Several days ago I received an email from a reader who sent me this photo of a guy with a disability who incorporated his wheelchair into his costume. The picture delighted the fellow who sent it to me and I admit it delighted me too. I loved the 'outness' of the costume. I loved the sense of fun. I loved that there will be hundreds of people walking around thinking 'that's an awesome costume' with a wee bit of envy for the chair. How cool is that?
I love 'out' people with disabilities. Those with hot pink wheelchairs. Those with bright blue hearing aides. Those with neon yellow crutches. Those with high heels fitted on 'wooden legs'. I love that kind of stuff. Absolutely freaking love it. It's such a statement of personal self acceptance. It's such an 'in your face' attitude of 'if you're crippled and you know it stamp your foot' ... Too often we the disabled are expected to feel shame, you the non disabled are expected to react with pity. Shame and Pity along with their parents, Envy and Hatred, need to vacate the premises!
So move over Tiny Tim and make room for Darth Gimp and the new message ...
God Made Us, Every One!
16 comments:
Good grief, Darth Gimp? Do we say 'gimp' now? Is the PC revolution over, or is 'gimp' the new 'ni**er'?
Hm. Must mull this over.
Love dude's costume though.
My kid hates her hot pink hearing aids. but only because she can hear me, her mother, with them, not because of their color. She said she wants her next ones to be "stripes" because stripes are her favorite. (you'll have to search my blog for posts about stripes. I'm sure there are several. LOL)
This guy's costume was great! I've seen some other really cool wheelchair costumes. Some moms pack more creativity into their pinky finger than I have with my husband combined. And college kids? They're the most creative of all!
The level of awesome this guy has is immense. Colour me impressed.
Thanks for sharing!
Shan - On the use of the word gimp which is a north american one, I am reclaiming the word crip and am referring to myself as that. Here is the link to my blog post on the matter. http://gleecrip.blogspot.com/2010/09/crips.html
Go crips. Go gimps. YAY!!
This year my client was a superhero and I was a sidekick. We figured a superhero can't just go around in any regular old whelchair. So I figured these flames would turn it into a pretty good Chariot of Justice... and a few friends at her day program agreed. They wanted flames too!
Here's a pic of the flames on the chair:
http://oi51.tinypic.com/292w9vt.jpg
My son dressed as a an autistic super hero for yesterday's 5K road race (and finished 3rd out of 117 and in under 20 minutes) : http://therunman.blogspot.com/2010/10/3rd-annual-halloween-hustle.html
The wheeliecrone says -
When I started using a motorised wheelchair, about ten years ago, I discovered that many people think that everyone who uses a wheelchair looks alike. I was mistaken for a bunch of different women who looked nothing like me, but who also used motorised wheelchairs. Some people only look at the chair, not the person sitting in the chair.
So I thought, "I can fix this."
And I dyed my hair purple. And purple it has been, ever since. Except when it was shocking pink - that was fun, but I got bored of it.
Nobody mistakes me for other women anymore.
Love this picture! Yes, and am a little jealous of chair and costume.
I. love. this. Lyndsay and jypsy - love your pics too! And furthmore, I think 'gimp' is a perfectly fun word, if used in the right context. (I'm often seen as "Gimpymom" online, and have received many 'right on!' & 'how cool!' comments.) I saw a pic recently (and I SO wish I could find it again) of a guy with one leg, dressed as a gingerbread man with one leg bitten off. It made me absolutely howl! My disability humour is not always appreciated, but I figure if I have to use a chair, and live with chronic pain, I may as well TRY to have some fun along the way, right? Thanks for sharing Darth Gimp, Dave. It's awesome!
I wish I had thought of that when I was little!
On a sidenote: it makes sense he chose Vader's jet. An X-wing wouldn't have fit through the door...
I agree I'm an in your face kind of person about my daughter, when people stare I say something , when the white elephant is in the room and people don't know what to say I usually go with the blunt method " Why yes my daughter does have Down syndrome, can we all move on?" I plan to buy her a wardrobe with those cute sayings " Don't Dis my ability" " Princess's can have Down syndrome , too" " My kid has more genes than your kid" , I think Down syndrome, wheel chairs, hearing aids , walkers, etc etc etc,are as much part of life as blue eyes and I'm sure my baby girl will want to wear mascara and eyeshadow one day too.
That is awesome! It made me laugh. Definite props to the man behind the costume.
That is an awesome costume.
When I was on the metro coming home from the Rally to Restore Sanity, I was crushed up against a guy in a powerchair. I apologized for being right up in his face, and admired the handle on the joystick - a shiny silver skull. Matching my son's skull and crossbones pants perfectly.
Your post just reminded me of a beautiful speech by Aimee Mullins (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics.html).
That is the BEST costume I have seen this year.
Several years ago I accompanined one of the individuals I support to a Special Olympic Halloween Dance, he went as a ghost. As we walked in with me holding Fred's arm one of the other coaches pointed out that Fred could see better if we had cut out holes for his eyes. Before I could answer, Fred who was visually inpaired, laughed and said, "No I can't, I'm blind!" Loved your story.
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