Love this image from artist Natasha Lipman and This Thing They Call Recovery! Some disabled people experience varied levels of ability, such as those who have "flare-ups" from chronic illnesses. It is not anyone else's place to decide what they need.
Image Description from source: [image of a hand drawn woman wearing a blue dress, standing next to a red power wheelchair. She has her legs crossed, leaning on one hand on the back of the wheelchair with her other hand on her hip. She has shoulder length wavy dark hair and red lipstick on. Red text reads, “many wheelchair users can walk” with black text beneath that reads, “and no that doesn’t mean they’re faking.” At the bottom is the IG handle of the artist, @natashalipman, and collaborator, @thisthingtheycallrecovery
Repost @mia.mingus I am physically disabled. I can walk. And i use a wheelchair. It’s not that complicated. And yet, it’s always an issue when i’m out in the world. People want to know—NEED to know if i’m disabled or abled. “What’s wrong w you?” They have their stereotypes of what disability is and what it is not. They constantly stare (um, hello, my eyes are up here lol).
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Disabled people are always supposed to be striving to be more abled. We are expected to loathe disability and to always be trying to move away from it. We are always on trial and therefore worthy of interrogation, judgment, punishment: “Can we get some help for the REAL disabled people!” is yelled through the crowd. “You don’t look like you need that wheelchair,” says every TSA agent ever. “I could never get away with that,” say too many white men to count. “I bet you could try harder,” say an endless array of older women. “Get it yourself, you can walk” or “you’re so spoiled,” says friends, family, community.
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I also want to be super clear that none of these experiences take away the very, very real privileges i have bc i can walk in a world (literally) built for people who can walk. No amount of staring takes away the fact that i can get out of my wheelchair and walk up steps if i need to. No amount of judgement erases my ability to be able to visit most any friend at their house, use their bathroom, spend the night or ride in their cars w them. No amount of punishment from abled folks negates easily being able to find housing that meets my access needs; or automobiles that don’t need huge amounts of changes made for access or aren’t exorbitantly priced, to name just a few.
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Art by @natashalipman 🌈
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[image of a hand drawn woman wearing a blue dress, standing next to a red power wheelchair. She has her legs crossed, leaning on one hand on the back of the wheelchair with her other hand on her hip. She has shoulder length wavy dark hair and red lipstick on. Red text reads, “many wheelchair users can walk” with black text beneath that reads, “and no that doesn’t mean they’re faking.” At the bottom is the IG handle of the artist, @natashalipman, and collaborator, @ThisThingTheyCallRecov
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