Examine Life

                Take a walk with me

            

Sanura Taylor was born with a rare birth defect called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita. This is a birth defect that causes the joints to have a reduction in mobility which causes a decrease to muscle development and growth.  Above is a self portrait  showing her true form in her eyes.  The amazing part of this is that it was done with her mouth.  All her paintings are done with her mouth.

In her interview with Judith Butler, many topics were discussed. At the start of the video, Judith stated that she thought they should take a walk together, a routine that Sanura said she did almost every day.  In fact she uses the word "walk", even though she is not physically able to walk, just like other disabled people like her use the word "walk".

Sanura chose San Francisco to live in because it was accommodating to people with physical impairments.  This included public transportation, curb cuts, and building accessibility. She stated that because of this there is now "social acceptance". Now there were more disabled people like her in her community who were able to be out in the public and she was no longer the center of attention.

There is a discomfort every day in her life when she goes against the norm and the way people look at her when she uses other body parts to accomplish tasks. An example of this is when she goes to a coffee shop and she uses her moth to bring her coffee to the table.  People still feel uncomfortable seeing her do this.

It wasn't until her early twenties that she became aware of "disability" as being a political issue and the effects it had on our society. She said many people had a hard understanding of what disability was. 

This is where she discovered the word "disability" was the disabling effects on society and social repression that included limited housing and career opportunities, being socially isolated, and as she said "basically a cultural inversion".  Impairment on the other hand is a "unique embodiment" medically that affects your life.

                                                

To Sanura, it was a political protest to enter a coffee shop and ask for help.  She said that "it was looked down on" and that 

" it is not taken care of in society". 

When Sanura made the response off the top of her head  "when in those in between moments of being in between male and female, and being in between death and health, when do you count as a human".  Judith's response was "my sense is that what's at stake here is really re-thinking the human as a site of inter-dependency"  which was when the topic of the coffee shop and Sanura asking for assistance was re-visited.  Judith made a valid statement at this point, "do we or do we not live in a world where we assist each other. Do we or do we not live in a world where we help each other with basic needs and are basic needs there to be decided on as a social issue and not just my personal or your person issue".  Strong words. 

 At times we do need to help each other no matter where or why.  The world needs to show more understanding toward this concept and toward people with disabilities.  This is a challenge in the world to get others to help when needed or asked.  A challenge I can not understand.  Sanura made us aware that we are all going to age and we are all going to die no matter what our body can do.

I enjoyed walking and listening to Sanura and Judith.

*Paintings in this blog were painted by Sanura Taylor