Happy Pride to consumers everywhere!
CILT wishes all 2SLGBTQ community members a happy Pride weekend! As an independent living centre, CILT works to support all disabled people in realizing their rights to make choices, examine options and live independently in the community. CILT recognizes the that queer disabled people encounter additional barriers resulting from homophobia, transphobia and racism. We are proud to work alongside queer and disabled staff and consumers on programs that enable community to tell their own stories, to gain supports as disabled parents (and potential parents) and to build community through peer-based programs. We encourage everyone to check out the resources below, many of which are stories by disabled and queer community members, that have been pulled together by members of our Core program team.
We are wishing everyone a happy, loving and accessible Pride!
Wendy Porch
Executive Director, CILT
Celebrating Pride 2022 Resources
Articles/Websites:
What Queer Individuals with Marginalized Identities Hope You Recall After Pride
I’m queer and disabled. Pride isn’t accessible for me | CBC Radio
Disabled LGBTQ Creatives Imagine a Better Tomorrow
https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2021/1/29/disabled-lgbtq-creatives-imagine-better-tomorrow
Disability Justice in Queer Communities
9 Disabled LGBTQ Trailblazers
‘Disabled, queer and fabulous’ find a place of their own in the dating world
Why accessibility in the queer community is still a problem
https://xtramagazine.com/power/why-accessibility-in-the-queer-community-is-still-a-problem-8776
10 influential disabled LGBTQ+ activists to follow this Pride Month with video links:
Invisibility within queer and crip communities: subverting the gaze
https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/knots/article/download/22833/18600
Videos:
Meaningful Sexual Lives and Sexual Rights- Rainbow Hunt
Rainbow is a transgender woman with an intellectual and learning disability. Rainbow talks about how it is important for all people to have positive spaces where they feel safe in their sexuality. Many resources are not available to people if they cannot get to downtown Toronto because of distance and transportation costs. People are often isolated due to a lack of resources and social supports, especially people who identify as LGBTQ+. Rainbow talks about how to create spaces for people to celebrate who they are and feel like they are a part of a community, specifically discussing a grassroots community collective called Rainbow’s Pride In Scarborough.
Multiple and Converging Identities- Dev Ramsawakh
Dev draws from their own experiences living as a racialized, non-binary, and queer disabled person to explain the complexities of having a relationship to their own sexuality as a multiply marginalized person. Dev gives examples from their life as to how an understanding of intersectionality is essential to provide the appropriate resources, tools and information required to have a healthy empowered sense of sexuality.
Multiple and Converging Identities Speaker Dr. Alan Martino (Audio Recording)
This talk shares the results of a systematic review addressing the juncture between disability and sexualities, illuminating the unique challenges that LGBT+ disabled people face when exploring their sexuality, establishing relationships, and remaining sexual. Similarly, a small interview study suggests that, because of social isolation, restrictions, and surveillance, participants are often unable to access spaces that allow intimate relationships to flourish. This work sheds light on the consistent experiences of invisibility, exclusion, and lack of support for LGBT+ disabled people. Future studies should make space for the array of sexualities among disabled people by exploring their narratives, experiences, and perspectives.
Podcasts:
CRIP times Podcast
Not every episode is focused on 2SLGBTQIA+ and Disability topics but many are!
Books/Print:
Queer Disabled Stories Matter (booklist)
https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/arts_culture/2022/06/queer-disability-stories-matter.html
Crip Collab Zine
