Deafness and gayness

 

Officially declared in 2015 by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to honour the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), July “is used to promote visibility and mainstream awareness of the positive pride felt by people with disabilities.” Disability Pride parades, however, have been held as early as 1990 🤐🤫😝 — with the first one being in Boston.

It does not matter whether you identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community; you could participate in rainbow month activities.

 LGBTQIA+ events welcome allies from outside to be educated. One way of doing so is by contributing to Pride Month by sharing. Gender and sexuality are so fluid. It is OK to change your mind a million times and figure out what works for you. It is OK to take your time. Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it is a good place to start. Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out? Our society needs to recognise the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizen.

 Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we will ever do. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. A new community has embraced me. That is what happens when you are finally honest about who you are; you find others like you. If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I am short-changing myself.

 
Since LGBTQ+ pride month has just ended and Disability pride month has just begun, I figured it’s a good time to remind everyone that we don’t have marriage equality until disabled people can marry/live with their partners without losing their income/healthcare etc”

Disability pride month, and a reminder that many disabled people in this country are still unable to live with or marry their partners.
The way disability support is structured for most, you lose out-of-work benefit entitlement when you move in with someone, making you dependant.”

In the current disability and gender studies discourse there are several personal accounts of people with disabilities who also identify as, gay or lesbian, but narratives about Deafness and gayness are rare or missing.

 The issues of Deafness and disability a little further, most Deaf people claim to be a linguistic and cultural minority, not disabled. Being Deaf and gay suggests a double identity and quite often exclusion from the majority hearing and heterosexual society.
In this blog, I use the term ‘Deafness’ or ‘Deaf’ to distinguish cultural and linguistic identification and ‘deafness’, which is a physiological lack of hearing or hearing loss/ HOH.

During a time when diversity and inclusion are the main pillars of Pride, people with disabilities are still left out in the discussion and celebration of sexual and gender diversity. 

Just last year, a famous venue denied entrance to a blind gay person because they didn’t provide paperwork for their service dog — a violation of the  Disabilities Act, which states no paperwork is needed for the entrance of a service animal.

That is only one of many examples of how Pride remains mostly inaccessible to the disabled, deaf or hard-of-hearing, blind and people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Accessibility issues are present in gay bars, parties, big parades, as well as protests and rallies.

The physical spaces of many of these events present obstacles for people with physical disabilities or with sensory sensitivities. For example, parades can often be difficult for people with mobility issues because of uneven, long routes, extreme heat and tight, narrow spaces. Even if there is a designated wheelchair path, often the parade coordinators underestimate the amount of space needed, or the path becomes overcrowded.

Even intimate gatherings often lack disability accommodations. Events with speakers, more often than not, do not have accompanying BSL interpretation, film screenings do not have closed captioning and spaces do not account for participants with noise or light sensitivity or who are on the autism spectrum.

However, these physical barriers and obstacles have a more significant implication. People with disabilities have been viewed as asexual beings, or incapable of having other identities other than being disabled. The mainstream population too often feels squeamish about someone who might need help in the bathroom, also having a fulfilling sex life.

The fundamental meaning behind Pride is for everyone to be proud of their bodies, sexuality and physical appearances. However, the same invitation is too often denied to LGBTQ folks with disabilities. Instead, they are reminded that they don’t belong in such spaces and that they can’t have sex or gender identities.

 They want the same things that non-disabled LGBTQ people want in life: acceptance and not being “othered.”
People have multiple facets of their identities — a concept that is often referred to as intersectionality in academic and research settings. To ignore, or not account for, one aspect of a person’s identity — say, their disability — penetrates the notions of exclusion and discrimination. In turn, this can eradicate the histories of members of the LGBTQ community with disabilities.

Disability accommodations and inclusivity should not be an afterthought, but rather a priority when planning LGBTQ events and celebrations. Pride should strive to honour and recognize the lives of all people who identify as LGBTQ, and that certainly includes people with disabilities.

Happy Disability Pride Month!

Happy rainbow month to everyone—Out or closeted, visible or not, certain or exploring, of all sexualities and genders.

LOVE AK ❤🧡💛💚💙💜