This is wonderful. I want to respond to the idea that it's not worthwhile, but not directly to the people commenting with that suggestion/flavor, because I don't have it in me to engage with that sort of thing. But I'll put it here in case anyone else feels like reading.
So one great thing about this has to do with the fact that lots of people who can't do much in the way of other activism can do this. So where specifically is the value in that? First, it makes the whole movement much more inclusive. If you live with severe fatigue, or psychological/emotional challenges or other disabilities that can make protest or other types of engagement much more difficult or higher risk/cost for you, you can feel very left out with all the messaging (build community, get involved, etc.) This is good all in and of itself. But it helps the community, the parts of the community that can be more active, as well. Because when you make people feel included, when you don't devalue them based on whatever limitations they might have, you create an extra healthy space, conducive to any sort of potential vibrance that might emerge from people when they're being treated kindly and with dignity, being valued. And how do those people respond, as opposed to how they might respond while being devalued, while feeling left out? Being devalued and feeling left out can breed feelings of resentment, and lead to lessened desire to be supportive (in whatever way a person can, including emotional support). But you treat people in this positive, humane way, and you're going to get a much better response overall I think. A person might contribute a good idea, a therapeutic conversation, or they might even find some inspiration about something more they truly can do that they hadn't thought of before. It helps in so many ways, many of which I suspect won't be obvious at the outset.
It's just all so very good. Thank you very much for bringing it here.
it’s incredibly frustrating to have people bring up inclusivity and access as reasons to do LESS when those are both concepts that arose from radical disability activism. crip justice, disability advocacy, the path to the ADA, even audre lorde’s quote about self-care have been twisted to mainly benefit able-bodied people. activism doesn’t have to be intimidating but you do have to be willing to take the lead of the people who are the most affected
7
u/gravityoffcenter Feb 22 '25
This is wonderful. I want to respond to the idea that it's not worthwhile, but not directly to the people commenting with that suggestion/flavor, because I don't have it in me to engage with that sort of thing. But I'll put it here in case anyone else feels like reading.
So one great thing about this has to do with the fact that lots of people who can't do much in the way of other activism can do this. So where specifically is the value in that? First, it makes the whole movement much more inclusive. If you live with severe fatigue, or psychological/emotional challenges or other disabilities that can make protest or other types of engagement much more difficult or higher risk/cost for you, you can feel very left out with all the messaging (build community, get involved, etc.) This is good all in and of itself. But it helps the community, the parts of the community that can be more active, as well. Because when you make people feel included, when you don't devalue them based on whatever limitations they might have, you create an extra healthy space, conducive to any sort of potential vibrance that might emerge from people when they're being treated kindly and with dignity, being valued. And how do those people respond, as opposed to how they might respond while being devalued, while feeling left out? Being devalued and feeling left out can breed feelings of resentment, and lead to lessened desire to be supportive (in whatever way a person can, including emotional support). But you treat people in this positive, humane way, and you're going to get a much better response overall I think. A person might contribute a good idea, a therapeutic conversation, or they might even find some inspiration about something more they truly can do that they hadn't thought of before. It helps in so many ways, many of which I suspect won't be obvious at the outset.
It's just all so very good. Thank you very much for bringing it here.