#handi

Hello everyone!

One of my patrons on #Patreon, who has taken out the Arbre Vénérable subscription, ordered this illustration of #autodéfensesanitaires.

We've seen quite a few Olympics athletes masked, and some have even had to cancel their appearance because of covid. It's the perfect time to remember that covid still hasn't gone away (unfortunately) and that the more you contract it, the more likely you are to catch a long-lasting covid.

In my case, as I'm at risk (Crohn's disease) and on immunosuppressive therapy, I never go out without it. Even outdoors, especially when it's crowded, and I get vaccinated every 3 months. And given how dangerous this disease is, it's exhausting to see the rest of the world behaving as if it didn't exist any more.

I hope you enjoy this illustration as much as this patron did! Take care of yourself if you can!

FR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I’m definitely not the first to be thinking about this, but because I don’t know who is working on it I’m writing without adequate citations.

As I’ve been spending more time in French crip spaces and preparing to write my memoire, I’ve been thinking again about the terms we use for disability and anti-disability sentiment.

I dislike ableist less than I dislike able-bodied, as I dislike validiste less than I dislike valide. However, I still am not content with either term.

I propose the term “handiphobic” and “handiphobe,” which I believe to have already seen, either on tumblr or in an academic text elsewhere.

I came to these after considering the social model of disability that frames disability as a problem of access, and not as a problem of capacity (to choose a word that translates directly into French). But a term like “accessist” / “accèsiste” doesn’t feel specific enough. There are many components of identity that limit access and, after all, the subject here is the constructed class of disability.

On provocation – I wanted a term that wasn’t defanged. I think naming the hate, the discrimination, the disliked nature of the identity lends power to the fight against it (this could easily have a citation). Handicap is disfavored in the US, but it’s the popular term in France. Due to the societal exclusion, I believe the French handi/handicap•é•e remains provocative enough.

To sign off as I began,