Transcript of, "Crip Queer Pride with Daisy Wislar", produced by Rooted in Rights DAISY: Hi! I'm Daisy, I use they/them pronouns, and I'm queer and I'm disabled. [audio description]: Daisy walking with a cane, wearing a rainbow-colored cap and t-shirt that says, "The future is accessible." (DAISY): I've been disabled since birth, and growing up I had a lot of surgeries and physical therapies in order to reach certain physical benchmarks that doctors told me I was "supposed" to have reached at my age. [audio description]: Daisy is joined by two friends who wear rainbow and trans pride flags. (DAISY): I was told to stretch my hamstring this way, to turn my foot that way, walk straighter, stand taller, and basically make my body fit into other people's standards that were never really within my reach to begin with. I had no access to disabled role models in the media or in my personal life. I had no way of thinking about my disability outside of a medical context, and as a result, I totally internalized the idea that my disability was a "bad thing" that needed medical intervention in order to be fixed. At the same time as I was going through adolescence, I started realizing that I wasn't straight. Luckily I had some out friends, supportive teachers, and an active Gay Straight Alliance, that really supported me and helped me process what that meant for me. [audio description]: Daisy and their friends arrive at pride, multicolored flags in the background. (DAISY): Even though I started to feel a real pride in my queer identity, there was this entire part of me, my disability, that I didn't get to celebrate like I did my queerness. For example, I once had someone that I matched with on a lesbian dating app tell me, "Aww, it's okay Babe, I still think you're beautiful, I'll take care of you," after I told her I was disabled. [audio description]: Daisy cringes. DAISY: Yeah that was bad. [chuckles] I just wanted to scream, "You don't have to tell me it's okay to be disabled! I know it's okay! I don't need you to take care of me, and I don't need your apology just for existing as myself!" In that moment, it hit me extra hard that the queer community isn't always disability-inclusive. All I could think was, "Well I guess this community isn't really mine after all." I started connecting with people who are unapologetic about being both queer and disabled. I met people who took rules about what men and women were "supposed to do," or how bodies were "supposed to look," and rewrote them, revised them, or threw them away entirely. And then I realized that I could apply the same thing to my own life, not only in terms of my queerness, but in terms of my disability as well. I slowly started to experiment with bow ties, button downs, backwards hats, and other markers of gender outside of the feminine norm. I also started using my cane when I actually needed it, rather than feeling ashamed of it. I realized that I could invite people to stare on my own terms, and find pride, confidence, and empowerment in that. Now, dressing like this is like a visual representation of all the ways my body is defiant of norms and expectations. [audio description]: Daisy showing off their outfit. (DAISY): What I've learned from this is that disability is an identity in its own right, and being able to claim that identity may take some time. I mean, I was born disabled and it took me years and years. [audio description]: Photo of Daisy. Their t-shirt reads, "Queer and disabled." (DAISY): I don't have to be ashamed. My disability isn't just a medical condition. My body doesn't need to be fixed, and I am so, so proud of that. Pride and comfort aren't inherent, but shame doesn't have to be either. [audio description]: Daisy shares a milkshake with their partner. Their faces gently touch. (DAISY): We're all on our own journey to understanding what it means to be queer, disabled, trans, whatever it may be. Know that wherever you are in that process, your journey is valid and you are not alone in it. Written and directed by Daisy Wislar. To learn more about Storytellers like me, visit RootedinRights.org/Storytellers. End of Transcript.