Cripple, queer... Potaeto, potahto...
If you have problems viewing the above in a proper, readable size, then click here (it redirects to a larger version on my Danish blog).
Your blog is awesome! And you are too! Your drawings and everything :D come and take a look on mine, let's be friends! Have a nice day ;)
A great idea! I am now following you:)
CRIPTONITE is out to get you!
My avenging Lego alter ego is protesting against stairs, armed with a molotov cocktail - and she ain't afraid to use it!! (...Her real life counterpart, on the other hand, would probably need some help lifting the bottle...)
Trachie tricks for the fashionable crip
The art of covering up your extra hole...
As some of you may know I got a tracheostomy and a ventilator a few months ago to assist me with my breathing.
This has become a bit of a challenge wardrobe-wise - but as some of you may also know, I rarely pass up on a challenge ;-)
PS. If anyone out there is considering or worrying about getting a trach let me assure you: It's nothing to be afraid of! I speak and sing better than before, I have no pain, much more energy, and I cannot be smothered with a pillow...
Disability, beauty and power rolled into one - a letter for Gail Simone
Dear Gail Simone,
I tried to ask this as a question on your Tumblr profile, but alas, I am a woman of too many words... So now I post this on my own profile instead. I hope that's alright.
As a woman with a disability I always felt drawn to Barbara Gordon in her time as Oracle. I loved the way you wrote her. You gave us a character with, but not solely defined by, her disability. She had strengths, she had skills, she had an on/off love life and, most importantly, she did not merely serve to help put able-bodied main characters’ lives into perspective; no, she had her own quests. That is, sadly, incredibly rare in the history of disability representation. And, for that matter, the history of female representation!
Barbara has moved on, but I would like to hang on to Oracle and give her a more permanent existence - on my own body. And this is the reason I am trying to get in touch with you.
...At this point it seems I should share a bit of my personal history: I was never really a tattoo-kinda-gal, to “sensible” for permanent body alterations that one might regret later. But the past, tumultuous year has changed my perspective. I was born with a form of Muscular Dystrophy and have depended on a wheelchair since I was 11 (I am now 28), and in the Spring of 2013 my breathing began to give out. So I had no choice but to get a tracheostomy, and I now use a ventilator around the clock. You could say I have become a real-life cyborg;) I am currently slowly reclaiming my old life with work, social life etc. However, my body has been permanently altered and I am trying to reconcile my new reflection in the mirror, tubes and all, with my notions of femininity, desirability, independence and capability (not just disability).
All this made my think of Oracle. The way you wrote her embodied all of those things. And so I thought, instead of my disease deciding for me when and how my body should be permanently altered, perhaps it's time I take charge and decide on some alterations of my own. Alterations not out of medical necessity, but out of my own free will. And what I would like to do is give Oracle, with her disabled yet empowered body, an afterlife on my own body, as a reminder that disability, power and beauty can coexist. I imagine her embodying all three by posing sort of like a classical pin-up (sex), but with her wheelchair (disability) and with her laptop or one of her fighting staffs (capability).
The problem, or challenge, is: I can't think of a particular drawing depicting Oracle like that. And so I wanted to ask you: Can you think of one? Or do you know someone who might like to draw her like that? I don't have a ton of money, so I can't offer much in that respect, but perhaps one of the people who drew Oracle in her heydays would be intrigued by the idea of giving her this particular kind of afterlife, with the meaning and symbolism it entails?
I hope you don't mind me getting in touch with you like this - and look very much forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Sarah, Copenhagen, Denmark E-mail: sarahglerup@gmail.com
The Question - a series of drawings
7 drawings of real, actual people and authentic answers they have at one time given to someone - cudos if you can guess which question was posed!
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RESPONDENT #1:
RESPONDENT #2:
RESPONDENT #3:
RESPONDENT #4:
RESPONDENT #5:
RESPONDENT #6:
RESPONDENT #7:
...SPECIAL THANKS to TK, Dominick, Yarianna, Cindy, Emily, Chany, and Denise who shared their faces and experiences with me :-D
Am enjoying the holidays with a brand new tracheostomy and ventilator - hooray for lungs full of air! :-D
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #10
My personal 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
This is the last drawing of this series… but don't worry, I have plenty of others coming up:) If you want to view all drawings of this series, then use the tag “MD-hitlist".
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #9
My personal 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
The next to last drawing of this series... Am tagging them all "MD-hitlist" as I go along, in case someone wants to view the series in its entirety.
PS. And before you shower me with questions - yes, this one, too, is inspired by real life events...
How do I ask this without coming off as insensitive: Do you wish you never were diagnosed?
Why would that be insensitive? :) Nope, all in all I am glad I got my diagnosis - but I am also kind of happy I didn't get it sooner (at 28). Growing up I was thought to have a different kind of muscular dystrophy (Congenital Musclular FibreType) which is considered non-progressive. When I none the less did lose the ability to walk I would blame myself, thinking perhaps I should have done more therapy etc., since there was nothing in my "diagnose" indicating I should stop walking. That was the downside of having the wrong diagnose. On the other hand I grew up not worrying much about the future - I never thought I would have to deal with ventilation issues and such, and my parents raised me as someone who has to live a long life, hold a job etc. I believe that was good for me.Getting the actual diagnose (Ullrich CMD, which does indeed mean my muscles deteriorate) at 28 was a bit of a shock, but it also made a lot of things fall in to place because my actual experiences finally made sense. It has also prepared me a little for the fact that I will need respiratory assistance - which tests did indeed confirm two weeks ago.
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #7 and #8
My personal 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
The seventh and eighth drawings go together - they are like two sides of a coin, really... #7 the worst part:
#8 the best part:
(I am tagging all drawings from this series "MD-hitlist" so it will be possible to view them together eventually)
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #6
My personal 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
This is the sixth drawing in the series - I am tagging them all MD-hitlist as I go along so it will be possible to view all of them together eventually.
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #5
My personal 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
This is the fifth drawing in the series - I am tagging them all MD-hitlist as I go along so it will be possible to view all of them together eventually.
...in case anyone is wondering - yup, that is me in the picture. Aged two and the only time in my life I had short hair.
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #4
My personal 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
This is the fourth drawing in the series - I am tagging them all MD-hitlist as I go along so it will be possible to view all of them together eventually.
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #3
My personal 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
This is the third drawing in the series - I am tagging them all MD-hitlist as I go along so it will be possible to view all of them together eventually.
...the blue print on the envelope says Municipality of Copenhagen in Danish.
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #2
My personal hitlist highlighting 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability).
Second drawing in the series. I am tagging them all MD-hitlist as I go along so it will be possible to view all of them together eventually. ...Please don't flag me. I realise there is some nudity here. I'm not trying to offend anyone - I just really feel there is a huge taboo about sex and disability that needs to be broken. I'm trying to do so with a humorous drawing - so please don't get me banned :)
10 Things I Hate (or Love) About Muscular Dystrophy #1
Lists are so popular, so I have decided to draw one highlighting 5 hots and 5 nots about living with Muscular Dystrophy (or a similar disability). This is the first drawing in the series - I am tagging them all MD-hitlist as I go along so it will be possible to view all of them together eventually.