Visualizing Justice is a collaboration between BEING artists and activists/artists in the disability arts community. Through conversations and artwork, this video series aims to define disability justice in a way that is accessible to a variety of audiences, including those with intellectual and cognitive disabilities.
Visualizing Justice
Visualizing Justice is series of short films that explore five elements of disability justice in an accessible way.
Interdependence
“It just makes me think of people that are there for me or help me when I’m not feeling well.”
— Pree Rehal
Introduction to Interdependence.
Cole: This black screen has been added to the original film.
The video Interdependence is almost eight minutes long. The video is closed captioned, with text that appears along the bottom of the screen or sometimes a music note in the top right corner.
Cole: In the video, an artist and their mentor talk to each other through an online video chat, like Zoom or FaceTime. Only their upper bodies are in view.
Cole: The video shows clips from their video chat mixed with moments focused on pictures of the artists and mentor’s artworks with their titles and animated scenes, which are like cartoons.
Cole: When the video chat clips are shown, usually only the person speaking appears.
The animated scenes usually look like an invisible person is creating a single line drawing with a black marker on a white background. Sometimes these drawings are coloured, or appear to be coloured in by the invisible person. The scenes focus on key words in bubble letters that the people in the video say or match what they are talking about like food.
One of the people in the video use “they/them” pronouns similar to how some people use the pronouns “he/him” or “she/her”. They are also genderfluid, which could mean that some days they feel more feminin or masculine, or sometimes they may not feel like either.
Henry Hong is the artist that appears in this video. Pree Rehal is his mentor. Henry and Pree helped write their descriptions.
Henry describes himself as a Chinese Canadian middle aged man with autism who uses he/him pronouns. He is of average build and his very short hair is black and gray, which some people call “salt & pepper”, and he wears glasses and a red sweater or black shirt. He appears mostly from the neck up and sits in a room that looks like a dining or living room with a cabinet and tan coloured walls with paintings that hang on them.
His artwork mostly looks like grey pencil, colour pencil, or colour marker drawings.
Pree describes themself as a genderfluid Brown Person of Colour with Panjab heritage who is multiply disabled, chronically ill and uses they/them pronouns. Pree is of full build and says that most people think they are 25. Their short hair is black and they wear glasses, a backwards tan baseball hat, a septum nose ring, a gray t-shirt and have many tattoos on their left arm. They sit in a black computer chair in a room with white walls.
Their artwork looks like colourful digital drawings that have been made on a computer or another device like a tablet. Their “Art by Pree” logo looks like their name spelt P-R-E-E in large green letters that turn to yellow within the shape of a leaf.
Cole: The video will begin now.
0:10 HENRY: My name is Henry Hong.
0:25 I have been making art at the BEING Studio in Ottawa for almost ten years.
0:28 I like to draw animals, birds, sea creatures, insects, dinosaurs and plant life.
0:38 Everything can be made into art; you just have to use your imagination. My favourite style of art is sketching on paper.
0:52 PREE: My name is Pree. I use they/them pronouns. I am a community artist maker, and I identify as someone who is disabled, multiply disabled, chronically ill; and I try to make things that are either experimental as a way to learn new skills or learn new ways to express certain things.
1:19 I try to create art that is kind of like love letters to my younger self, and yeah; you can find me on the internet as Sticky Mangos.
1:33 Did you have anything tasty today or did you do anything fun?
1:40 HENRY: I did some drawing today.
1:45 PREE: What kind of medium do you like to use for your art?
1:49 HENRY: Pencils.
1:50 PREE: Pencils and Paper?
1:51 HENRY: Yeah, pencils and paper.
1:52 PREE: Cool!
2:02 PREE: Well, maybe we can talk about our topic. So, we’re talking about interdependence…What does that work feel like for you, what does it make you think about?
2:15 HENRY: I need things, something.
2:20 PREE: Yeah, I like that. I think for me, when I think about interdependence, I think about my little sibling, I think about my big sister and my partner…and some of my friends. I think about how, one of friends, when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, she made me a bunch of congee in big containers and she brought me congee and mushrooms and all kinds of mushy food to eat when I was sick. And yeah, it makes me think of people that are there for me or help me when I am not feeling well or when I need help. Yeah, what about you? Who does it make you think about it?
