I want to promote empathy and the willingness to learn and understand diverse experiences both in and out of the queer community, especially those who are saddled with multiple intersectionalities and marginalisations.

Impact:

This project has impacted me by expanding my understanding of intersectional identities, especially between queerness and disability. By interacting with the poems of disabled creators, it has reiterated my understanding of how limiting mainstream and popular media and discussions around identities. While I have luckily very little personal experience with outward societal bias, this project has allowed me to broaden my knowledge and examine how much more complicated these experiences can be when disability is also a factor.

By using the words and feelings of disabled poets, I am reminded of how important it is to give a voice to people who do not always have that opportunity and how crucial art can be in doing so. Art can enhance and expand marginalised voices in a way that not all mediums can do. While queerness and disability do not just exist alone, they are complex and they intersect and change, they can be very difficult to navigate. I believe that this work has allowed me to expand my empathy and made my commitment to advocacy for inclusion and representation within media and society all the more staunch.

Wish List:

I hope that my artifact is able to inspire those that view it to examine their assumptions about disability and queerness. While I think many people believe they are progressive, I believe peoples views are often narrower than they believe. While they might think they hold no queerphobic or ableist views, they often do not consider them at all or to be incompatible and othering. I wish for this piece to encourage viewer to think more critically about intersectionality between identities and to question the 'expected' social norms and perception of others.

Ultimately, I hope those that view this will leave with a more critical understanding of queerness and disability and the wish for advocacy for the dignity and rights of all.

Scholarship:

This piece was informed by a number of theoretical frameworks regarding disability studies and queer theory. The Black Feminist Disability Framework proposed by Bailey and Mobley (2018) highlights the intersectional nature of oppression, especially where race, gender and disability connect. This framework shows the challenges that disabled queer people face, they are often made to feel invisible in discussions regarding oppression (Kimball et al., 2018). The framework argues with the idea that people identities are only one things and that people have many facets.

Crip Theory, as identified by McRuer, critiques ableism in the same way that queer theory criticises heteronormativity (Löfgren-Mårtenson, 2013). Disabled individuals are expected to meet societal expectations of appearing able-bodied, which forces them to conform to norms that works against their identities. This piece subverts that idea and shows how disabled individuals, especially those with intersection identities, can resist these expectations and affirm their identities. Alison Kafer (2013) critiques the ways that ableism and heteronormativity interact, highlighting the way in which disabled bodies are erased both actively (through reproductive technology and preventions) and by upholding systemic norms.

Furthermore, Liddiard (2017) explores the concept of intimate citizenship and the way disabled people are often excluded from the 'right' to intimacy and self-expression. This further allows for the intersection of queer and disabled identities, who sexual and intimate rights are ignored or made to feel shameful.

Jensen (2016) is able to poignantly capture the incredulity of the blatant ableism and homophobia that her physical therapist says to her. She explores the way in which society around her has made her feel invisible and less than and she refuses to back down or hide her identity. While saranade (2022) seems to tell a story of acceptance and confidence in their identity, they are hopeful about people unpacking their internal and external biases. They show the importance of being 'different' and 'othered' from society as simply another way people exist instead of an inherent fault or reason to hide themselves to make others uncomfortable.