this comment by amandaw was just too amazing to hide under a week old post of mine:
…disability, really, when you get down to it, is the ultimate unraveling of that ball of individualism — it FORCES you to look at all these little things that go into the living of a life, and realize that not all of them are yours to do or yours to control — and also to realize how many of those little things YOU affect for OTHER people’s lives — and to finally give up, and fall back into the arms of the community.
it means you have to stop looking at things as “mine, yours, this person’s, that person’s” etc. you have to stop keeping the damn tally — and just rush to give, knowing that those around you will rush to give back…
so many people are afraid to admit that ultimately, they DO depend on the people around them, and their accomplishments are not solely their own, and the things they do, affect people besides themselves. but it’s all true! and it’s not a bad thing, if you look at it the right way.
-amandaw in response to some freewriting on interdependence, dependence, disability, and how communities view these things.
so what else is disability to you?
poetry? another way of living, breathing, thinking? the clash between body, movements, thought processes and a society who does not accept these different way of being? hardships? your way of understanding the world? your connection to a whole group of amazing people? all of the above? none of the above?
just some questions..
love,
cripchick
How’s the film project going?
Day
21 Oct 08 at 2:55 AM
[...] over each other — and how much power everyone else has over us — our interdependency. It is the concept out of which disability grows. And life would be so much better if we could look at this fact and see, [...]
three rivers fog » Second Shift for the Sick
11 Nov 08 at 12:53 PM
[...] your own actions become invisible. Your contribution to the world around you becomes invisible. The power you hold over other people becomes invisible. Your status as part of the problem becomes [...]
three rivers fog » “What can I do?”
17 Nov 08 at 10:49 AM
[...] if things did happen that way? What if we just rushed to give, knowing that those around us would rush to give back? and in this POV, the centering of individualism falls apart — because that’s not what life is [...]
Disability Is…? | Embarrassing Conditions
13 Jul 09 at 4:55 PM
[...] if things did happen that way? What if we just rushed to give, knowing that those around us would rush to give back? and in this POV, the centering of individualism falls apart — because that’s not what life is [...]
three rivers fog » Disability Is…?
15 Jul 09 at 8:56 AM
[...] justice proposes a framework for seeing oneself that is more relational and transformative-interdependence, in which other people are necessary for physical, emotional and community health and well-being. [...]
What Disability Justice Has to Offer Social Justice | Resource Generation Blog
24 Nov 11 at 1:52 PM