Thank You Ceramics

July is Disability Pride month and today is the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The creation of civilization is said to have began when humans cared for others with broken bones. What does that say about our state of civilization? More than 1 in 4 adults in the US have disabilities -that’s 70+ million people. It is the largest growing minority. If nearly everyone will experience disability within their lifetime then why then do we not shape our world for this inevitability? And I’m one of those people. I am dyslexic. And in 2022-2023, I became physically “temporary” disabled due to a negligent ceramic studio that lacked proper training and encouraged workers to “push through the pain”. This resulted in tendinitis in both my hands, both my wrists, and my left elbow. It’s been over a year and I have yet to fully recover.

Being disabled has completely changed how I relate to the world and my art. When people tell me about their pain, I UNDERSTAND what they are saying. I hate it when I people say “that’s unimaginable” in reference to suffering. We must challenge ourselves to not block our empathy for our fear of vicarious pain. I no longer have a pottery business and I’ve had to go back to school in attempts to get a new stable career that doesn’t rely on physical labor. I rather be making art. Before the injury I liked the physical work because I didn’t have to mask my dyslexia. I was proud of being able to lift 60 pounds. Now lifting more than 10 pounds is painful and might take a week to recover. And I miss surfing.

People sometimes say everything happens for a reason, and while, I am grateful to transition to sculpture (though not at the expense of my body and livelihood) -I say f*ck that -negligent bosses should be held accountable. As you can imagine I have become passionate about Disability Justice. If disability is inevitable for you or someone you love, isn’t it something worth getting passionate about? Isn’t right now a good time to explore our internalized ableism and start building a more equitable future by the small actions we can take right now? At the very least, if you’re an artist w/ functional hands, insure them.