Are there places in the Fediverse where folks who are longtime disabled (i.e. having done some of the work of dismantling their internalized ableism) who are into pan-disability activism are hanging out exchanging ideas and tactics?
Most of what I see is discussion within silos of one's own disability group (ME, blindness, autism, etc.) and or COVID discussion [all of which is great, but I'm looking for more pan-disability stuff to supplement]
I had fun #paddling this afternoon. At Fairway Gorge Paddling Club - #FGPC’s #DragonBoat Open House on Jutland. I was the only disabled person who attended. Pics(except the panoramic one) are from my Mom.
Met my para-dragonboating coach, Katy & enjoyed some chats with her, at the open house. Met some support staff for the para-dragonboating pilot program too. We start the program next Saturday🙂🛶🌊
FYI - I have always been frustrated with mass #ableism in #Chinese & many other #Asian communities. I don't tolerate ableism by anyone & see it as a huge character flaw.
I believe it's very important for disabled Chinese & disabled Asians to stand up against ableism, when it happens. It's not OK to be an ableist & I am not very quiet about it.
Julia Doubleday (The Gauntlet) takes on that horrendous article on NPR:
"NPR’s decision to platform a piece about the difficulty of navigating life with a spouse who can’t dine indoors, instead of a piece about the difficulty of navigating a society that has made dining indoors unsafe for vulnerable groups, is just that- a decision, and a political one. It is part of an ongoing effort to cast those who cannot play along with the “back to normal” fantasy- those who are being harmed and killed by it- as weird, paranoid, crazy, annoying, and “the problem.”
Long COVID is a major thorn in the side of the “back to normal” approach to COVID. While some people (appear) to recover well from COVID, many others suffer long-term post-COVID health problems."
"People who take precautions to avoid COVID are making the wise decision to protect themselves and their families; they are also safeguarding their ability to work and earn money in a society that disposes of people who cannot produce. It is a rational decision; in the case of Long COVID patients, it is a necessary one.
It is also, admittedly, a very difficult lifestyle to adopt and maintain. Difficult, not because of the precaution of disabled people, but because of the lack of precaution of the majority, who refuse to care whether disabled people live or die and refuse to participate in any mitigation efforts. Difficult because of state negligence and institutional misinformation. Difficult not only for the family members of those with Long COVID, but all the more so for those with Long COVID themselves."
Yes, let us not downplay the toll Long COVID takes on our partners. But the underlying cause for our social isolation remains the organized abandonment, that we are experiencing from state and media, who keep normalizing this dangerous disease.
We are thinking about doing our mini-mask bloc of two tonite for the feminist action day. But i don't think i have the courage for this, plus it would piss me off too much.
"Every month or so, the twitter wars start up again. Someone, often a disabled person, pointedly expresses their frustration that - yet again- leftists are gathering with few masks in sight, without guidance to require masking, and/or without distribution of free masks. This lack of COVID mitigation makes these spaces dangerous for immunocompromised people, people living with #LongCOVID, and everyone who is at risk of serious post-COVID health problems including long-term disability (that’s everyone!)
The backlash to these statements is usually loud, angry, mean, and often quickly degenerates into hateful rhetoric about disabled people generally. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a masked selfie without MAGA trolls mocking me, instructing me to die, informing me I’m scared, telling me I’m crazy, and absolutely fuming that I should stay in my house. Disturbingly, some of the leftist backlash to repeated requests for masks and disability justice praxis sounds remarkable similar to the MAGA folks’ go-to talking points."
Yes, it is true. When leftists behave like that it does hurt even more, because they should (and they could) know better. #Anarchists in particular are very disappointing when they fall for the state propaganda normalizing #COVID19 and as such participate in the organized abandonment of chronically ill and immunocompromised people.
Our #COVIDcautious lifestyle has increasingly pushed us into social isolation. Which has resulted in a siege mentality of sorts, where it's the two of us against the rest of the world. Family and friends were lost to us due to the push towards the normalization of the ongoing pandemic by a neoliberal order under late stage capitalism. It individualized responsibility, which not only forced us deeper under siege, but also made us increasingly lonely.
