#access intimacy

[trans-axolotl]

(described in alt text)

from Access Intimacy: The Missing Link by Mia Mingus

[pixie-stick-it-to-the-man]

idk who needs to hear this but being anti-psych doesn’t mean you can’t be a psychiatric consumer/survivor (for folks who don't know about c/s/x it might be worth a google). of course, many of us aren’t consumers, but if you desire mad liberation, you have to recognize that not everyone will engage their madness in ways that you will.  we can imagine and work towards a world where mad people are liberated & psych is abolished. that doesn’t mean people won’t find ways that work for them to engage with their madness in whatever shape that takes. 

[campgender]

[Quoting Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha] “My bed, heaped with cushions, is my office, my world headquarters. My life is arranged around my bed. There is good art to look at, a window, my vibrator plugged in, a stack of books within easy reach. I lie in it thinking of all my other crip poet friends who spend most of their days in bed too. Draped in pillows, red and plum sheets … curtained by plum sari fabric. This is my place of power, the fulcrum, the place everything emerges from.” Black Power Naps takes the “useless” space of the tired femme’s bed and makes it lushly accessible for public use. And as Acosta and Sosa drape their sleep stations in velvet and chiffon, they literally “make room for the other dreams, the ones that are fertile ground for creating the versions of ourselves that thrive and live long lives.”

from The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival by Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley (2022)

[schar-aac]

"access intimacy" (also here)

image: a pink forearm crutch and a dark blue pair of headphones, with two pink hearts and a blue heart between them.

[wreckitremy]

I've been working on a disability presentation for progressive victory for a while now and I've got a general idea of how its going to go, but still have to write the actual script and slides.

Most of the slides are going to be defining terms that will be necessary to understand, so i can talk about the struggles of being disabled, and trying to participate in political action.

These terms don't have dictionary definitions so are going to be harder to explain. Most likely I will have multiple definitions of them. So far these are the terms I need to define.

Ableism

Executive dysfunction

Curb cutting

Spoon theory

Top down learning/bottom up learning

Access intimacy

Autistic masking

Social scripts

Hypervigilence

Infantalization

If you have a favorite definition of any of these please share, bc ironically I'm having executive dysfunction in getting this done.

[kn0w-h0p3]

for @kissadyke

[howwekeepcriptime]

Paid opportunity here for sick/Disabled Two-Spirit, trans and queer people who are interested in talking to me about their experiences of time! See my Call for Participants page for more info if you're interested in applying. 👨🏻‍🦼💨

[spacemancharisma]

i just saw your tag about access intimacy! i havent heard the term before, can you tell me more?

oh my god yeah!! so it’s a term utilized by the disabled community to describe the phenomenon of someone understanding your access needs and accommodating them as an act of love and care.

Mia Mingus coined the term (afaik) and described it as:

"Access intimacy is that elusive, hard to describe feeling when someone else “gets” your access needs. The kind of eerie comfort that your disabled self feels with someone on a purely access level. Sometimes it can happen with complete strangers, disabled or not, or sometimes it can be built over years...It is not dependent on someone having a political understanding of disability, ableism or access...Access intimacy is also the intimacy I feel with many other disabled and sick people who have an automatic understanding of access needs out of our shared similar lived experience of the many different ways ableism manifests in our lives."

that post was describing access intimacy exactly- the act of saying “I see you. I know you. I love you.” by knowing and responding to someone’s accommodation needs. it’s a really beautiful phenomenon and one of the deepest forms of understanding and/or solidarity i’ve ever experienced.

(please note, in case it isn’t clear: this is a term used by disabled people to describe their experiences only. access intimacy is not something an able-bodied, able-minded person experiences- yes, they can create that feeling and sense of intimacy for someone else, but they can’t be like “wow access intimacy” when someone holds the door for them or something lmao. just so that’s clear since ableds love to fuck around.)