Author’s Note: This was originally written two years ago, when I was working as a sales clerk at a boutique shop in an extremely privileged area of Los Angeles. As you will probably be able to tell, I did not like this job very much. Looking back, I’m struck that I engaged in a fair [...]
Everything healed up
but in a very strange way
Years later
when it was very obvious
that something was very wrong with my face
everyone
said one or more of the following:
It’s the Lord’s will.
Just learn to live with it.
It’s all in your imagination.
Don’t be so self-centered.
Shut up and do your homework.
Other people are worse off than you.
[Full text available in [...]
So, I’ve talked about how the notion of the invisible identity is problematic, particularly through the framework of my personal experiences of being “invisibly” disabled and non-white. Now to the flipside of invisibility.
Certain characteristics exist in the societal consciousness as default traits. That is, a person is a man unless they’re pointed out as a [...]
Recommended reading for November 9, 2009
Full disclosure: There is a discount offer at the end of this post (for 3ELove’s merchandise featuring their symbol). However, I have been meaning to write about this design for some time; it has such deep significance for me, and I hope it will gain prominence as more people are introduced to it.
And for more [...]
I’d been diagnosed with my first chronic illness for a good ten years before I took the label on. This was partly because I didn’t make a connection between chronic illnesses and disability. That’s an experience I share with a lot of “invisibly” disabled people. Disability is all deafness and wheelchairs and that sort of [...]
(Originally posted July 2009 at Feministe, three rivers fog.)
We had a really good discussion about nondisability. It got derailed, a bit, because it depended on our ability to reasonably define disability. And it’s a subject that has come up in every discussion we’ve had these couple weeks. What is it?
I advocate an intentionally overbroad definition [...]
(Originally posted April 2008 in two parts at three rivers fog.)
this is new to me. this idea that i should love my body. not hate it.
it’s funny, because i was about to say “this isn’t a post about body image.” but it is, isn’t it?
let’s cut to the point. i’m not talking about beauty standards.
i’m [...]
Definitions of disability affect people’s self-identity. Recognizing yourself as disabled and identifying with other people who are disabled and learning about their experiences can all contribute to understanding and interpreting your own experiences, and to knowing that you are not alone with problems you may have believed were unique to you. But being identified as [...]
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