Disabled Dykes and Queercripping

What is it like for someone who identifies themselves as LGBTTQ*?  What is it like to be physically disabled?  What if you were a member of both of these communities?  Would you be accepted as a member of each of these communities, or would you need to find a community whose members are both queer and disabled?  From my privileged vantage point, as a straight, abled female, it is difficult to accurately understand all the implications of this identity.  However, this issue was brought pretty close to home for me recently, when one of my close friends became a member of this community.  She used to live in my neighbourhood .  In the last twelve years or so, she has identified as a Lesbian and has been in a committed relationship for several years.  Last April, she had a routine surgery to correct some issues with a disc problem in her neck.  When she emerged from that surgery, she was quadriplegic. 

In my research of this unique segment of society, I have uncovered many things that would never occur to me.  For example, a disabled lesbian may still experience discrimination within each of these areas.  Other members of the queer community may be inconsiderate of her disability.  Yet, other members of the disabled community may reject her based upon her sexual identity.  “Students with disabilities who do identify as LGBT often find it difficult to acculturate themselves in the LGBT community” (Morgan, 2011, p.6).  “Vickery, 30, who has cerebral palsy, says he has never seen a disabled person at a gay gathering and never met an avowedly gay person at a gathering of disabled people”  (Chicago Tribune).  It seems to be a bit of a problem.  

It would seem that one good place to start is in the school, especially high school, when people tend to begin having an awareness of their sexual identity.  Morgan shows us that “LGBT students with disabilities are often not represented in common cultural activities where they can explore their sexual identity and what that might mean within the special education environment (e.g., school dances, references to dating in conversation, teaching related to safe relationship practices)” (Morgan, 2011, p.7).  It is also where a significant amount of bullying happens if you don’t fit into whatever is considered “normal” by the dominant society.  More education is necessary. 

The fact is that society is set up to accept certain things, and reject others.  This is based upon gender ideas of what a boy should be like and what a girl should be like.  And because these ideas have been entrenched into our psyche by church, schools, children’s story books, the media and entertainment (to name a few), it creates a climate of hostility towards those who don’t appear to fit nicely into those paradigms.  Santiago Solis, a disabled and gay man, paints this out poignantly:  “Through silence and marginalization, stories such as “Snow White” have treated the homodisabled body as unseemly.  By  positioning homosexuality and disability at the center of our analysis of “Snow White,” queercripping allows us to challenge the desexualization and infantilization of alternative sexual and bodily configurations in the story.  It is important here to emphasize that whenever a homodisabled existence  is denied, a code of surveillance is permitted to define social ideologies of sexual perversion.  A queercrip analysis challenges this surveillance and helps us subvert simplistic classifications of appropriate and acceptable sexual acts” (Solice, 2009, p. 117).  In his article, he utilizes the story of Snow White to ask some challenging questions.  Would Snow White still be worth saving if she couldn’t walk?  Or if she was not "beautiful"?  Would her mother have wished for a disabled lesbian for a daughter?  How come the dwarfs can’t date Snow White?  Why does Snow White respond to Dopey’s romantic advances like a mother to a small child?  Why can’t any of the dwarves date the prince?  Or each other?  There are many questions to be asked just within THIS story.  How many more questions could be asked about the many nuances in the culture of our society?  “For me, the presumption of hetero-corporo-normativity was extremely limiting in that I grew up feeling ashamed and socially ostracized. Because homosexuality was not part of my daily experience, I grew up with a great deal of self-hatred. I knew I was “different” and this “difference” impelled me into a world of darkness where I remained well into adulthood, for only then was I allowed the opportunity to express my sexuality.  Hence the questions: If my sexuality was silenced as a child, how might homodisabled children feel about themselves? Do they feel valued and appreciated as they read different versions of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”?” (Solice, 2009, p. 129-130).  That’s a very good question.  it is common for people to identify the common ground they share with the characters within a story.  Where is the common ground for a queer person with a disability?  I would presume that such a person may not feel valued and appreciated at all when reading this story. 

There are other things to consider.  An article out of New Jersey highlights a case where a disabled veteran and his partner are unable to claim the same tax status and exemptions as hetero-married couples.  The Canadian connection here is that they had to travel to Niagra Falls, Canada to get married, since it is legal here to do so.  But their marriage is still not recognized in their home state, even though hetero marriages from Canada and other countries (Britian was mentioned) IS accepted.  This couple has been together since 1975.  The house is in the abled spouse’s name, but the disabled spouse cannot get his 100% exemption on the taxes because it is a gay marriage.  Had his abled spouse been female, it sounds like he would be allowed to have the 100% exemption.  He was only given 50%.  The article sites that another area of contention is that many gay and lesbian couples cannot obtain health insurance for their spouses, even though it is offered to the spouses of hetero individuals (Gold, 2005).  Clearly, there are still some gaps in these policies. 

There is hope.  Doubly different minority groups are happening.  See the following video about a group that is taking the bull by the horns and putting themselves out there.  They appropriately call themselves the "Disabled Dykes"




  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPTf9meMSQg&feature=related

As for my friend, her future is somewhat uncertain and unknown.  I wonder how she will transition back to living at her home once it has been modified for her?  How will she fare when she is alone for the period of time that home care is not there and her partner is at work?  How will she be treated by the home care workers if they know she identifies as a Lesbian person?  How will the dynamics of the relationship with her partner change?  What kinds of things is her partner dealing with now that my friend is so disabled?  And although I've been to visit several times, I wonder if the fact that they are a lesbian couple has affected her care and treatment in any way?  There are so many questions and not enough answers. 

But, as her friend, I will continue to visit when I can.  There is a fundraiser happening this month to raise money to pay for the modifications to her home.  I will be attending.

Bambi 

Gold, Jeffrey.  (2005).  Disabled gay veteran claims tax break is unfairly denied.  Retrieved from http://www.gaypasg.org/gaypasg/pressclippings/2005/Jan/Disabled%20gay%20veteran%20claims%20tax%20break%20is%20unfairly%20denied.htm

Morgan, Joseph J., Mancl,  Dustin B., Kaffar,  Bradley J., and Ferreira, Danielle. (2011)  Creating Safe Environments for Students With Disabilities Who Identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender.  Intervention in School and Clinic, 6-7. doi: 10.1177/1053451211406546

Solis, Santiago.  (2007). Snow White and the  Seven “Dwarfs”- Queercripped.  Hypatia, 117, 129-130.  Doi: DOI: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2007.tb01152.x

Zorn, Eric.  (1992).  Disabled Gays Feel Doubly Different.  Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-06-18/news/9202230900_1_gay-alcoholics-gay-veterans-gay-gathering