Spotlight on Creatives
to my food culture . I knew I was not alone in this . I tried to find cooking resources for disabled people that were written by disabled people and would come up empty . Everything I found tried to shove disabled people into an abled person ’ s world . That is when I decided to create Disabled Kitchen and Garden . Then , the pandemic hit . As their lives were upended , many people were coming to realise they were neurodivergent . I also knew that it would be a mass disabling event . That is when I decided that Crip Up the Kitchen needed to be a thing .
Will there be a follow-up to Crip Up the Kitchen ? In the new year , I will begin development of a second cookbook . It centres a different theme . However , it will make use of one of the accessibility devices in Crip Up the Kitchen . It is my hope that if a publisher buys it , they will allow me to write the recipes in the same way they are written in CUTK . I was incredibly lucky that the publisher of CUTK , TouchWood Editions , allowed me to create a style guide specific for this book .
I also just finished writing a contemporary Young adult ( YA ) novel that I hope I can talk about soon .
How representative is the media industry of people with disabilities ? What more needs to be done ? As a photographer and writer , how has this affected you ? Not very represented . When there are disabled people in the media , a lot of the time , it is for inspiration porn . My story isn ’ t about overcoming my disabilities . My story is about figuring out what I can do within the limits imposed by my body and living a fulfilled life with those boundaries . That isn ’ t sexy . It doesn ’ t make able-bodied people feel good about themselves and their lives , though it does make disabled people happy .
And therein lies the problem . Currently , most stories exist to serve able-bodied people , instead of centering the feelings and needs of disabled people . It makes it incredibility difficult to move in the world , never mind move within my profession , because people don ’ t have an accurate idea of what it means to be disabled . Plus , they don ’ t understand that being disabled isn ’ t a sad thing to overcome . They don ’ t understand that it isn ’ t something to pity .
This is one of the main reasons that I use identity-first language . You must see my disabilities . I will make you see it . Because you can ’ t accommodate , understand , or embrace something that you don ’ t want to see or refuse to see .
32 Accessibilty for All