Today is Blogging Against Disablism Day, which was brought to my attention by, A Stellarlife.
This is the day where all around the world. Disabled and non-disabled people will blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we've made.
Disability discrimination is real and rampant throughout society, LGBT people with disabilities face increasing difficulties in a society that doesn't understand them and spews out ableist and heterosexist ideology.
People with disabilities also show us the true colors of society, the misunderstanding, the fear, and the blatant hate. Certainly disability is not a "choice" and neither is homo or transsexuality, but it doesn't matter if people believe your attribute to be biological, physiological, psychological, neurological the same people will still stare, pick on the vulnerable, and operate under the premise that they are superior and "normal"
Moving forward, I think the disabled and LGBT community should work together, for one there are LGBT disabled individuals, but the movements also share some parallels. Together, united we can fight hate and disablism and queerphobia through passage of such acts as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act which covers sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. There are some issues, legislation where the two communities can come together as allies.
As always I'd like to provide some links for the queer disabled community which is viewed as an outsider within both circles. Many likely face ableism from within the LGBT community and homophobia from within the disabled community. This isn't to say that there aren't open minded people on both sides, there are, but many need to be educated as to the plight of the other.
Queer Autism/Asperger's
U.K. Disabled Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals and Transgendered People
Bent Voices - E-zine for crippled queers.
Deaf Queer
Blind Friends of Lesbians, Gay, Bi, Trans People (BFLAG)
Passing Twice (LGBT Stutterers)
Deaf Lost to AIDS
LGBT Alzheimer's Society
Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf
Disability NOW
The above links can serve as a networking opportunity for people to learn more about disabled LGBT people, please provide any additional links to included.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Blogging Against Disablism Day
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5 comments:
What a great post about the intersection of different -isms and what they reflect about our society.
Wow, thanks! Disabled LGBTQ individuals are not something I thought I would ever see discussed on QU. Yes, the LGBTQ rights movement and the disability rights movement are actually quite similar, and both still have a long way to go! Not to mention, finding a space that is supportive for someone who is of both minorities is extremely difficult, considering there is still so much phobia
regarding both groups of people (trust me, I know). So, thanks for the acknowledgement, it is very nice to see disabled peoples' sexuality (and sexuality differences) affirmed.
I've often wished I could speak to a seasoned LGBT campaigner to get advice. Maybe this is the start of something!
One of the things that really riled me up when I worked with developmentally disabled individuals is the way people would dismiss their sexuality. Too many people would look at their "mental age" rather than their chronological age and who they were as a whole person and presume they couldn't, and shouldn't, have sexual interests and feelings. This was more of a problem if the individual's orientation happened to be gay or bisexual. Family members would often be unbearable, and it could even be difficult to make staff people understand that it was not their place to push personal religious propaganda on the individual no matter what they themselves believed about it. (And boy did I hear all the usual stuff about god, the Bible, etc, etc.)
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