A return for #IDoPWD

Hello!

I have a flat, a suitable bed (more on that another time), and reliable internet, which means I'm back in the blogosphere. At last - and I could not have found a happier or more significant day to return, because December 3rd is the UN's International Day of People [or Persons, depending on which version you read] with Disabilities. It also marks the fact that we are pretty much halfway through UK Disability History Month, or UKDHM, which proceeds from 22nd November-22nd December, and has as its theme for this year 'Portrayals of Disability in Mainstream Media'. All very relevant to my thesis, my life, and, consequently, this blog. After all, I am a Person with a Disability (albeit one who is unsure about excessive use of capitalisation), writing my PhD on disability, and using this corner of the internet to document the intersection of these two things.

So I think today provides me with the perfect opportunity to update you, my loyal readers who are still here after nearly a month of silence, on what I've been doing in that time. It also allows me to express my gratitude for my wheels - because, without them, I really don't think I'd have my words. Sure, it's difficult (especially when it comes to access), but my experience has shaped who I am - much like it has Noujain Mustaffa, the teenager with cerebral palsy who made the journey from Syria with her wheelchair. If she can cross continents, I can definitely cross campuses. (I tried to find the most impartial report of her story to share here. Quite a number of articles deal with it in the highly-emotive language that many in the disability community, myself included, find simplistic and offensive - but that is a topic for another post.)

For now, I'll just leave Noujain's journey there as a reminder of what is possible - but, also, of how much still needs to change in our world when it comes to disability. (Change which, as a brief aside in relation to recent parliamentary decisions, is not to be achieved by using money and resources which could rebuild our infrastructure to systematically destroy that of another country - an act with the potential to create many more disabilities on an international scale through both physical and psychological injury of civilians.)

This is why I have undertaken my PhD - and it brings me back to what I have been doing over the last month. The aim of the day conference which launched UKDHM for 2015 was to investigate the sociocultural representations of disability of the past and present and, in so doing, to attempt to map a way forward and to inspire further campaigns. This is the power of the arts, but it is also the power of social media, and the two came together nicely in the fact that the event was live streamed to engage a wider audience. They also met helpfully in a presentation I was lucky enough to attend, given by the actress, disability activist and face equality campaigner Victoria Wright, who has a condition called cherubism, and who is working to emphasise the importance of an online (web-wide) community for those impacted by, and interested in, disability - especially parents and young people. She has her own blog, which I'll add a link to very soon.

She has inspired me to be more active on mine, both personally and academically, which provides me with a neat segue into my final point. Only last night, I went to a presentation given by Dr Jack Newsinger on disability arts and austerity policy. What became very clear to me is that if we, the international people with disabilities who are today being lauded by the United Nations, desire a full and worthy role (or roll teehee) in the development of our countries and our world, we have to take it - whether those who 'run' those countries and the world want us to or not.

And, with a little help from our friends (since we are all only temporarily able-bodied and a more accessible world has benefits for everyone), we might just do it - I know that's my plan.

Happy IDOPWD!