3:20 HENRY: It makes me think about my mothers and sisters. I have six sisters.
3:35 PREE: That’s a lot of sisters.
3:34 HENRY: Yes.
3:39 PREE: What else comes to mind when you think about interdependence?
3:45 HENRY: Bees like flowers, they feed on their nectar and pollen. Bees need flowers and flowers need bees to reproduce. Schools need students to prepare them for life. Students go to school to have a routine, to learn, socialize and prepare for their future. Many people work at schools… Teachers, cafeteria and cleaning staff…Computer specialists and of course, bus drivers.
4:19 PREE: That’s really cool. I really like the analogy of the bees, the flowers and how they need each other.
4:28 PREE: How do other people depend on us? What do we do for other people?
4:34 Henry: Help like taking out the garbage and picking up the leaves.
4:48 PREE: That is a lot of physical labour that your are able to help provide. That is really nice of you; That is really nice of you.
5:00 PREE: I am not able to do a lot of the heavier work, like taking out the garbage and stuff is really hard for me with my pain and my back issues and stuff. My sibling does a lot of that stuff. They are disabled as well but our agreement is that they do more of that and I do stuff like dishes or take care of making sure bill are paid on time, doing grocery runs…
5:25 HENRY: There are things that I like and need like food and water and shelter and clothing.
5:38 PREE: Yeah, I agree.
5:45 HENRY: Gardens keep us fit, healthy, by needing work, pulling weeds, catching insects. Watching plants grow keeps us happy as we wait to pick the beans or tomatoes to eat.
6:05 PREE: That is really cool. Well, thanks for talking to me today. Is there anything else you want to add before we end our call?
6:13 HENRY: Yeah, how does the world feel?
6:16 PREE: Thank you for asking that.
6:18 HENRY: Yes.
6:19 PREE: For me, it was feeling, kind of, a little bit, gloomy.
6:21 HENRY: Yes.
6:27 PREE: But, I am feeling really good after our conversation. This was really awesome. Thanks, Henry.
6:30 HENRY: Thank you.
6:33 PREE: Say help to your garden for me.
6:35 HENRY: Okay.
6:36 PREE: Okay, bye!
End.
Recognition of wholeness
“By recognizing the wholeness in everyone, then everyone can do any job.”
— Jet Coghlan
Introduction to Recognizing Wholeness.
Cole: This black screen has been added to the original film.
Recognizing Wholeness is eight and a half minutes long. The video is closed captioned, with text that appears along the bottom of the screen or sometimes a music note in the top right corner.
Cole: In the video, an artist and their mentor talk to each other through an online video chat, like Zoom or FaceTime. Only their upper bodies are in view.
Cole: The video shows clips from their video chat mixed with moments focused on pictures of the artists and mentor’s artworks with their titles and animated scenes, which are like cartoons.
Cole: When the video chat clips are shown, usually only the person speaking appears.
The animated scenes usually look like an invisible person is creating a single line drawing with a black marker on a white background. Sometimes these drawings are coloured, or appear to be coloured in by the invisible person. These scenes often show things like flowers, focus on key words that the people in the video say in bubble letters or match what they talk about, like friends.
The people in the video use the pronoun “they” similar to how some people use the pronouns “he” or “she”. One of them is also genderfluid, which could mean that some days they feel more feminin or masculine, or sometimes they may not feel like either.
Bing Cherry is the artist that appears in this video. Jet Coghlan is their mentor. Bing and Jet helped write their descriptions.
Bing describes themself as a genderfluid person with FASD and ADHD. Bing says that they sometimes go by he and she, but use the pronoun “they” in the video. Bing presents as white, is 39 years old and is of average build. Their long hair is black with bangs and they wear glasses. They appear from the neck up, so it’s not really clear what kind of clothes they’re wearing. In the video they regularly rock back and forth as they sit in a room with white walls and a window. There is a large black and white painting of people on the wall behind them.
Their artwork is bright and colourful. A lot of their art shows nature scenes and flower created with marker, paint and colour pencils. Some artworks have things like letter cut-outs glued to them, or have real photos mixed with their drawings.