We tried to reach out to other people in similar situations, but no one seemed interested to engage with us in a committed way. #MutualAid, #GermPods, #CommunalCare, #CirclesOfTrust, it all sounded good in theory. But they were not happening for us.
What can we do?
We would be really grateful for some leads.
"it’s [...] no surprise that societies built on supremacist foundations and eugenicist tales of the strong conquering the weak are unable to look honestly at physical, bodily deterioration.
It’s no surprise that ableist societies are disabling themselves.
A genocidal mindset is coming home to roost.
The truth is our relative privilege as citizens of the imperial core could only ever last so long.
Our comfort and safety has always been traded off against out-groups and the exploited, both historically and in the present."
This can manifest in various ways, from organizers dismissing requests to mask at protests or meetings to large-scale divestment and state retrenchment, as seen in the so-called Medicaid unwinding. Which is why a revolutionary stance must reject this framework and recognize the economic system as a transitory social order for resource allocation and distribution, intentionally stacked against the most vulnerable. It is not a reflection of some inherent "law of nature" that we should also be upholding in our movements.
Currently, we are engaged in a struggle that disabled people are familiar with — refuting the social meaning and power that words and ideas have in tagging and labeling individuals as worth more or less, as burdens, or as disposable. Part of this project involves asserting new meanings and challenging the way these labels exist as de facto negatives. This requires asserting positive frames and conducting political education around community care.So towards that, can you talk about what community care is, for listeners who may not be familiar, and how the push to “get back to normal" is basically the antithesis of community care?
Alice Wong :
Community care is giving a shit for others. [...] We can band together and offer what we have for a larger goal that will benefit others without any personal ulterior motive."
My main message is you are not alone but ableism, like white supremacy, is designed to pit us against each other to fight for the crumbs. We can build power, collaborate, and stir shit up because our cause is righteous and true. It is exhausting just to exist let alone defend our humanity every day. Honestly, I think what I went through last week brought me right to the breaking point. I have never felt so beaten down and defeated. It’s important to admit those dark scary thoughts and not gloss things over just to move on or put on a brave face. Lean into your rage, despair, and fear. Being honest with ourselves and others strips away the need to constantly perform and advocate. Remind yourself it never had to be this way and that all of us can resist in big and small ways. You are a goddamn oracle and your wisdom is a light that can show us the way forward. And we will not be erased no matter how hard these bastards try."
For our third zine we would like to critically examine some positive examples of community organizing that happened during the ongoing #COVID19 pandemic.
We would like to ask what went well, what could be improved, also how #CommunalCare and #MutualAid projects can scale and how we can turn them into a #PrefigurativePractice to help us get ready for any upcoming crisis and/or pandemic.
If this interests you, please join us to work on this zine.
If you know of interesting projects to examine, please let us know.
lettertoourcomrades[at]pronton[dot]me or DM us here.
In case you missed our little announcement on Sunday, please follow the newly formed intersectional anarchist radical communal care collective @mitosiscollective! Founded by some of us who split from our original "Radical Communal Care" group, our priority is caring for each other, for the planet, for other beings. This care is both our goal and a means to an end to create a more just world, that is safe for everyone. In a world with violent capitalist politics, war, an ongoing pandemic and on the brink of a climate catastrophe, caring for one another is a radical act. It is both the smallest and the biggest thing that we can do right now, every day. We recognise how the violent hierarchical systems we were raised in can impact our actions, and want to learn and unlearn together. We strive to create an environment in which we can feel safe to do so. We extend empathy to others and to ourselves, try our best to understand each other and celebrate our differences. Our intersectional values lead us to oppose all forms of oppression and injustice, including but not limited to ableism, speciesism, racism, queerphobia. We advocate for wearing masks, cleaning the air, accessibility, inclusion. #SafeSpace#RadicalCare#AntiAbleism#anarchism#CovidIsNotOver
This has been a challenging start to the year. I have finally fully left the little remote/home based work I did because of my Long-Covid and ill health after wrongly 'pushing through' in a state of constant PEM - just varying in intensity - relying on adrenaline surges, my partner caring for me, being pretty much housebound and making myself worse and worse. I regret not stopping sooner. I regret how much extra damage I have done. Though, I understand there was a interplay of structural and agency shaping my choices. I also know I am lucky to have had the choice to 'push through' and how many would not have been able to choose that even if they had wanted to. I have now got a lot of social security applications and appointments which, coming as no surprise, is fucking tough and challenging. The questions you have to answer, the awareness of all the ways the state tries to screw you. I am lucky to have a super supportive partner helping me with this, someone from a local charity helping and can't talk highly enough about the Benefits and Work guides!!!
