Disability

The following quotes by disabled individuals highlight the many different definitions of disability:

“All bodies are varied, from skin colour, to height, to number of limbs, to waist size, to hair colour, to glasses and eye shape and gaps in their teeth, we are all made up of a number of variables…disability is a part of the normal human experience…just another part of our diverse world, not something frightening or sad.”
− Jessica Kellgren-Fozard

“Disability is articulated as a struggle, an unnecessary burden that one must overcome to the soundtrack of a string crescendo. But disabled lives are multi-faceted – brimming with personality, pride, ambition, love, empathy, and wit.”
– Sinead Burke

“We value our people as they are, for who they are, and understand that people have inherent worth outside of capitalist notions of productivity. Each person is full of history and life experience. Each person has an internal experience composed of their own thoughts, sensations, emotions, sexual fantasies, perceptions, and idiosyncrasies. Disabled people are whole people.”
– Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

“I do not identify as a person with a disability. I’m a disabled person. And I’ll be a
monkey’s disabled uncle if I’m going to apologise for that.”
– Stella Young

“Understanding disability and ableism is the work of every revolutionary, activist and organiser − of every human being. Disability is one of the most organic and human experiences on the planet. We are all ageing, we are all living in polluted and toxic conditions and the level of violence currently in the world should be enough for all of us to care more about disability and ableism.”
– Mia Mingus

“Disability is something imposed on top of our impairments by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society.”
− Lennard J. Davis

“It is so important to showcase people with disabilities with intersectional identities because that allows viewers to see beyond disability….People with disabilities are multilayered—we are complex breathing human beings defined by more than just what we lack.”
– Lauren Ridloff