Jet describes themself a person who people think of as female and uses they/them pronouns. Jet has a tan skin tone, looks to be around 30 years old, and has an athletic build. Their long hair is brown with bangs and worn in a ponytail. They have glasses and wear a septum nose ring through the part of their nose between their nostrils, a piercing stud above their upper left lip, a stud below their bottom right lip, a black, red and white plaid long sleeve shirt and a long chain necklace. They sit in front of a green, leafy background.
Jet’s art is bright and colourful like Bing’s. Like Bing’s, Jet’s art also has some nature scenes and uses some real pictures of people or book pages. A lot of their artwork looks to have been made on an electronic device like a computer or tablet.
Cole: The video will begin now.
0:15 JET: Hello. My name is Jet. My pronouns are they/them. I was born in Mexico and I moved here when I was nineteen. I am a cat parent of two lovely gingers. So for my art practice, I am a multi-disciplinary artist. I do mostly performances and in theater. Right now, I’m just like a full-time painter.
0:48 BING: Out in public, I prefer to be called “Bing” or “Bing Cherry” or “Bing Shaw.”
0:55 JET: Bing Shaw, I like that.
0:56 BING: Many variations. And as for pronouns, I see myself sometime like he/her. I love being different. Like I go rogue. I go rogue because you find that you learn things in life a lot easier, if you rogue.
1:25 BING: What I have always went by for many years when I was an employee at different places is help the little guy. The little guy always gets torn up in the professional world. Help the little guy, who cares about the head honchos making millions?
1:48 JET: Yeah, I agree with you, Bing. I think as we recognize each other’s abilities, we are also aware of like the points or the things in which we are not the best at, perhaps. And within us, and it is within our community, and it is up to us, and like us, I mean, all of us, like all of us. No exceptions, to help each other to be like, hey, I’m really goof at editing, but I’m not good at this. So like, there will be someone that will be able to fill in the gaps of what you’re missing and vice versa. And I think, that’s how it looks like in my life, because I wouldn’t be able to make art or even be functional for ableist, capitalist views, if I didn’t have the support system I have. And it’s a support system that comes from like friends, chosen family, coworkers, my pharmacist, my doctor, the person who sells me coffee in the morning. In general, like every single person in my life, in one way or another, helps me, assists me. I’m hoping I also do that too. I think in my practice it looks like collaborations and looks like a lot of activist work.
4:26 BING: I think it’s very important because if businesses really want to thrive and succeed, there has to be listening skills and not just at the beginners standpoint, but people have to start to listen and pay attention. And really put the person’s needs ahead of their own.
4:54 I was helping out to get my meals prepped for lunch, and all of a. Sudden I saw this young disabled person. And she didn’t know quite exactly what she was supposed to do. And I said to her, how about if I do this and then you just watch me to learn how to do it. So, the next time they ask you to do this, you can do the job. And I said to the kitchen manager, “Can I teach this disabled person to to cook and prep and bake, like I know how to do?” Because someone took the time to do that for me. And now, thanks to all the help I gave, now she knows how to prep, cook and bake, which is good. She’s come a long way..
5:49 JET: Yeah. No, absolutely. I feel you, Bing. There have been so many times in my life, just navigating, you know, then the medical system and really trying to advocate for yourself because you know your body better than no one else. And encountering people within my journey who are not able to advocate for themselves for many multiple reasons; the fact that there’s not a lot of specialized education or care for disabled people. And like, you know, you apply for a job and you get the job and they just throw you in the fire. You’re supposed to figure out what to do. So you have to be more mindful of like, how do you spend your time. And you have to be more mindful of your environment, and a lot of more things because it requires more time. And in this world, we live in a place where like time is money, and that’s ridiculous. Like, time should not be money, time is invented and people should not be based on money or assets, or- By recognizing the wholeness in everyone, then everyone can do any job, You just need to be trained, and you need someone to teach you what to do.
7:27 BING: Oh, yeah! Jet, can I show you a drawing I did?
7:30 JET: Oh wow! You know, what is so fun? I see you everyday on the screen because I’m at the gallery where you are showing your art.
7:38 BING: Oh, wow!
7:39 JET: So, I see you everyday!
7:41 BING: Nice!
