DJATD-INTERSECTIONALITY
Tsagiglalal, or She Who Watches, image reproduced from a carved stone bowl, possibly of the Wishram people, the Dalles, Columbia River, OR, about 1700 AD, artitst Alan W. Barbick. A bear protection spirit, Tsagiglalal sometimes appears to the dying to tell them “you will go on” and that she will watch over their survivors.
Intersectionality…and the best laid plans of the chronically ill and disabled
“We do not live single issue lives” –Audre Lorde. Ableism, coupled with white supremacy, supported by capitalism, underscored by heteropatriarchy, has rendered the vast majority of the world “invalid.”
I knew how this week was going to go. I would give myself rest time Sunday afternoon, perhaps even Monday morning and, by Monday afternoon, I’d be ready and eager to start writing the post-gathering blog post that I promised on Sunday. That’s when real life appeared as if by divine plan. I woke up Monday morning feeling sick-ish.
Sick-ish” is a technical term I use to describe those times when the symptoms from my chronic illness are kicking into high gear for no immediately discernable reason. Because my illness is autoimmune, more activity in my immune system also causes my chronic illness’ symptoms to ramp up. Sick-ish means wait and see. Sometimes, when I’m feeling sick-ish in the morning, I’m back to my baseline by the afternoon or the next day. Are my chronic illness’ symptoms escalating because I’m overtired, because something is actually going on with my chronic illness per se, because it’s just a bad day, or because I’m fighting off some sort of common illness? Monday, because I was waiting and seeing, I rested a lot but also decided to keep my afternoon physical therapy appointment because physical therapy helps to keep me strong and functional and I hate to miss it unless I really have to. While that appointment truly exhausted me, I was feeing pretty good Tuesday morning and went on with that day as planned, hippotherapy (riding horses as physical therapy, folks), errands, starting this blog post, going to a Zoom class. Then Wednesday arrived to say, NO, you are actually sick and that’s where I still am today, Thursday. Lots of sleeping later, I’m sitting up in front of my computer to see if I can share what’s on top for me through all this.
This week’s sick-ish experience, one I have fairly regularly, causes me to reflect that what I shared on Sunday perhaps may not have touched upon how much I and others like me live in unpredictable bodies that can be considered “unreliable” in ableist terms. If I make a plan for Monday, I cannot rely on my body to be able to carry that plan out. But, what is this reliability thing, anyway? Aren’t all “plans” actually “drafts” that may or may not go forward as designed? Going forward with life when conditions are not what were expected or hoped for requires strength, determination, flexibility, adaptability. Today, for myself and for all of us living in “disabled” bodies, I’m calling in this intimate relationship with unpredictability and all the wisdom that relationship brings. Every day, we rise up, my disabled friends; we may not rise physically high like the waves, sometimes I crawl to get things done, but we do rise up in spite of the ache, day after day after day. We all have unique challenges that arise in our bodies in way that are specific to us. Whatever those challenges are, we rise up.
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I am deeply grateful to everyone who came to Disability Justice and the Dharma’s Intersectionality gathering last weekend and I’m looking forward to being with you again next month for Leadership of the Most Impacted, along with any newcomers. While I was hoping to share a screenshot of our gathering with this post…of course I forgot to take one! There’s always next time :-)
The time we had at the end of the gathering for sharing really wasn’t sufficient and some folks had to leave before everyone shared. The wisdom that arises in each of us in response to what was offered is deeply valuable to our collective learning and liberation and I hope you all will take a moment to comment on this blog to share some of what you took away from that gathering and some of what you are hoping for in future gatherings.
Not everyone who registered was able to participate in person. As community members watch or rewatch the gathering video, I hope you’ll all chime in with your thoughts, questions, and aspirations. Joining in the conversation is a form of practice and a way for forming community -- I hope you’ll all engage!
Other Ways to Practice Together Until Leadership of the Most Impacted on October 5:
Heartwidth Sangha Community Practice, practicing with a culture of Not Late, Not Wrong, Not Sorry,. Zoom link for practice on Mondays Wednesdays, and Fridays can be found on Heartwidth’s calendar page.
Southsea Sangha’s Earthworm Sangha, a monthly meditation group run by and for disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill people. Scroll to the bottom of this page to find more information and register.
September 7 Links:
Recording - Disability Justice and The Dharma-Intersectionality gathering
Kimberle Crenshaw, The Urgency of Intersectionality TED talk
Lary Ward, America’s Racial Karma discussion with Diana Hill, Wise Effort podcast
Once In A While Someone Amazing T-shirt
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
You Belong, by Sebene Selassi
Transformation and Healing, by Thich Nhat Hahn:
September 7 Quotes:
Ananda: “…this is half the spiritual life…good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.” Guatama: “This is the entire spiritual life… good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.” --Samyutta Nikaya
“Treating different things the same can generate as much inequality as treating the same things differently.” -- Kimberle Crenshaw (sorry, don’t have a reference link for this one)
“Imposed silence about any area of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness.”--Audre Lorde, Cancer Journals
“…it is the separateness inherent in implicit bias that contributes to feelings of not belonging.” --Sebene Selassi, You Belong
“Intersectionality” described as “being impacted by multiple forces and then being left to fend for yourself.” -- Kimberle Crenshaw, The Urgency of Intersectionality TED talk
“When the FACTS do not fit with available frames, people have a hard time incorporating new FACTS into their way of thinking about a problem…[and] when there is no name for a problem you can’t see a problem and when you can’t see a problem you pretty much can’t solve it.” -- Kimberle Crenshaw, The Urgency of Intersectionality TED talk (emphasis added)
Buddha “wanted everyone to be able to study and practice the Dharma in [their] own language [or frame].” -- Thich Nhat Hahn, Transformation and Healing
“We’re being rewired all the time by the society we live in, not just by our body, not just by our psychology, you have to include technology. No human being has ever found out so many things that are wrong so fast with the world. It’s just the tsunami of…and that’s why information is not enough. We have to move from information into knowledge and from knowledge into wisdom but that wisdom has to be body centered wisdom not simply the aspiration for wisdom.” – Larry Ward, America’s Racial Karma discussion with Diana Hill, Wise Effort podcast
“We don’t see ourselves as a whole cloth, we see ourselves as pieces, and we are pieces, but we are pieces of a whole cloth.” – Larry Ward, America’s Racial Karma discussion with Diana Hill, Wise Effort podcast
“If a sangha is available in your area, please keep in touch and take refuge there. If the sangha doesn’t have the quality you expect, don’t abandon it. Do not look for a perfect sangha. Stick to the one you have and try, with your practice and your joy and peace, to improve its quality. This is very important.
“If there is no sangha available where you are, then practice looking deeply in order to identify elements of your future sangha around yourself. Members of your sangha may be your child, your partner, and a beautiful path in the wood. The blue sky and the beautiful trees are also members of your sangha. Please use your talent and your intuition to create a sangha for your own support and practice. We all need a sangha very much.” – Thich Nhat Hahn, 1993 address at the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, CA
“I understand how practice can reduce my suffering. I see how it can transform my relationships with others and possibly effect change within them. But how will my spiritual practice change the forces of oppression?
“The answer I usually received was something like: Systems are made up of people and change begins from within. Greed hatred, and delusion need to be uprooted inside each of is for these forces to change.
“Yes. And.” – Sebene Selassa, You Belong