Solidarity with everyone who still wears a mask. Solidarity with everyone who has had friends and family turn their backs on them for being covid cautious. Solidarity with everyone who has Long-Covid and does all they can to make sure no-one else has to live through the daily difficulties we do. Solidarity to everyone fighting against ableism, eugenics, Social Darwinism and health supremacy. Solidarity to everyone who gets shouted at and abused for wearing a mask. Solidarity to everyone who keeps going despite the overwhelming hegemonic narrative that what we are living through is 'normal'. Solidarity to everyone sharing science and facts about how covid spreads and the dangers of covid. Solidarity with you.
We are Mitosis, a newly formed intersectional anarchist radical communal care collective.
We are members who split from our original "Radical Communal Care" group.
Our priority is caring for each other, for the planet, for other beings. This care is both our goal and a means to an end to create a more just world, that is safe for everyone.
In a world with violent capitalist politics, war, an ongoing pandemic and on the brink of a climate catastrophe, caring for one another is a radical act. It is both the smallest and the biggest thing that we can do right now, every day.
We recognize how the violent hierarchical systems we were raised in can impact our actions, and want to learn and unlearn together. We strive to create an environment in which we can feel safe to do so.
We extend empathy to others and to ourselves, try our best to understand each other and celebrate our differences.
Our intersectional values lead us to oppose all forms of oppression and injustice, including but not limited to ableism, speciesism, racism, queerphobia.
We advocate for wearing masks, cleaning the air, accessibility, inclusion.
Please follow us to keep up-to-date with our development and ways to get involved as we grow as a collective.
We are looking for contributions for a new zine trying to document what it feels like to still be #COVIDing, pushed into social isolation, while just about everyone else has normalized #COVID19. Whether out of caution or because of pre-existing conditions, disabilities, #LongCOVID, we think it is important to communicate how the current situation affects many of us living under the neoliberal system of individualised responsibility.
The Wimmelbild shows scenes of how we have been failed during the ongoing pandemic, in the absurd nation state where we are forced to live, in a country that wants us dead. And there are probably lots of international similarities.
This drawing was made by @fr3nzin3 for our new zine.
Yet more ideological attacks on disabled people in today's UK government's autumn statement, which sadly creates so much anxiety and fear (I didn't sleep well last night because of it.) This shit is really hard. Solidarity with disabled comrades. Now, more than ever, we need to come together and be there for each other. Through solidarity, mutual aid and care.
This focus on remote work also goes counter to the government’s and many businesses – even Zoom’s! – intentions to get workers "back into the office" (I mean, how else will those rental payments be justified!) But suddenly, if it means the government can go after some of the most marginalised people in society, the government is all for remote work and ‘learning’ from the pandemic by totally misusing, manipulating and ignoring evidence and disabled people’s voices, reality and lived experiences.
We are still living in a pandemic that has been and still is a mass disabling event as more and more people are disabled with Long-Covid. These attacks on disabled people are part of the movement away from acknowledging the reality of the pandemic and its consequences and instead bringing in policy that will make it harder for disabled people to have limited financial support to not work. It is also part of divide and rule tactics where disabled people are once again - like after the 2008 bank bailouts and subsequent ideological austerity policies - blamed for the political difficulties the government is experiencing, especially in the run up to a general election, alongside importantly trying to direct anger away from the injustice and inequalities central to late capitalism.
"Together, we should fight the forces that want some of us dead, and the rest of us meekly agreeing to their tyranny. The disabled or the chronically ill are considered as surplus under the neoliberal capitalist system – we are no longer of economic value, and thus worthless. Refusing to fight this notion means being subservient & compliant to the interests and wishes of the rich and powerful"