Leadership of the most impacted
“We need to be the people in positions of power, people most impacted, even within our movement of disability. ”
— Carmen Papalia
Introduction to Leadership of Those Most Impacted.
Cole: This black screen has been added to the original film.
The video Leadership of Those Most Impacted is eight minutes long.The video is closed captioned, with text that appears along the bottom of the screen or sometimes a music note in the top right corner.
Cole: In the video, an artist and their mentor talk to each other through an online video chat, like Zoom or FaceTime. Only their upper bodies are in view.
Cole: The video shows clips from their video chat mixed with moments focused on pictures of the artists and mentor’s artworks with their titles and animated scenes, which are like cartoons.
Cole: When the video chat clips are shown, usually only the person speaking appears.
The animated scenes usually look like an invisible person is creating a single line drawing with a black marker on a white background. Sometimes these drawings are coloured, or appear to be coloured in by the invisible person. These scenes often focus on key words that the people in the video say in bubble letters or match what they talk about, like dragons.
One of the people in the video use “they/them” pronouns similar to how some people use the pronouns “he/him” or “she/her”.
Debbie Ratcliffe is the artist that appears in this video. Carmen Paplia is their mentor. Debbie and Carmen helped write their descriptions.
Debbie describes themself as a person with a disability called Williams syndrome who uses they/them pronouns. Debbie says their cultural background is white with Mi’kmag and French heritage with white-beige coloured skin and are 55 years old. They also say that they have the nose of a dragon, ears that stick out like an elf, small hands and are about the size of an elf. Debbie’s short, “pixie cut” style hair is light brown and they wear glasses, a colourful cloth face mask, white earbud headphones, and a black hooded sweater. They appear in front of a blurred background.
Debbie’s artwork that is shown in the video focuses on dragons, and includes a t-shirt with a colourful dragon drawing and a black marker drawing on a white background.
Carmen describes himself as a non-visual artist. He has sickle cell anaemia and uses he/ him pronouns. He describes his skin tone as olive, and that he has Mediterranean ancestry, from Italy and Greece. Carmen is 40, with an average build. Carmen explains that he uses “non-visual artist” instead of blind or visually impaired, and that sickle cell anaemia causes him severe chronic pain. To get around when he’s outside or somewhere new, he uses what he calls a detection cane. It started off as a white cane, then he peeled off all the red and white tape. alternate – Not used
He describes himself as a nonvisual artist instead of using words like blind or visually impaired. He has sickle cell anaemia, which causes severe chronic pain and intense episodes that are known as crises. He uses a detection cane to navigate his surroundings. He calls it a detection cane rather than a white cane because he peeled off all the red and white tape when he started using it. He also uses a screen reading program when he’s on his computer. It sounds like a robot and reads out everything that his cursor touches.
His black hair is covered by a brown leather cap and his short full beard is also black. He wears headphones, a white shirt with a small brown print of leaves and mushrooms, and over it is a plaid flannel shirt that is open. He sits in a room with white walls. Just behind him is a stand that holds several hats.
Cole: The video will begin now.
0:30 CARMEN: So Debbie, I remember from our last conversation, we were talking about things that we want, and I was wondering, did you think about that since? I remember we talked about maybe asking other BEING artists, what would they want, and yeah, did you end up doing that?
0:54 DEBBIE: Yeah, I did. Well, actually, they want a bigger space. They want their own studio and maybe even open their own gift store.
1:08 CARMEN: Oh, that’s really cool, okay. I’m remembering parts of what we talked about last time and just thinking back to what this disability justice principle is that we’re working with. Which is leadership of the most impacted, and I was thinking like, what this idea gets at is that we need to be the people in positions of power, people most impacted even within our movement of disability. This disability movement, people with the least access, the least representation. So, about just making the world we want to live in. I really loved where we got to in our last conversation, which was talking about your dragon world, and how that space is something that is your own, that you can set the terms, where you can set terms and where you can invite people in that you want to be there. I thought, that was exactly, kind of, what the idea that this principle is getting at, which is, you know, the people who are the most impacted, with the least representation, and desi ions, you know, who don’t have access to these platforms, to develop policy, etc… Create their own worlds, and I think that’s very beautiful. And, I want to get back to that line of thinking where we were talking about your dragon world and you inviting me in. You talked about, also, a world that would be a friend, and who would be there in this place, if you were to invite others in there?
