#say the word

This is a painting my friend Mandy painted of me from a self portrait during a hospital stay just over a year ago. While a hospital stay isn’t necessarily a normal part of life for most people, Mandy reposted it to bring awareness to the DisabilityIsNormal project.

I strongly believe it should be normal for disabled people to be depicted in all forms of art and media. While my personal opinions on what constitutes ‘normal’ are complicated and I don’t believe we should have to strive to be ‘normal’, I <b>do</b> think that disability should be (and is) a normal part of life for everyone in the world.

This will only be acknowledged and true when everyone stops ignoring disability. With movements like #SayTheWord, #DisabilityIsNormal and the various campaigns to get real, honest disability representation in the media, we will get there.

I’ve been busy starting a new YouTube channel (more on that later!). Essentially, a large part of it is wanting to share my experience of the world but also to try and normalize disability! ( https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCnETew92-OPnj4w2S-03a0g)

Which brings me on to my point! I started a new tag! #DisabilityIsNormal I’m going to be using it on YouTube and all platforms I can get my grubby mitts on. Disabled friends, feel free to tag your photos, posts, videos, everything of you doing normal things, just the same as everyone else! Let’s normalize disability together. Let’s show the world we exist, from our own perspective, and we are people just like everyone else! Take up space in the world with me! Let’s make everyone else start to acknowledge that we exist and our experiences are real and valid.

{please don’t remove my words}