Still Living the Edges: A Disabled Women's Reader

473 Pages·2021·14.898 MB·English

by  Diane Driedger (editor)

STILL LIVING THE EDGES

STILL LIVING THE EDGES
A Disabled Women's Reader
edited by
DIANE DRIEDGER
Copyright © 2021 Diane Driedger
Except for the use of short passages for review purposes, no part of this book may
be reproduced, in part or in whole, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording, or any information
or storage retrieval system,without prior permission in writing from the publisher or a
licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright).
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the
Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial
support of the Government of Canada.
Front cover artwork: Kara Springer, Untitled, Ana & Andre series, 2015, 36 x 54 inches,
archival pigment print. Artist website: www.karaspringer.ca.
Val Fullard
Front cover design:
Cover Image: Diane Driedger, Fibro Pain Points (After Henri Matisse's Icarus, Jazz),
Watercolour, 2017.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Still living the edges : a disabled women's reader / edited by Diane Driedger.
Names: Driedger, Diane, editor.
Description: Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200330950 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200331027 |
ISBN 9781771338332
(softcover) | ISBN 9781771338349 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781771338356 (PDF)
Subjects: LCSH: Women with disabilities—Canada. | LCSH: Discrimination
against people with disabilities—Canada. | LCSH: Sex discrimination against
women—Canada. | LCSH: Sociology of disability—Canada.
Classification: LCC HV1569.3.W65 S75 2021 | DDC 362.4082/0971—dc23
Printed and Bound in the United States.
Published in Canada by
Inanna Publications and Education Inc.
210 Founders College, York University
4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Telephone: [phone] Fax [phone]
Email: [email protected] Website: www.inanna.ca
Note from the publisher: Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright
material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information
enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
Dedicated to my mother, Darlene Driedger (1931-2018)

Contents
Acknowledgements
xiii
Introduction
Diane Driedger
xv
Who We Are on the Edges
I. Deaf Out Loud
Joanna Hawkins
1
II. Pink Glitter Canes, and Red Matte Lips:
Disabled Women and Fashion
Megan Linton
8
III. Invalid
Diane Driedger
11
IV. Dissing
Diane Driedger
12
V. The Rat
Kelley Jo Burke
13
vii
STILL LIVING THE EDGES
VI. Self-Portrait as Frida Kahlo
Charlene Du Toit
23
VII. Cyborgia
Hilary Brown
25
VIII. Another Same Day
Alessia Di Virgilio
27
XI. “Strong Black Women”: African American Women with Disabilities,
Intersecting Identities, and Inequality
Angel Love Miles
31
X. Untitled (Mermaid)
Jesse Turner
56
XI. Chronically Ill, Critically Crip?
Revisiting the Poetry and Poetics of Dissonant Disabilities
Emilia Nielsen
58
XII. question marks
Jennifer Hammond Sebring
79
XIII. Granny Prowl: Indigena Disability Survivance
Annharte (Marie Baker)
81
XIV. Blindness Gain and the Art of Non-Visual Reading
Hannah Thompson
87
viii
CONTENTS
Naming the Edges: Barriers
XV. Why Disabled Beauty Is Not an Oxymoron
Kate Grisim
103
XVI. Refusing to Be Silent, Literally: A Reflection
on the Frustration, Collaboration, and Action of Two Women
with Speech Disabilities
Michelle Hewitt
105
XVII. Chronic Illness: Grand Canyon
Diane Driedger
116

XVIII. You Don’t Look Like You Have Dementia
Phyllis Fehr
117
XIX. Living Poorly: Disabled Women on Income Support
Sally Kimpson
119
XX. The Wall, My Roots
Emily Gillespie
135
XXI. Women with Disabilities in Leadership:
The Challenges of Patriarchy
Shanaaz Majiet and Adelene Africa
138
XXII. The Year of the Straw in Two Voices
Michelle Hewitt
158
XXIII. Wheeling Montréal as a Disabled Woman
Laurence Parent
161
ix