3:04 DEBBIE: Mine would be family, friends that I’ve known…I would want everybody there.
3:12 CARMEN: What would you invite them into?
3:15 DEBBIE: It would be very friendly. My dragons wouldn’t hurt people, that’s for sure…Talkative, [laughter]
3:26 CARMEN: Where would we be having a party in your dragon world?
3:30 DEBBIE: I would build a big, huge dome. It would be like a cave, and we would have all sorts of stuff going on in there, like games, a pool…[laughter].
3:50 CARMEN: Laughter, fun…
3:52 DEBBIE: Music galore [laughter].
3:55 CARMEN: Okay, that’s great, so yes, we are already thinking about a world that is accessible to multiple ways of being. And so, I do love this idea that you would bring family an friends. Do you think there’s anywhere in the world that, that exists? Where you could be with everybody in a friendly environment that is accessible, where you can set the terms?
4:27 DEBBIE: Yeah, I think BEING should be the seed where it all starts. Try to get people to come in, see us, and see what we do.
4:41 CARMEN: Yeah. Okay, that’s great. I want to go back to something that you shared about what people want, that being a bigger space, a space of their own. Can you talk about what your dream vision for BEING Studio would be? Or like maybe your dream vision for a place where you can make art?
5:06 DEBBIE: A bigger studio would be great. WE want a big gallery. We want to show off all our art, and not just little bits here and there. We want to show it all.We want it bigger. We want it out there in your face, instead of being in storage, waiting for somebody to want to buy it from us.
5:40 CARMEN: Yeah. I feel like what you’re describing is, you want recognition and, and you want joy and your community to be honoured for. What it is, and for the beautiful community that it is. Like, I don’t think many people who aren’t disabled understand this, but there are joyful parts of being disabled. And I think that holding onto joy is an exciting idea. And that seems to be what you have in the Dragon World as well as at BEING. We just need to be respected and honoured for the community that we are and for the joys, the, you know, the beauty that exists within our community. The excitement and the possibility comes from thinking about things like what is possible in your Dragon World. What is possible through the creation of art, where we can set that on our own terms around our realities and what is possible when we imagine taking over a platform that we think is valuable, that we want access to. And I thin it is possible to takeover that platform.
7:05 [Laughter.] Thank you for bringing some joy ad just like possibility to my day today.
7:17 DEBBIE: Aw, thank you so much, Carmen.
End.
Intersectionality
“Intersectionality, to me, reminds me of how the disabled experience of a person of colour is different from the disabled experience of a white person because people of colour have to deal with racism and ableism.”
— Rebel Black
Introduction to Intersectionality.
Cole: This black screen has been added to the original film.
The video Intersectionality is eight and a half minutes long. The video is closed captioned, with text that appears along the bottom of the screen or sometimes a music note in the top right corner.
Cole: In the video, an artist and their mentor talk to each other through an online video chat, like Zoom or FaceTime. Only their upper bodies are in view.
Cole: The video shows clips from their video chat mixed with moments focused on pictures of the artists and mentor’s artworks with their titles and animated scenes, which are like cartoons.
Cole: When the video chat clips are shown, usually only the person speaking appears.
The animated scenes usually look like an invisible person is creating a single line drawing with a black marker on a white background. Sometimes these drawings are coloured, or appear to be coloured in by the invisible person. These scenes show creatures like a butterfly or baby duck and often focus on key words that the people say in bubble letters, or sometimes look handwritten with curled letters.
One of the people in the video use “they/them” pronouns similar to how some people use the pronouns “he/him” or “she/her”. They are also non-binary, which could mean that they feel that they are neither male or female, or perhaps that their gender is more than just male or female.
Charisse Rayne is the artist that appears in this video. Rebel Black is their mentor. Charisse and Rebel helped write their descriptions.
Charisse describes herself as a Canadian woman of Trinidadian descent who gets around on her wheelchair and goes by she/her pronouns. She looks to be in her 40’s and is of average build. Her very, very short hair is black and she wears a red shirt. She appears from her shoulders up with the headrest of her wheelchair in view in a room with yellow walls with a sunset and ocean artwork.
