Friday, April 14, 2017

"Real" Disabled Writers

I saw a conversation on social media about disabled artists needing more resources.  I nodded along as I read, having seen this play out a hundred times in various forms.
About halfway through the conversation, I paused.  Someone said something to the effect of, "Writers with Bipolar and Depression aren't real  disabled writers because the nondisabled populace is accepting and supportive of them and people expect writers to be depressed."

So, some people being (somewhat) more supportive in certain circumstances and in certain ways negates a disabled and/or neurodivergent writer's needs?  Negates their disability and/or neurodivergence entirely?  Makes their creative output not part of the disability community?  What utter bullshit!

The sentiment that Condition X, Diagnosis Y, or Disability Z is not as deserving because it's supposedly not as stigmatized smacks of Oppression Olympics.  People with mental illnesses and/or neurodivergences are often not believed, not taken seriously, and so on.  Wishing for a bigger spotlight on disabled/neurodivergent writers is a good thing, wanting to steal another person's candle because you consider them not as worthy is shitty.

Why the hell are we spending time bitching about the faint light our neighbors may be getting and not banding together to procure larger portions for us all?  Focus your energy and frustration on creating something better, not destroying someone else.  We are all in this together.  This is our community, enrich it!
~*~*~*~
One last note:  There is NO hierarchy of disability/neurodivergence.  People who acquire their disability/neurodivergence are not "better" than those who were born with theirs.  Physical disabilities aren't more chic than cognitive ones.  Quit that.

2 comments:

  1. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info.
    Amery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for subscribing!
      The blog is on hiatus for a while, but will come back this summer. I don't have enough guest posts to fill the time. You can find us on Twitter @HandUnPen if you want to talk books or writing in the meantime.

      Delete