Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The Disability movement saved my life
In my hour of despair...
...a little more than just an hour...
...the disability movement taught me that my problem had two parts
One part was my illness and the things that stopped me doing
The other part was people's attitudes and the way that society is set up.
The disability movement taught me that only one of these was something I have to deal with by myself
Before then whenever I met poor access or prejudice
I thought it was because I was broken
Whenever I read something in a newspaper condemning people like me
or reducing people like me to a set of negative experiences
I thought it was because I was broken
I thought that I owed the world an explanation of why I couldn't do certain things
and how I really wanted to and how I really really couldn't help it
Honest
I thought I had to constantly explain about being broken
I'm not broken
I'm just not very well
In recent years the UK disability movement has been on the defensive
Being denied the financial and practical means to live a full and meaningful life
people have been scared
some have been scared to death
there's nothing wrong with talking about suffering
or talking about poverty
there's nothing wrong about talking about the things we've lost
and the things we're going to lose
there's nothing wrong with people who are in fear of their lives expressing that fear
Sometimes we owe it to ourselves to be honest with the world about what we're going through
But essential benefits and services are not a matter of compassion
we don't need to persuade anyone that we're good people who are suffering terribly
and are therefore deserving of charity
we don't need to express gratitude that we're allowed to exist
we don't need to constantly refer to ourselves as
genuinely
genuinely
genuinely
genuinely
genuinely
...disabled as there was any other kind
these things only play into the hands of people who think there are deserving
and undeserving disabled people and that no matter what happens
the most needy will be looked after
cuts to essential benefits and services are a matter of social justice
Whoever we are, what kind of impairements we have
whether we're good patients
Whether we are or were hard workers or tax-payers
whether we're suffering or get a lot of pleasure out of life
or both
we are intitled to respect and dignity and the means to survive
Disability pride is not about saying
Hooray I'm disabled!
It's not about saying I don't suffer or I wouldn't change these things about my life
disability pride is about saying
We're often up against it but
I am proud of who I am
I am proud of my friends
I am proud of the disability community
Which like any family has some eccentric aunts
and that half brother who we must never ever talk about.
Disability pride is about saying
I will not apologise
I will not apologise for having these limitations
I won't apologise for medical events which happen to me
I won't apologise if my presence embarrasses you
I won't apologise if you don't understand my situation
I don't need you to. I don't understand yours either
but you have my respect
Disabled people never got anywhere by begging
Disabled people change the world in which we live
by recognising our inherent value
This is why collectively we must never despair
no matter how bleak things get
Because having equal or equivalent opportunities
Having the dignity of being clean and fed and sheltered
even if we need help from others
Being treated with respect rather than abuse
or condescension
These things are not a prize we won in a draw
That's social justice
It's what everyone has a right to
And it's what we have a right to
Too.
Which isn't always easy to recognise
That's why
When we do
We should be proud