Charisse’s artworks are bright and colourful. Many are abstract paintings or drawings with colours that blend into each other and shapes suggested by their titles. Some of her artworks look like a patchwork quilt with shapes like hearts or squares in different colours and materials put side by side or a bit over top of each other.
Rebel describes themself as a nonbinary person who uses they/them pronouns and identifies as zami, which is a reclaimed creole term meaning, what they call, “same gender loving.” Rebel also describes themself as a light skin multiracial person of Black American, Persian, Roma and Western European heritage. Their long hair is black, in a ponytail and they wear a black shirt. They sit in what appears to be a living room with fuschia pink walls.
Rebel’s artworks are bright, colourful patchwork quilts. The fabrics they use in their quilts have many different patterns including dots, wavy lines, flowers and leaves.
Cole: The video will begin now.
0:19 CHARISSE: Hi, my name is Charisse. I like to do art. I like to do digital art. I have been doing a lot of acrylic paintings.
0:34 REBEL: My name is Rebel. I use they/them pronouns. I make quilts, I sew.
0:44 REBEL: So, you’re an artist?
0:45 CHARISSE: Yes.
0:47 REBEL: I guess, I am an artist too.
0:51 CHARISSE: Yes, you are. Do you want to start talking about intersectionality?
0:58 CHARISSE: Yes.
1:01 REBEL: What does that word mean to you?
1:03 CHARISSE: Somebody that is comfortable with who they are.
1:10 REBEL: Somebody that is comfortable with who they are.. WE all have different parts of ourselves, huh?
1:15 CHARISSE: Yes.
1:20 REBEL: Yeah, it talks about the ways that different parts of us, can be used to make complicated ways that we’re kept out of society. Intersectionality, to me, reminds me of how the disabled experience of a person of colour is different than the disabled experience of a white person, because people of colour have to deal with racism and ableism, right?
1:54 CHARISSE: Right.
1:56 REBEL: So I’m taking this from the ten principles of disability justice by Sins Invalid..This principle says that we are many things and they all impact us. We are not only disabled, we are also each coming from a specific experience of race, class, sexuality, age, religious background, geographical location, immigration status and more depending on the context. We all have areas where we experience privilege as well as areas of oppression…So, we have a few things in common.
2:48 CHARISSE: Yes.
2:50 REBEL: I wonder what some differences are. You have dark skin and I have very light skin..
2:57 CHARISSE: Yes, that is a difference.
3:00 REBEL: Is that okay to notice?
3:03 CHARISSE: Yes!
3:04 REBEL: Cool.
3:06 What’s really unfair is that society takes our differences and says that they’re bad. Instead of just being who we are.
3:15 CHARISSE: Yeah.
3:18 REBEL: And so intersectionality says that the more different types of differences we have, the more society tries to keep us out. I was going back to the example of like disabled people of colour have different experiences then disabled white people. It may not always seem like it, but disabled white people have white privilege.
3:52 CHARISSE: Yeah, if you are a white person, you’ll get what you need.
4:05 REBEL: Yeah.
4:07 It can be a lot easier for white people to get what they need.
4:11 CHARISSE: Yes.
4:12 REBEL: Yeah. Even though the world is stacked against us for being disabled, white people might know how to navigate systems better. They might have family that knows how. People might have better feelings toward them.
4:27 CHARISSE: Yeah.
4:32 REBEL: Yeah. Do you know who came up with the idea of Intersectionality?
4:36 CHARISSE: No.
4:37 REBEL: Her name was Kimberly Crenshaw and she is a black woman. And she noticed that in court, black women weren’t able to win discrimination cases, saying, like I’ve been discriminated against because I’m a black woman, Because the court only looked like, were you discriminated against as a woman or were you discriminated against as a black person? But, not as both.
5:13 So I’m disabled. And for people who can’t see me, I am also very light skin. I’m a multiracial person, but sometimes people think I’m white. And in December of 2021, this past December, I lost my ability to walk, because of pain, and people were nice to me at the hospital. And when it was time to go home, they made arrangements for me to have home healthcare come out and do occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, multiple times per week, while I was at home.
