The way that we learn about Helen Keller in school is an absolute outrage. We read “The Miracle Worker”- the miracle worker referring to her teacher; she’s not even the title character in her own story. The narrative about disabled people that we are comfortable with follows this format- “overcoming” disability. Disabled people as children.
Helen Keller as an adult, though? She was a radical socialist, a fierce disability advocate, and a suffragette. There’s no reason she should not be considered a feminist icon, btw, and the fact that she isn’t is pure ableism- while other white feminists of that time were blatent racists, she was speaking out against Woodrew Wilson because of his vehement racism. She supported woman’s suffrage and birth control. She was an anti-war speaker. She was an initial donor to the NAACP. She spoke out about the causes of blindness- often disease caused by poverty and poor working conditions. She was so brave and outspoken that the FBI had a file on her because of all the trouble she caused.
Yet when we talk about her, it’s either the boring, inspiration porn story of her as a child and her heroic teacher, or as the punchline of ableist, misogynistic jokes. It’s not just offensive, it’s downright disgusting.
the reason the story stops once hellen keller learns to talk is no one wanted to listen to what she had to say
how’s that for a fucking punchline
Another part of the story that is often conveniently omitted is that Anne Sullivan, the “miracle worker” in question, was also a visually impaired woman (and abolitionist) who faced her own struggles finding accessible education. That was why she was able to teach Helen Keller and connect her with resources that would allow her to flourish in academia. When Helen Keller was railing against poverty-induced diseases that caused blindness, she was talking about things like trachoma which was what had caused her friend’s vision loss.
The fact that Sullivan is often portrayed as able-bodied in retellings of their story is indicative of the narrative that is most comfortable for an ableist society: that accessibility and equality are gifts bestowed upon the disabled by able-bodied heroes. Disabled children are never taught that they have the power to lift eachother up, and that’s a crying shame.
These heartbreaking and incredibly moving images show the affection and love shown during the height of the Aids crisis. Photographer Gideon Mendel’s project The Ward began in 1993 when he spent a number of weeks on the Charles Bell wards in London’s Middlesex Hospital. All the patients on the ward were dying with the knowledge that there was no cure for the disease. During this time antiretroviral medications were not available and patients on the ward faced the prospect of an early death.
anyways fuck america for not educating students about the aids crisis whatsoever
my drama teacher mentioned to us “most of my friends from college are dead” and I knew right away what he meant. he explained “I was a drama major in the 1980s” and still no one else in the class understood. he explained a little bit about the aids crisis, but these kids had no idea before. it is truly heartbreaking to hear about it, and especially to see it being erased.
so we know the upside down pink triangle was used as the marker for gays during the holocaust.
but actually, it wasn’t just gays. homosexuality was considered a sex offence, so pedophiles and rapists were also marked with the pink triangle. this is probably where the gays are pedos thing came from.
it’s literally a Nazi borne symbol, it’s also intimately aligned with actual sex offenders.
the symbols were not meant to be subtle. they were a branding. big and obvious. it looks somewhat fake because of it. this is a black and white photo, with the triangles colorized
you can very clearly see the German spelling of homosexual above the pink triangles. I don’t read German so unfortunately I can’t tell you the rest
it’s fine to reclaim the symbol. but you need to understand the abhorrent and disgusting history.
This year, on the 31 March, we lost Gilbert Baker, gay artist and creator of the gay pride flag. Today we would celebrate his 66th birthday. Let’s remember him as the wonderful person he was.
Lesbian On Main 