A new poem about identity and facework and the misconception that there is privilege in being visibly disabled. Performed at the Portland Poetry Grand Slam. Filmed by SlamFind.
can someone please do a transcript for this? the auto captions are okay but I think some things are missing and I can’t get them and I want to.
Transcript:
“after Crystal Valentine
I used to be scared to call myself disabled
because I didn’t look the part
but the disability is my performance of it
my performance is always the loudest thing in the room
even when I am silentI show up with a wheelchair and an honest body
and I do not need to say
I am disabled
you already believe itThis is visibility privilege
I bring the wheelchair to a benefits interview,
when it’s more convincing to wear my impairments
than explain a diagnosisThe midnight hospital trips
when the pain has taken everything I have
I bring the black cane, that folds, that says
I am a serious patient, the illness is so much
a part of me I accessorize with itBut the next morning, picking up prescriptions
in the store where I used to work,
I take the hospital cane even though it is heavier
I say I am injured, not ill
all this I call temporaryThis is passing privilege
A stranger asks if I have gotten better when I stand onstage unassisted
in the only 2 hours all week I will leave my bedAnd this is erasure
Just yesterday, it seems
I was whole person
with a job and a life and
now everything is disappearingThe first time my arm was too weak
to lift a full cup from the bedside table and it spilled,
I just sat there, coffe soaking the sheets
tears falling down a face I couldn’t feelA hospital full of doctors, and not one can tell me
when I will die, just that it will be too soon
anything I hold could be dropped in an instantI’m not startled anymore by the sound
of porcelain shattered
cleaning up another murdered dish
I remark to the empty apartment
how strange it is to watch these hands that once
built houses now break everything they touchLast week a new doctor said
I read your chart, you’re a climber?
so am I
I said, I used to be
and now this silence is all that’s shared between usAnd this is cripple privilege
the only power I have left
how easily I can make you pity me”[video description: Erin Schick (pale, thin, short/buzzed auburn or brown hair, no glasses) is standing in front of a microphone on a dark stage. they’re wearing a dark green or gray shirt. the video is filmed from the side.]
(via jackironsides)
howtobeapersonwithfibro liked this partytime1005 liked this
justsedlife reblogged this from caelei
opiumeyes liked this
cryptid-syd liked this
september-raven reblogged this from erinschick dontcallme-atmidnight liked this
sparklesandpucks reblogged this from cryptid-crisis
mustbelieveinme reblogged this from erinschick
mustbelieveinme liked this
believe-in-impossible-things liked this
gia-francesca liked this
remy-labelle-art reblogged this from jackironsides
thefandomsarespooky liked this
skelee liked this waddles-the-waffle liked this
onweersmeisje reblogged this from erinschick
8ix-maddy liked this
getsquicked liked this biggestlizard reblogged this from crpl-pnk
onweersmeisje liked this
cursinginchurch reblogged this from justaquickquestion yabadabadoodre liked this
tesselation-tea liked this
justaquickquestion liked this
justaquickquestion reblogged this from fuckyeahpoetryslam
dank-tiddy liked this
somewhereinwonderlvnd liked this fuckyeahpoetryslam reblogged this from slamfind
minipliny liked this
hypermobilebby reblogged this from thefibrodiaries betterinthedarkblog liked this
fandoms-activist liked this ravenfluff reblogged this from thefibrodiaries
idonemovedmyblog liked this
untitledhumanperson liked this
ropemp3 liked this cryarivertodrowntheworld liked this
cryarivertodrowntheworld reblogged this from thefibrodiaries
adriftamidthestars liked this
queer-disability-aotearoa reblogged this from literally-defective
otterqueer reblogged this from thefibrodiaries
erinschick posted this
- Show more notes