6:11 And I think it would have been harder for me to get that support, if people didn’t think that I was white and if I didn’t have proximity, closeness to my white partner who has good healthcare insurance. And that’s true. Even though I don’t identify as a man or a woman, I identify as a gender or non-gendered. And people called me she and her the whole time at the hospital, even though, I use they/them pronouns.
6:58 CHARISSE: Yeah.
7:02 REBEL: But, still my light skin privilege gave me advantages
7:06 CHARISSE: Yeah.
7:08 REBEL: So intersectionality talks about privilege and oppression.
7:17 Thank you for talking with me, Charisse.
7:20 CHARISSE: No problem.
7:22 REBEL: I really liked getting to know you. You seem like a really cool person.
7:26 CHARISSE: Thank you, you are a really nice person too.
7:31 REBEL: Cool.
7:34 CHARISSE: Bye!
Collective liberation
“We just need to be respected and honoured for the community that we are and for the joys, that beauty that exists within our community.”
— Carmen Papalia
Introduction to Collective Liberation.
Cole: This black screen has been added to the original film.
The video Collective Liberation is six minutes long. The video is closed captioned, with text that appears along the bottom of the screen or sometimes a music note in the top right corner.
Cole: In the video, many artists and their mentors talk to each other through an online video chat, like Zoom or FaceTime. Only their upper bodies are in view.
The video shows clips from their video chats mixed with animated scenes, which are like cartoons, and some moments that focus on artworks by Charisse Rayne.
Cole: When the video chat clips are shown, usually only the person speaking appears.
The animated scenes usually look like an invisible person is creating a single line drawing with a black marker on a white background. Sometimes these drawings are coloured, or appear to be coloured in by the invisible person. These scenes often focus on key words they say or match what the people in the video talk about, like plants growing or hearts circling the Earth. The words often look like bubble letters, or sometimes look handwritten with curled letters.
Many of the people in the video use the pronoun “they” similar to how some people use the pronouns “he” or “she”. Some of the people are also genderfluid, which could mean that some days they feel more feminin or masculine, or sometimes they may not feel like either.
The artists Bing Cherry, Henry Hong and Debbie Ratcliffe appear in the video along with mentors Jet Coghlan, Pree Rehal and Carmen Papalia.
Jet describes themself as a person who people think of as female and uses they/them pronouns. Jet has a tan skin tone, looks to be around 30 years old, and has an athletic build. Their long hair is brown with bangs and worn in a ponytail. They have glasses and wear a septum nose ring through the part of their nose between their nostrils, a piercing stud above their upper left lip, a stud below their bottom right lip, a black, red and white plaid long sleeve shirt and a long chain necklace. They sit in front of a green, leafy background.
Bing describes themself as a genderfluid person with FASD and ADHD. Bing says that they sometimes go by he and she, but use the pronoun “they” in the video. Bing presents as white, is 39 years old and is of average build. Their long hair is black with bangs and they wear glasses. They appear from the neck up, so it’s not really clear what kind of clothes they’re wearing. In the video they regularly rock back and forth as they sit in a room with white walls and a window. There is a large black and white painting of people on the wall behind them.
Pree describes themself as a genderfluid Brown Person of Colour with Panjab heritage who is multiply disabled, chronically ill and uses they/them pronouns. Pree is of full build and says that most people think they are 25. Their short hair is black and they wear glasses, a backwards tan baseball hat, a septum nose ring, a gray t-shirt and have many tattoos on their left arm. They sit in a black computer chair in a room with white walls.
Henry describes himself as a Chinese Canadian middle aged man with autism who uses he/him pronouns. He is of average build and his very short hair is black and gray, which some people call “salt & pepper”, and he wears glasses and a red sweater or black shirt. He appears mostly from the neck up and sits in a room that looks like a dining or living room with a cabinet and tan coloured walls with paintings that hang on them.
Carmen describes himself as a non-visual artist. He has sickle cell anaemia and uses he/ him pronouns. He describes his skin tone as olive, and that he has Mediterranean ancestry, from Italy and Greece. Carmen is 40, with an average build. Carmen explains that he uses “non-visual artist” instead of blind or visually impaired, and that sickle cell anaemia causes him severe chronic pain. To get around when he’s outside or somewhere new, he uses what he calls a detection cane. It started off as a white cane, then he peeled off all the red and white tape.
