We are not your diversity points, we are not a piece of data to put on your annual report, we are not an opportunity to flaunt to your funders and show how ‘inclusive’ you are, we do not need your pity or your ‘safe space’.
We do not need your healing, we do not need you to free us, we do not need you to define our journey for us. We do not need your forced solidarity. We do not need your margins or pathologies. We do not need your empowerment. We do not need your terms. We do not need you.
We need community. We need interdependence. We need disability justice. We need love.
We need unconditional, non-transactional, disabled, and reckless love that is full of agency. We need people who don’t walk on eggshells around us, but take us as we are, for whoever we are.
About the graphic: Graphic shows the visually safe Disability Pride Flag – an evolution of the ‘lightning bolt’ Disability Pride Flag. The redesigned flag is safer for people with visually-triggered disabilities and more accessible to people with colour blindness. Read more about the flag here. Graphic credit: Ann Magill
