My Arrival at Crip • by Sandra Alland 1

 

Hamilton Arts & Letters




Abstract painting 3 wize peepul by bill bissett. Three faces, left and right turned in profile toward the centre face, its mouth open in a large O. Article title: My Arrival at Crip: Poetic Histories of Disability, Neurodivergence and Illness in Tkaronto/Taranton/Toronto, 1995-2007 by Sandra Alland.

Content Notes: Mentions of colonialism and racism; ableism; institutionalization and segregation of disabled and poor people; mental distress and suicide; violence; childhood sexual abuse and survivorship.

PLAY AUDIO VERSION: voices of Sandra Alland and various featured poets  



Citation is feminist memory. Citation is how we acknowledge our debt to those who came before; those who helped us find our way when the way was obscured because we deviated from the paths we were told to follow.

                                                 –Leading a Feminist Life,
                                                    Sara Ahmed,
                                                    Duke University Press, 2017

Image of a twitter conversation between Sandy Ho and Alice Wong / Sandy Ho (@IntersectedCrip): Another example of solidarity that disability community can do, particularly in support of multiply-marginalized disabled people, is do some of the education and background work yourself before expecting to be taught. AND THEN CREDIT where the learning came from. / Alice Wong (@SFdirewolf): This is so important – learning then crediting the people responsible for creating the concepts, hashtags, writing, culture, and media! Referencing folks is key. Paying folks is even better! Plagiarism, theft, and erasure is a real thing that happens all too often. / –#AccessIsLove, and #DONetwork Twitter conversation with Mia Mingus, Alice Wong and Sandy Ho, 14 Feb 2019

                                                                    –#AccessIsLove and #DONetwork                                                                                     Twitter conversation with
                                                                        Mia Mingus, Alice Wong and
                                                                        Sandy Ho, 14 Feb 2019



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NOTE REGARDING THE ARTICLE TITLE:
My Arrival at Crip: Poetic Histories of Disability, Neurodivergence and Illness in Tkaronto/Taranton/Toronto, 1995-2007
There are names in several Indigenous languages for the city re-named “Toronto” by settlers. Another name, not included in the original writing of this piece, is Aterón:toh (like Tkaronto, it's also Kanyen'kéha/Kanien'kéha/Mohawk Language; the former means “trees standing in water” and the latter “logs in the water”). Taranton is Wendat, “the place of the fish weirs.” My learning as a former settler now living in Scotland is ongoing; deepest apologies for any omissions. I encourage settler/non-Indigenous readers to read Indigenous sources on the history of where you live/have lived.

 

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[Distillate © HA&L + Sandra Alland {from the Greek bios} -- the course of a life.]