\u201cThere is queer crip community happening in beds, living rooms, coffee shops, on Skype, and it counts just as much.\u201d\r\n(Piepzna-Samarasinha, 2018, p. 200)<\/div>\r\nIn this quote, Piepzna-Samarasinha describes the ways that queer crip community is made and sustained across spaces that are physical and digital, public and private. By using digital methods and media, like Skype or Zoom, individuals that are physically separated can work, think, create, and protest together. For many, remaining home is often an act of self\/community care or survival (as in a pandemic) and therefore, it is a critical component of both public health policy and personal wellbeing.\r\n\r\n![\"Reflection\"](\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/digitaldisabilitystudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/300\/2021\/11\/Reflection-label-300x101.png\")
\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s think about some of the challenges and opportunities we have when we advocate, express ourselves, and\/or work from home. As we reflect, we can consider the nature of the tools and personal space we have at home to do this work. Take one minute now to think and write about one or two tools you (might) use to work and advocate from home and where those objects are located.\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s think about some of the challenges and opportunities we have when we advocate, express ourselves, and\/or work from home. As we reflect, we can consider the nature of the tools and personal space we have at home to do this work. Take one minute now to think and write about one or two tools you (might) use to work and advocate from home and where those objects are located.\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"30\"]<\/code>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n![\"Background\"](\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/digitaldisabilitystudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/300\/2021\/11\/Background-label-300x100.png\")
\r\nAdvocacy Happens in Bed<\/h1>\r\nEarlier we discussed how digital methods allow a plurality of voices to generate knowledge as shifting bodies in a rapidly changing and complex world. Valuing the forms of advocacy and knowledge that emerge via digital mediums from the (dis)comforts of home represents a cultural shift of its own kind. This type of advocacy is explored and unpacked in Johanna Hedva\u2019s impactful essay, Sick Woman Theory,<\/em> which was written in 2015 while Hedva was lying in bed with a chronic illness. They write,\r\n\u201cThere was a Tumblr post that came across my dash during these weeks of protest, that said something to the effect of: \u2018shout out to all the disabled people, sick people, people with PTSD, anxiety, etc., who can\u2019t protest in the streets with us tonight. Your voices are heard and valued, and with us.\u2019 Heart. Reblog\u2026 \u2026So, as I lay there, unable to march, hold up a sign, shout a slogan that would be heard, or be visible in any traditional capacity as a political being, the central question of Sick Woman Theory formed: How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can\u2019t get out of bed?\u201d\r\n(pp. 3 and 5)<\/blockquote>\r\nBoth Hedva and Piepzna-Samarasinha claim the bed and the Internet as sites of resistance, rebellion, and radical self-care. It is important to note that both Hedva and Piepzna-Samarasinha use their personal experiences of being disabled women of colour to interrogate the violence of patriarchal, white supremacist, and capitalist systems. Personal experience can give us critical insights into the broader trends and ideologies of culture and society, brushing up against currents of power, oppression, and privilege.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe next writing activity will invite you to reflect on your relationship with your own space and the objects in that space. Like Hedva and Piepzna-Samarasinha, let's start by situating ourselves.\r\n\r\nExamine what is around you.\r\n\r\nWhat can you sense and perceive?\r\nAre these sounds, textures, and\/or sights familiar or strange?\r\n\r\nPersonal and domestic spaces can teach us about the world. We act from these places to care for ourselves and our communities. Consider some of these connections between the space you\u2019re in now and the people in your community as you write. Do you ever worry that these spaces need to be protected? If so, in what ways are our spaces\u2014physical and digital\u2014threatened? (I.e. by noise, interruptions to digital connectivity, etc.) These reflections can ground your digital story and your ideas in your personal perspective.\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"30\"]<\/code>","rendered":"<\/p>\n
Community Happens in Beds<\/h1>\n
We will frame this section around the quote below from Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha\u2019s Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice<\/em> (2018). You can watch them read an section from the book here:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n