chaos but its art

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late night fixations,,, made a shrimp zine time to go sleep now

History is complex, and we need to discuss it with a far more nuanced view than we do.

But Disability History is lacking at even this most basic level, and you have to start somewhere. So:

1) Stephen Farfler

Was a paraplegic watch-maker. In 1655, he made a three-wheeled hand-driven cart for himself, inventing the crank, chain and gear mechanism that is now part of all modern bicycles.

[Image description: a contemporary black and white illustration of Stephen Farfler using the three-wheeled hand cycle he’d invented, demonstrating how the hand crank turns the front wheel. Description ends.]

2) Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was severely injured when she defended a fellow slave from an overseer, and was hit in the head with a heavy metal object. Although this caused her pain and dizzy spells for the rest of her life, it did not stop her from working becoming a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, nor did it stop her from being the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the American Civil War.

3) Louis Braille

Blind since childhood because of an accident, Louis Braille invented the tactile writing system named for him at the age of 15.

4) Margarete Steiff

Margarete Steiff contracted polio when she was a year and a half old. Her sisters and neighborhood friends helped her get to school by pulling her in a hand cart. When she grew up, she had a dress-making business, and made stuffed animals for children. Her most famous stuffed animal was a bear with jointed limbs that her nephew designed. It was the first Teddy Bear.

5) Justin Dart Jr.

He contracted polio and had to use a wheelchair in 1947, just before going to university. Even though he earned his degrees in history and education, and wanted to become a teacher, the university wouldn’t let him have his teaching certificate, because he was disabled. Many years later, he was appointed vice chair of the National Council on Disability, and led other government councils after that. He toured the USA with his wife twice, visiting each of the 50 states, and meeting with disabled people to learn about their struggles and how they were fighting for their rights. He helped write the language of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law in 1990

 —

There are many more things I wish people knew about, such as the intersection between class and disability, and between race and disability, and how the ADA isn’t strong enough to protect disabled people’s rights in the way they need to be protected.

Extra points for doing it at night - she doesn't need a torch or lantern and walks just as comfortably in pitch black darkness as broad daylight. As far as she's concerned, 'darkness' is just some intangible presence that makes air slightly cooler, and other people skittish and anxious to be in it. The absence of sun or fire.

If she's familiar with a specific room and knows how large it is, she can roughly estimate how many people are in it by the temperature of the air, and how sparsely the people who are speaking are positioned. Depending on the level of background noise, she's sometimes able to notice if there's someone present who doesn't want her to be aware of them, because going "oh shit, if I stay really still, she probably won't notice that I'm here" makes people breathe differently, and she can start puzzling out who it is from other context clues around them.

1. statement (directly contradictory statement)

ie: “i’m normal now (lying)” or something like. “doing homework (scrolling tumblr).” it’s like a text version of looking directly at the camera. sarcasm but slightly to the left. amazing

2. wacky thought <- reactionary/self aware comment

it’s like?? the closest thing i can think of is movies where the characters break the fourth wall to pause the show and talk to you about it? like emperors new groove or lion king 1 1/2? self aware ironic kinda talk show-esque. whatever it is it’s brilliant.