March 9, 2021 - 21:16
Heya, so I combined these into one post because I didn’t want to occupy too much Serendip space. So the first thing is that I recently went to the Dare to Survive, Dare To Thrive: Afro-Futurism and Disability Justice panel featuring Black disabled artists and I attached a link to my notes about the panelist’s responses to questions if anyone is curious about that:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v3-e-jvXR5smfRY7jOMqZ6_oE2FmSdo02UQxU_IA2dM/edit?usp=sharing
The second thing is that I’m definitely a Tiktok addicted person and recently some tiktoks featuring disability showed up on my “for you page” which I thought was really cool and wanted to share! I have links and some brief thoughts/descriptions about them below. :)
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeh61soL/
This tiktok is of a Black disabled woman calling attention to hate crimes against disabled people, emphasizing how most are committed by family and caregivers. It also addresses the problematic nature of the language behind “special needs”. She says that disabled needs aren’t “special” they are “mandatory” and need to be treated that way. I thought this was an amazing way of putting it and confronting ableist language.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMehjTsX8/
This tiktok was a funny response to a trend where some people were super smooth about getting onto their partner’s lap on a chair from the floor and others have made humorous videos like this one about their attempts. I thought it was a really cute video and great to see disabled representation on Tiktok. Most of the comments I saw were overwhelmingly positive about the serotonin seeing their relationship brought them and how they aspire for that same kind of laughter in their own relationships which was super awesome.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeh6RXoY/
This one walks through a physically disabled man’s process of moving up a curb from his wheelchair in a very lighthearted fashion. It has a call to action about building a more accessible world, works against pity narratives and he acknowledges privileges within his own disability. I thought this was an awesome video and it also has 2.7 million likes which was great to see that his story is getting shared. However, I saw many more comments asking rude, invasive questions about how he uses the bathroom than I saw about acknowledging ableism or other topics which was very disappointing.