We will be visible

On Monday August 24th at 8pm at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, my company 'a jay stewart project' presents Hard & Able: celebrating queer disability. It is by far my proudest artistic accomplishment project thus far. I had the idea about a year ago to put on a cabaret event featuring artists that identify as both queer and disabled. Why? Cuz I'm queer and disabled and wanted to meet other similar artists.

First, I did my research to see if anybody else was doing similar events. I really dislike creating something from scratch if somebody else was doing it. Research demonstrated that others HAD been doing similar events, but no longer. I applied for a grant from Community One and was the lucky recipient back in April.

This put into motion a call out to the community to locate artists that were queer and disabled. Which proved to not be so easy. I discovered that the word 'disabled' is a word that many of us choose not to subscribe to. It's you know...for those...that are really disabled. If you wear glasses, suffer from depression or have a heart murmur...that's shitty, but not enough to be disabled. WRONG-O in my books!!! That stuff all qualifies as a disability and I wanted individuals like this to be a part of the night. It's an evening for all those that exist on the disability spectrum to come together and say that a) we are visible and b) we're immensely talented!

As someone who suffers physical pain daily and wears hearing aids, you may or may not have ever classified me as disabled. Why?  Cuz my disabilities are not all that visible. I've been like this since birth and my Mom has always prided me on celebrating my differences. Who I am today is owed very much to having such a supportive individual in my life. I was brought up to acknowledge my disability, but to never let it stand in the way of accomplishing any of my goals.

I invite you to come out to Hard & Able: celebrating queer disability and support artists that identify as both queer and disabled. It's going to be an exciting evening filled with artists doing drag, spoken word, songs, skits with videos and photography too.

If you're not in Toronto, you can still be a part of the event by paying for access to the live feed. E-mail me at jay@ajaystewartproject.com for more information.  Check out the facebook event for those in the GTA

I hope that you will come and bare witness to a small step towards making each of these artists a visible part of the artistic community.

In an effort to make this event accessible, the venue is wheelchair accessible and there will be ASL interpretation provided.

Promoting Disability!

Often times, my work, academics, and art collide together perfectly. This week is no different.

I am in the process of researching an essay for my equity and human rights course. The essay is on individuals with disabilities and employment opportunities. There is a huge untapped pool of intelligent individuals who are not receiving work in some part to the attitudes of those that are in the position of hiring. Instead of looking at the positive contributions, they may immediately jump to the negative start-up impact of accommodating someone with a disability. When no such impact may exist. I've read through about 20 journal papers so far and it's going to be a great paper. :)

At work and in life, I'm often reminded that I exist with an invisible disability. New encounters with people see that the topic may come up and it always seems to surprise them at first. Which is odd, cuz why can't somebody be like me and be hearing impaired? They try to find the hearing aids and it's like a game of 'where are they?' They sit in my ear canal, not exactly a place that people spend hours staring at. I'd hope that my eyes would lure them in, not a hole in the side of my head. :P

I'm producing a cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times on Monday August 24th featuring only artists that identify as queer and disabled. Not just queers, not just disabled, not allies. I think it's important that minorities within minorities be recognized. Especially a grouping that may be forgotten or over looked. The most interesting thing with this project is those that by law definitions and mine do classify as disabled who don't own that word. I'm certainly someone who sees myself as fitting into the mainstream, but I've also proposed shows that put it right out there, 'deaf, bi, and sick' - makes things pretty clear. ;) "Hard & Able: celebrating queer disability" will be on Monday August 24th. If you want to perform, let me know by July 10th at jay@ajaystewartproject.com.

At my work, we're presently taking accessible customer service training and it's a great initiative. Although, the training is a bit of a joke. If someone is blind do you: 1) point and say 'hey, it's just over there.', 2) 'pet their guide dog without permission' or 3) 'assist them as needed.' It's like saying is the sky 'blue', 'yellow', or 'maroon.' There should be some thought put into the training and trust, I've made my comments well known to those facilitating. :) Thankfully, I'll get to put 200 of my own staff through the training and make my own adjustments.

Secretly, this has been a life long passion of mine to remove the stigma of what disability represents. From the gr. 12 debate that had my opponent arguing the merits of sterilizing disabled individuals, where I crushed him and the entire class that was on his side.

To me, disability is a spectrum statement that covers such a vast amount of individuals. However, people still seem to see it as one thing: individuals incapable of taking care of themselves.

When I'd say a vast majority are strong empowering individuals that consistently demonstrate that the only limitations that exist are those that you put on them.