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His black hair is covered by a brown leather cap and his short full beard is also black. He wears headphones, a white shirt with a small brown print of leaves and mushrooms, and over it is a plaid flannel shirt that is open. He sits in a room with white walls. Just behind him is a stand that holds several hats.
He describes himself as a nonvisual artist instead of using words like blind or visually impaired. He has sickle cell anaemia, which causes severe chronic pain and intense episodes that are known as crises. He uses a detection cane to navigate his surroundings. He calls it a detection cane rather than a white cane because he peeled off all the red and white tape when he started using it. He also uses a screen reading program when he’s on his computer. It sounds like a robot and reads out everything that his cursor touches.
Debbie describes themself as a person with a disability called Williams syndrome who uses they/them pronouns. Debbie says their cultural background is white with Mi’kmag and French heritage with white-beige coloured skin and are 55 years old. They also say that they have the nose of a dragon, ears that stick out like an elf, small hands and are about the size of an elf. Debbie’s short, “pixie cut” style hair is light brown and they wear glasses, a colourful cloth face mask, white earbud headphones, and a black hooded sweater. They appear in front of a blurred background.
Cole: The video will begin now.
0:46 JET: Even though we might not come from the same circumstances. I can see that in a way that we are just like fighting for the same cause.
1:00 In the fight of struggle, I do believe that every person has something to contribute. There;s no person who is like just an object or is useless. So, we all have different abilities and they all don’t have to be the same and they don’t have to be standardized, right>
1:28 Recognizing that we all come from very different backgrounds, but we do understand that we are sort of kind of like seeking something really similar, which is like collective, like liberation. I hope that makes sense… [laughter]
1:46 BING: Yeah, that does, make sense to me… [laughter]
1:53 PREE: Do you have any ideas about that? Any thought on collective liberation?
1:58 HENRY: No, not really.
1:59 PREE: No, that’s okay. Collective being like ‘together’. And liberation being like ‘free, happy future.’ So what do you think about, if you think about, like interdependence and in community, in the future?
2:24 HENRY: I feel happy. I feel alive.
2:28 PREE: I love that. You feel happy and you feel alive.
2:38 CARMEN: There’s this disabled scholar and curator whose name is Eliza Chandler, and Eliza talks about dwelling with disability. So, like, instead of trying to minimize and erase and, you know, alleviate disability or conditions on disability, let’s spend time with disability. Let’s try not to integrate into non-disabled culture, but let’s nurture disability culture. And I think that is what you’re talking about, is nurturing our culture as people who are disabled and inviting people into it, rather than asking for access that we don’t have. We just need to be respected and honoured for the community that we are. And for the joys, and the beauty that exists within our community.
3:33 DEBBIE: Yeah, and help us understand why we’re not getting the access we need. Tell us why.
3:43 JET: Every so often, we might wake up and feel, “oh, I don’t know what to do or I don’t feel like there’s much I can do or I don’t know where to start.” And I think that. That kind of mentality, it’s not easy to like get out of that train of thought, and like really do the opposite action. But I want to remind people to really just try your best. Like, imagine, like put your imagination to flow, especially in those times when you’re feeling that things are not getting better, that things are not changing. Why? Because you stop imagining a future in which you can see and live in a way that you deserve and that you will feel happy. And with and where others also deserve, you know, then you can, you can create that world.
4:46 It is possible. It really is. It’s just we need to undo a bunch of things that we have been living with for a while, that we’re not used to.
END.
Acknowledgements
Visualizing Justice was produced and edited by fin-xuan shine with music by Bucko Art Machine.
The artists featured in the videos are Carmen Papalia, Debbie Ratcliffe, Bing Cherry, Henry Hong, Jet Coghlan, Rebel Black, Pree Rehal, and Charisse Rayne.
Disability justice was coined in 2015 by a group of Black, brown, queer, and trans disabled activists from the Disability Justice Collective, including Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, Leroy Moore, Eli Clare, and Sebastian Margaret.
BEING Studio gratefully acknowledges the support of Canada Council for the Arts and the Ottawa Community Foundation.