Questions of the day:
1. Is there a Feminists with Disabilities blog carnival? Where?
2. If ‘no’, should there be?
3. What else might be useful to build bonds and facilitate community conversations amongst feminists with disabilities?
4. Have you checked out our blogroll lately? If you’re a FWD who would like to be on it, drop me a line.
5. Any other thoughts?
Temporarily able-bodied folks are welcome to comment; it might be an idea to declare up front how you identify.
Categories: gender & feminism, Meta
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Able-bodied person here, just coming to say that while I’ve never seen a Feminists with Disabilities blog carnival, I did just happen to find out today via FRIDA that there is a Disability Blog Carnival. And that if you hadn’t considered it already, I imagine that FRIDA (Feminist Response in Disability Activism) might be a good blog to partner with if you decided to put together the kind of carnival suggested above.
On our group blog has a 50-50 gender split, we are older than the normal blog age demographic, have authors with disabilities and at least two who would describe themselves as working class feminists (don’t talk about it – do it!).
Not sure if there is a compelling need for a Feminists with Disabilities blog carnival, but I’m sure we would follow one with interest.
clarencegirl’s last blog post..Pink shirts and pig ignorance on the NSW North Coast
There is a disability carnival as Cara mentioned, and the disability community is much like the antiracism community in its general social-justice background; very feminist friendly IOW.
If the current carnival didn’t exist I’d say there’s definitely space for a FWD one.
Might not be a bad idea to think about maybe an aggregator (like the fatosphere one) or other general gathering site for feminist bloggers with disabilities.
ooc
is there any sort of mental illness carnival?
i was just letting my thoughts wander and wondered if it might be useful to reach out to fem. w/ chronic illnesses. it made me sofuckingsad that a common response to my Feministe guest posts was “i have XYZ, i’ve never thought of myself as disabled or chronically ill, that makes sense but it’s hard to accept,” in a nutshell. or people who thought MI didn’t “count” as disability (this is why i don’t like the term able-bodied as the implied opposite of disabled).
this may be displaying my own ignorance — i’m sure there’s a social-justice-minded MI community out there! but again, i thought it was something to think about.
Amandaw: I’ve seen a few Mad Pride collaborative events, but no blog carnivals. I’d love to participate in one.
And I’m with you on the disability/able bodied binary erasing non-physical disability.
hexy’s last blog post..Down with coriander! Or, depending on your locale, down with cilantro!
I am the able-bodied partner to a person with a disability.
I think a Feminist-focused disability carnival might be useful in encouraging the greater feminist blogosphere to start thinking about PWD outside of reproductive issues. I’ve said before, will likely say again, that I’m rather tired of only seeing PWD represented when it comes to fertility-stuff. I’m also tired of discussions about rape rarely, if ever, including the high amounts of rape and abuse in long-term care centers. And discussions of poverty not acknowledging how PWD are disproportionately poor.* And constantly having to fight with progressive sites to acknowledge that there are reasons to provide transcripts for video/audio and descriptions of photos.
[Oh, I have opinions. Bitter, bitter opinions. Let me show them to you.]
As Lauredhel knows, I’m always surprised at how blog posts on Hoyden that are specifically about disability are rarely linked on big feminist blogs, even though many of their other posts are.
[Although I was thinking yesterday that I can’t remember the last time I saw a post about breastfeeding or about parenting-issues linked far and wide, either, which is unfortunate, as they are outstanding.]
Anyway, I can natter on about this all morning. In short, yes, I think there should be, even if it’s only a one-off or every other month. I can’t think of another community-building activity as I am not good at thinking up such things. An aggregator might be useful but, speaking for myself, a good half of my post are “omg thesis!” and I can’t imagine anyone would be interested in reading those, even though the thesis is about Deaf people in 1880s.
* The only time I ever saw a progressive group acknowledge this when the group wasn’t specifically focused on disability was when one of our politicians spent a day using a wheelchair. That evening, still using the chair, she spoke very passionately on the issue. In my experience offline, it has never come up again anyplace I haven’t brought it up.
