today, april 11th, is the anniversary of Mel Baggs' death. Mel Baggs was one of the early founders of the neurodiversity movement and believed that no one was too disabled for human rights, something that modern nd movements fail to understand to this day. sie was so instrumental to my understanding of literally everything. sie died from medical ableism and neglect during the beginning of the pandemic. we would be nowhere fucking near where we are now without hir. i've decided to make a masterlist of some of my favorite posts of hirs, organized into different categories.
(some of these are listed in more than one category because they overlap so much)
here are some of the "essentials" (what you might have already read by hir/should read first):
- hir memorial site hosted by ASAN:
- In My Language
- the oak manifesto
- There is ableism at the heart of your oppression, no matter what your oppression might be
- Getting The Truth Out (many pages, parody of bad autism awareness campaign called "getting the word out")
- the meaning of self-advocacy
- what makes institutions bad
- aspie supremacy can kill
here are some of hir beautiful writings on perceiving/communicating with hir environment as an autistic person, and on communication in general:
- up in the clouds and down in the valley: my richness and yours
- distance underthought
- the naked mechanisms of echolalia
- empty mirrors and redwoods
- the fireworks are interesting
- hir tumblr tag #sensing (@withasmoothroundstone)
on personhood and who has the authority to take it away:
on institutions and the I/DD service system:
- caregiver abuse takes many forms
- "i don't know that person's program"
- what my home means to me
- dd service system tag
- god help the critic of the dawn: glamour and its fallout
- what makes institutions bad
- post on the JRC
- outposts in our heads
on online social justice communities/their inaccessibility:
- politics, ethics and mental widgets
- hir tumblr tags #outside the wall and #little packages (@withasmoothroundstone)
misc:
- The Bones My Family Gave Me
- Please violate only one stereotype at a time
- My sort of people, just as real as theirs.
- Reviving the concept of cousins
- gender tag
this is hir poems and creative works:
this is hir writing on autistics.org:
may hir memory be a blessing/revolution.