being disabled and having a disabled politic are 2 different things.

this is a little bit more of a “content creator” or political type post, but i believe the implications for somatics are important.

the thesis: being disabled (or mad, or neuroqueer) and having a disabled (or mad, or neuroqueer) politic are 2 different things.

this is where the functionality of identity can break down in our awareness of social location. in more liberal frameworks of identity, identity confers power or lack of it, and the very generalized “center the most impacted” or “listen to x people” assumes in its stating that “x” people or “the most impacted” are aware of, and moving from their location as the most impacted people.

however, this is not always or maybe even often the case.

we as disabled people are still located within the nexus of empire, colonialism, and all its politics of “civilization” that demand “normalcy”, in which normalcy is defined by “white, cishet, able-bodied, relatively sane, owning class, man.” this is the soup, so to speak, the water we are living in.

when it’s the water we are living in, like the frog that gets slowly boiled by the pot, we might not be aware of the water or the temperature of it because we’ve been slowly acclimated over time to what’s killing us.

furthermore, disabled people are pressed into meeting the norms of able-bodied culture, via lack of wheelchair access, no spaces for quiet decompression, unbearable and unmanageable work expectations, the requirement of “sanity” - even being late or inconsistent becomes an indicator of how you don’t measure up to the standard. within this pressing set of expectations at all times, we might ingest the water, and often do. especially if we have not been made aware that the water exists at all.

to have a disabled politic means to be aware of the water, to always make decisions with awareness of the water in mind, and crucially, to make decisions that center ditching the water entirely and that seek to bring into being another way of being that does not depend on this water for its lifeways.

to have a disabled politic is to not only notice the current -ecology- of disability aka the colonialist deathcult, to notice its impact on land, resources, water, animals, people, and other kin… and to embody and cultivate a new ecology that engenders and supports life.

this is where embodying a disability politic intersects with somatics. through embodied and somatic practice, we cultivate different and lifegiving ecologies.

noticing the difference between the identity (position) and the ecology (system) is crucial.

in one, we are a static participant in the current ecology, influenced and impacted by all its deathgiving so-called “lifeways” - the pressure of needing to mask, to not act or look disabled, to strive for a cure, to pretend we are anything other than what we are.

in the other, we actively embody ourselves not only as participants but as creators and those who cultivate our environment, who can cultivate and embody an ecology that is generative and that we contribute to.

in a somatic meditation i have offered since beginning my “solo” practice 5 years ago, I invite my people to imagine roots growing from their bodies down into the earth, and to notice how the earth nourishes the roots, but also how the roots nourish the soil - how we support, and are supported by, the earth.

this is the essence of a disability politic - rather than being static elements placed in a soil we did not choose, we become living interactive participants in our ecologies. it is not simply about consent or choice, though our bodies feel those things within this ecology: it is quite simply about life moving towards life.

we do this as a practice that begins in awareness: we are in the water, in the soil of this toxic able-bodied, saneist culture that actively steals our oxygen.

in what ways can we allow ourselves to go towards life and an ecology we are part of and whole in?

small example: when i first start working with clients,, i let them know how my neuroqueerness/madness impacts our work together. i am often 2-3 minutes late. i do not respond to emails or texts outside session. i can sometimes double book. i name these and practice allowing them in the space, allowing my body to exist, on purpose as an affirmation of the necessariness, the wholeness of my body as a disabled person. by simply practicing being aware of how my disability can show up and then practicing making space for that awareness.

it starts with awareness… i know that i do not even text my friends back, that i am frequently late to meet people i love, so if i am creating an ecology where disability is part of, why would i make myself be different with clients?

another example: recently, i noticed that during sessions with people, i am more settled, grounded, and present if i sit on the floor. my breath moves easier, I can feel the connection of my body with the floor and my whole body sinks into it with a kind of “ahhhh.”

since i noticed that in myself from direct experience, that this was a supportive way for me to be, i actively made room for it consistently and began sitting on the floor.

that’s the somatic practice of a disability politic in action.

the reason too that this is important is that while disability and madness deeply impacts most if not all of us… it doesn’t mean that we have shifted the ecology and are living in a disabled-as-wholeness or mad-as-wholeness ecology… unless we are actively practicing.

we could still be ingesting and then replicating the toxic deathcult culture of forcing our disabled, mad bodies to try and be something that we are not - even as disabled or mad people. this can cause pain, distress, and harm to ourselves and to others.

this is the practical explanation of “disabled people can still be ableist/mad people can still be saneist.” if we have not done the work to become aware of our bodies and the impact of the toxic deathcult, and how our disabled/mad bodies as they are naturally want to be + making space for them… we continue to replicate the toxic deathcult.

as 2 of my most influential teachers like to say: “what we practice, we embody, what we embody, we transmit.” (Jessica Patterson and Vanissar Tarakali)

having a disabled or mad politic means we recognize the ecology, and we actively practice to allow our wholeness to create an entirely different ecology that is an intercept to the toxic deathcult: like a fresh stream flowing into stagnant water.

no matter who we are, even if we are disabled or mad, what precludes us/keeps us from replicating the toxic deathcult is not our identity as mad or disabled people in themselves, but our recognition of how the toxic deathcult impacts our ecology, and the practice of allowing our wholeness to create a new ecology.

it is an essential practice of intercept and necessary for us all to reckon with. disabled and mad identity alone do not save us. the practice of new ecology might. at the very least, it will create new worlds.