Episode 29: Support Disabled Creators

TRANSCRIPT OF “SUPPORT DISABLED CREATORS”

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MALE VO [00:03]
This is Bad Attitudes.

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LAURA [00:20]

Hello friends and strangers! Welcome to another episode of Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast about Disability. I’m your host, Laura.

Facts are facts, and the fact is, disabled creators do not get the same support and consideration given to other minority creators, and that needs to change.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Nora! Thank you Nora!

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As always, I want to remind you that disability is not a monolith. My experience as a disabled person is going to be different from the experiences of other disabled people. I am one voice for the disabled community but I am not the only voice.

I’ve been sitting on this episode for a while, always knowing I wanted to make it but not sure when the right time would be. Spoiler alert: There’s no such thing as “the right time.”

If you’re an OG listener, you know that in addition to producing this podcast, I also have my own small creative business where I sell original artwork and illustrations in various formats. Being a business owner is hard and it’s especially hard to break into the crowded creative market. You might think I would have a bit of an edge being a disabled artist, because that’s pretty niche, but, not really.

I’m in a variety of social media communities for creatives and small business owners and often see customers looking specifically for, for example, businesses run by people of color or people of the LGBTQ+ community. This is especially true if they are looking for products on certain topics or certain types of merchandise. But I have never, ever seen anyone looking for a disabled business owner.

Let me make it perfectly clear that I am in favor of lifting up all minority creators, sellers, or business owners, whether it be women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, etc. Breaking into the marketplace as a creator or seller is incredibly hard, and those other factors can sometimes be a hindrance rather than a help.

It makes perfect sense to seek out Black business owners during February, as it’s Black History Month, or for Black Lives Matter merchandise. And it makes perfect sense to seek out LGBTQ+ owned businesses during Pride Month or for Pride-related merch. If all that makes perfect sense, why doesn’t it seem to make sense to people to seek out disabled creators for disability-related merch or during Disability Pride Month? (July, if you’re wondering.)

Although I often see people looking for autism merchandise, for instance, they never follow up by saying, “Preferably from an autistic creator.”

Now, I don’t think you HAVE to buy disability merch from a disabled creator. And I don’t think you HAVE to buy LGBTQ+ merch from a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and I don’t think you HAVE to buy anti-racism merch from a creator of color. The only things I think REALLY matter when buying from a seller is a) the quality of the merchandise, b) that the seller is not involved in any shady business practices, and c) that you feel good/comfortable buying from them. After all, it’s your money, and you decide how and where you spend it.

Some people only feel good/comfortable buying LGBTQ+ merch from a member of the LGBTQ+ community and I respect that and support it. Even though I sell LGBTQ+ awareness merch, I don’t expect community members to buy from me, a cishet woman, over an LGBTQ+ seller. In all honesty, I expect the opposite.

The reason I do it is because sometimes I have an idea and I think it’s a good idea and I want to share it. It really is that simple. But it’s also a way for me to say, “I see you and you are welcome here.”

Unfortunately, disabled creators are constantly and consistently overlooked. Why? Well, I’m sure you know the answer to that. Ableism. But, I don’t think it’s grounded in malevolence. It’s grounded in ignorance.

How often do we hear about disabled creators or business owners? Almost never. If you hear about a disabled creator, more often than not, it’s going to be an inspiration porn story where an artist has learned to paint with their feet or their mouth, and is creating massive works of art that sell for thousands of dollars. The average person who is patronizing small businesses is not going to be the target market for these expensive pieces.

And often I think, people just don’t expect a disabled person to be capable of creating quality work or running their own business. Pre-2020, I did a lot of craft shows and conventions. Everything in my booth space was made or created by me, although I usually had my mom and my sister with me to help with selling. People were always surprised that I was the only one creating items to sell. “You made all this?”

Sometimes, it was a genuine surprise that one person could produce so much and such varied products. (Think prints, ornaments, stickers, painted wood panels, polymer clay figurines, and more.) But sometimes, there was a certain look as the person checked me out, took in my wheelchair, and said, “YOU made all this?” As in, you, this disabled person sitting before me.

Disabled people are rarely given room to be a real person. The expectation is that we either are completely incapable, or our accomplishment must be so extraordinary, on par with someone who paints masterpieces with their feet. We aren’t given room to be talented without being phenomenal. We are often only allowed to be one of two extremes. Phenomenal or pathetic.

And the idea that a disabled person can run or own her own business? [blows raspberry] Unheard of. Disabled people can’t even hold regular jobs, how can they run a business?

It actually makes a lot of sense for disabled individuals to start their own businesses. Traditional employers are so often unwilling to make accommodations for disabled employees that they make it nigh impossible for a disabled person to work a traditional job. If we are running our own businesses, we are in charge of making those accommodations and we can work within whatever our necessary parameters may be. So many people have the idea that disabled people can’t hold a traditional job because of our disabilities, when it just comes down to ableism in the workplace. When we are allowed to work with consideration to our limits, with the accommodations we deserve, disabled people thrive.

When I first started selling my work, I kept my disability under wraps. I didn’t make a huge effort to hide it, but I certainly didn’t advertise it. I didn’t want the knowledge of my disability to affect the way people viewed my work. I didn’t want them to be more or less impressed with my abilities because of their perception of what being disabled meant. I also didn’t feel like anyone needed to know I was disabled if they were making a purchase from my online store.

Eventually I had to ask myself what I was hiding from. Then, of course, I started this podcast so, you know, what’s privacy? 

I changed my mind for multiple reasons. For one, I wanted to be more transparent about who is behind my brand. This was spurred on by one person who made an incorrect assumption about me, and then accused me of misleading my audience because of her mistake. I didn’t want anyone else to think I was portraying myself to be someone other than who I am, so I updated my bios to include my various identities. (By which I mean disabled, cishet, etc., not different personalities. In case you were confused. My personalities are actually quite private people.)

Also, I realized that whatever their perception of disability might be, it didn’t affect me. What they think it means to be disabled doesn’t change my level of ability when it comes to my creative work. If it makes them want to buy from me, great, one point to me. If it makes them NOT want to buy from me, that’s their loss.

I obviously don’t want anyone to buy from my business JUST because I’m disabled, but if someone is looking to lift up minority creators and business owners, I want to make sure their options are sufficiently broad.

If you regularly seek out minority creators to shop with, be sure to include disabled creators in your searches. If you have friends who are consistently seeking out minority creators but are not seeking out disabled creators, remind them that we are out there.

If you seek out specific types of creators during certain times of year (for example, Black creators during this time of year), remember that Disability Pride month is in July and it is a great opportunity to seek out and support disabled creators. If you like to support certain types of creators when it comes to specific kinds of merchandise, then if you think you might like to buy disability-related merch, seek out disabled creators.

And please, do your best to avoid buying products that are lightly veiled ableist propaganda. Anything that says “special needs” or “differently abled,” or anything that centers a non-disabled person in a disabled person’s story. So, that shirt that says “Autism Mom?” That’s a no-go.

I don’t currently have much disability-related merch in my online shops, but I do have lots of ideas, which I plan to use for Bad Attitudes merch in the future. If you’re interested, I’d love to have you check out my business, FairyNerdy. FairyNerdy is on Etsy, RedBubble, TeePublic, and Threadless, as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok. I’ll leave a link in the episode description.

I’d also like to do a round-up of disabled creators to share with listeners, so if you are one or you know of one, share their information with me!

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you in the next one.

[10:46]
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