Part of what makes these crises so exhausting is that disabled people are rarely visible in climate conversations. Mainstream climate coverage does not think about evacuation accessibility, air quality impacts on chronic illness and how disabled people require different things in climate scenarios. When disabled bodies are absent from the conversations, solutions ignore our needs.
We live in a society that regularly depicts disabled bodies as unattractive. Turn on any television show, scroll through dating apps, or listen to conversations about general attraction, and you will see that disability is either completely ignored or portrayed as something to conquer before someone is worthy of love.
We need to profoundly change the way society views disability and intimacy. This involves including disabled people in conversations about love, sex and relationships. It entails including disabled stories in romance storylines throughout the media. It means comprehensive sex education that accommodates disability and pointing out ableist biases when they are recognized.
June 9, 2019. Ali Stroker wins Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. An actor, singer, and wheelchair user, Ali Stroker has been a trailblazer for disability representation on the stage. She was the first wheelchair user to graduate from the Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department at New York University. In 2015, she was the first wheelchair user to appear on Broadway, starring as Anna in the musical, Spring Awakening. For her performance as Ado Annie Carnes in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!, Stroker became the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award in 2019.
Take the quiz: Check Your Ableism!
Being Young and Disabled
By Noah Griffth, Auburn University
I Was a "Student of Concern"
By Kate Jackson, Rutgers University
In My Moment of Distress
By Anonymous, Temple University