Sarah Ellis is a writer and mental health advocate who grew up in Brattleboro and now calls Burlington home. She publishes a newsletter, "Composted Mayhem," about mental illness, resilience, and hope, which can be found at sarahrebeccaellis.substack.com.
BURLINGTON-Well, it has happened. The reign of absolute chaos is upon us, bringing with it grief and terror and overwhelming uncertainty. But even as formerly reliable regulations are blasted apart and essential services are gutted, I think your disabled friends have something to say.
Disabled people have had to modify systems just by existing, find ways to fit into structures not built for us, and survive with limited resources. We are imaginative thinkers who dream of new ways of being because we have to, who create systems of support outside of norms and usual social structures.
We have different timelines, different physical, mental, and emotional needs, and enormous resourcefulness and grit honed from years of living on the margins and trying to build meaningful and productive lives.
Ask us what we think. Involve us in conversations about how to live in such shaky, turbulent times. Make use of our innovation and strength and resilience, our abilities to thrive in a society bent on breaking us.
We are now entering an era of widespread unreliable systems, of being failed and, in fact, persecuted by the federal government. Well, lucky for you - that is our specialty!
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Disabled people have had to consider deeply what our needs are and how to access them in incredibly inaccessible places. We have had to advocate for ourselves in a world that does not value our human rights or see us as valid members of society. We have had to build our own circles of support as a matter of life and death, to build that network in order to exist.
As our communities across the country attempt to navigate this new world order, find ways to support each other, and survive the apocalypse, the perspective of disabled people is absolutely essential. If we are welcomed into the conversation, we will be a wildly informative resource, experts in surviving the unsurvivable and finding hope amidst hopelessness.
If nothing else, see our tenacity as something worth emulating.
See us for the dreamers we are, and start to dream with us.
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