I have not heard of a feminist disability carnival but I certainly would be interested in following one as I am currently looking for resources. I don’t know what spaces are safe and I don’t know what forms of expression are hurtful. I really feel like a fish out of water where this is concerned and though I have been trying to lurk in different spaces a comprehensive list would certainly do a long way to easing that issue for me.
I know there has been a Disability Blog Carnival, but a feminist one would be amazing.
OH GOD YES: “I’ve said before, will likely say again, that I’m rather tired of only seeing PWD represented when it comes to fertility-stuff.”
me too Anna. I’ve said it before too. Because it bugs the shit out of me. Not that I don’t respect those who shed light on the reproductive justice movement. But its extreme popularity as The Feminist Issue is revealing, I think.
Renee, def. search the disability carnival. The disability community is as broad, rich and diverse as the feminist/womanist community (not that its wide range is usually acknowledged, but that doesn’t mean the bloggers — of color, queer, young and old, poor etc. — aren’t there!) in ways which overlap the f/w community sometimes but not always. There’s a lot to explore and it’s a good place to start branching off of.
I mean, Im still learning. ’cause I’m fairly privileged, for a disabled person. but it’s a wonderful experience, dipping your toe in that water, and I highly suggest it.
Thankyou so much for all your replies! I wasn’t thinking in terms of a regular carnival; more of a one-day special event (Annually? Who knows?), along the lines of Blogging Against Disablism Day, but focussed on the intersection between feminism/gender and disability. It shouldn’t coincide temporally with BADD, I reckon, as there will probably be a bit of overlap.
Cara: FRIDA is great and would be worth speaking with about this. I’d imagine this with a more explicitly global scope than FRIDA. (It will naturally fall to being USAn-heavy, but that’s just the way of the Anglosphere unfortunately.) I would also personally push for it being very explicitly embracing of invisible illness and disability, including mental illness.
If anyone would like to collaborate on this, please drop me a line!
(The aggregator idea is interesting, but I wouldn’t know how to run with it.)
Mm, now I’m contemplating a feminist mothering Carnival/posting Day, but I’d handball that one to blue milk.
This queer PWD would certainly be interested in reading a Feminists with Disabilities blog carnival. I often see feminist posts and disability posts but not often posts that clearly intersect. Cognitive difficulties sometimes make it challenging to find and read good posts that I can relate to so having them in one place is good.
Late to the game as usual, but I had to formulate my thoughts.
I would love to see something that focuses on Invisible Disorders and Illnesses, since I feel like those sometimes are ignored and treated as “not real disabilities”. Including mental illness, yes.
hrm. I’d have to think about how to write a proper intersectionality post that wasn’t a rant. Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with ranting, but perhaps it wouldn’t be quite as useful in this case.
Chronically ill person–I agree with Ouyang Dan and amandaw, I’d like to see something from a chronic and invisible illness perspective, from sheerly my own self-interest.
And I would be interested in reading a FWD carnival.
Yeah, loving the idea here, too. PWD, and unseen illness issues… I think the my feminism and disability politics are highly interconnected, and I’d love to read more on the topic(s).
[Although I was thinking yesterday that I can’t remember the last time I saw a post about breastfeeding or about parenting-issues linked far and wide, either, which is unfortunate, as they are outstanding.]
Excellent point Anna.
Mm, now I’m contemplating a feminist mothering Carnival/posting Day, but I’d handball that one to blue milk.
I really should be working on collating links more and I’ll talk to you, lauredhel more about your idea.
OK, no more derailing from me now…
Feminist with disability here. I would be interested in reading more about this intersection, but I have to say that I haven’t looked very hard across the web yet as I don’t read many blogs, so I can’t really comment.
Another white feminist with disabilities here going Yes! Yes (very late to the party)! My impairments include mental health, cognitive capacity, and mobility limitations, so I’m all about the “big tent” when it comes to disability topics.
The Disabilities Studies, Temple University blog is a great meta-resource, and it seems most of the posters are female (not necessarily feminist).