International Conference on Queerness & Disability Planned
By Corbett Joan O'Toole (Corbett@disabledwomen.net)
"Can you help me? One of the women in my organization is a lesbian. But in my country all of the gay organizations are hiding. If the government finds out that you are gay, then there are problems for you and your family."
This whispered question came during a break at an international disability conference. It was posed to me because I openly discuss the situation facing people who are both disabled and queer. "Queer" is a word sometimes used to mean a wide range of people or people sometimes write it as LGBTI. They may be a lesbian (woman who loves women) or a gay man (man who loves men) or bisexual (someone who loves both women and men) or a transgendered person (someone born one gender than changes to the other gender (i.e. from male to female), or even an intersexed person (someone who has no primary gender - often caused by genetic disability).
It is challenging and often frustrating to get information about people who are disabled and queer. Most of the queer organizations do not have any information about people with disabilities. And most of the disability organizations do not have information about people who are queer. In fact, most organizations seem to assume or pretend that there are no queer disabled people. But numerous studiesindicate that between 8-10% of any group of people will be queer people.
Around the world, people are changing this situation. In most countries some disabled queers are talking about their issues and asking disabled and queer organizations to become more inclusive and accessible. In a few countries, there are organizations of disabled queer people (see Resources below).
In fact, in June 2002 there will be an international conference on Disability and Queerness in San Francisco, California, USA. Over 200 people, queer and not queer, disabled and not disabled, are expected to come to this historic event and report on the situation of disabled queers around the world.
Whether you know about the issues facing disabled queers or not, the most important first step is for people to acknowledge that there are disabled queer people within their organizations. When disabled people who are also queer see that the leadership is making them welcome, they will come forward and articulate their needs. Organizations that have done this find that by including a wide range of people, the organization grows stronger.
Resources
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Deaf Queer Resource Center
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http://www.deafqueer.org/
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LGBT Disabled Youth site
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http://communities.msn.com/LGBTYouthwithDisabilities/_whatsnew.msnw
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LGBT Disabled webring (multiple sites)
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http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=lgbtdisability&list
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Resources for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Queers with Disabilities
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http://www.igc.apc.org/pwd/lgbtq.htm
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GEMMA
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http://www.directions-plus.org.uk/az/gemma.html
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REGARD
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http://www.regard.dircon.co.uk/
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Deaf Aztlan (for deaf latinos/as) in Spanish and English
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http://www.deafvision.net/aztlan/welcome.html
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Deaf Queer Community E-Zine
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http://www.deafqueer.org/ctnmagazine/FLASH/
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Gay and Lesbian Stutterer Webring
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http://www.fortunecity.com/village/degeneres/65/
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GimpGirl
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http://www.gimpgirl.com/
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Great book on disability and sexuality (including LGBTI)
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The Sexual Politics of Disability
Tom Shakespeare (Editor), Kath Gillespie-Sells (Editor), Dominic Davies (Editor), 1996: Continuum International Publishing Group - Academic and Professional; ISBN: 0304333298
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She Dances to Different Drums
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Kath Gillespie Sells, Mildrette Hill, Bree Robbins
Interviews with disabled women who are heterosexual, black and/or lesbian. The only book that interviews disabled women from all three categories. 1998: King's Fund; ISBN: 1857171586
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Queer and Dis/Abled
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Special Issue Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity
Volume 4, Issue 1, January 1999
Guest Editors: Dawn Atkins and Cathy Marston
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Disability Resources - gay links
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http://www.disabilityresources.org/GAY.html
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Access Plus Spanning Identities
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http://www.apsi.org.au/apsi.htm
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Gay Games 2002
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http://www.sydney2002.org.au/frameset.asp
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