Here is the first of many-to-come videos of snap shots of some of the brilliance and deep complexities that we hold individually and collectively, as a people. We must leave evidence.
Recently, I met up with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Ellery Russian for an evening and got to capture some of our musings, sharings and stories. Whenever i get to hear crip stories, i am entranced. i love hearing our words (all of them, in whatever way they come tumbling out) and feel ever-so appreciative, especially knowing how long i went without ever hearing any of our voices tell our own stories and stumble through sharing and asking and loving. It’s so important for us to tell our stories–to each other. As much as we can. There are so many different stories that we have to tell about (queer) crip sex and about our relationship to crip sex, to sex period, to sexuality and more. Our stories are so different and complex and they all have value–we have value. Much love and gratitude to Leah and Ellery for sharing some of your stories, knowing that it’s not all of your story.
Click here for the transcript of this video: Crip Sex Video Transcript
Leaving Evidence 
OMG not only is the fashion in this video amazing (woo!) this video is fantastic. Must link. Can I?
Brilliant!!! Can’t wait for more videos by you! Where can one find the stories Leah was talking about writing?
This is great, thank you!!
of course! link away!
as far as i know, they are not available yet! still in creation form, but def something i will link to when they are done!
Love the video! Can’t wait to see more.
oh it’s so good! Mia, thank you so much for making this happen!
and I am so happy folks thought our fashion was cool, too!
and the stories will be part of Sins Invalid’s 2010 performance: http://www.sinsinvalid.org
Hooray! This totally made my day! Sending queer crip NDN love to y’all.
Thank you Mia. It is so so so so so so important to get our stories. This brought up a lot for me like:
Why are all of my relationships are with White women? Are women of color not used to being with PWD.
Why many disabled men of color are walking with their head down when I pass them?
How can we learn from our his/herstories when many are still trying to overcome.
When can we live outside of the box of what makes a relationship\family and say no to society’s picture with a tight frame. You don’t need to get marry to show your love, you don’t need to have your own children to have a family….. Continue to break out of these boxes and we don’t need a law or a policy that’s all we need to do is just do/live it! Now that is sexy!
Yay!!!! Awesome…look at you…video making superstar! :)
this is beauty. this is love. this is wholehealing. this is magic.
So good! Many thanks to Mia, Leah, and Ellery.
yay for this. I kinda found the bits about how crip-ness and sex related/intertwined with class the most layered and interesting….god, how predictable am i eh? thanks to leah for speaking to those elements… but yeah, its got me even more inspired to document the stories of lower class crips, specifically, and how poverty, capitalism and disability shape our lives.
so yeah, anyway…sex….i’m all about how sex fits into all that. passing/pushing through/putting out/keeping up….or not….and why. being a scorpio times a million i love the sex stories so you rock mia…and leah…and ellery! xoxoxo
I love you Leroy!
thank you for sharing and posting this!
I couldn’t see the video, not sure what the problem is. Do you have another link to it? And do you mind if I link your blog to our site? Also, if you’re ever interested in posting to the site let me know and I’ll set you up. :)
i hope it is working now! you are totally welcome to link!
so can’t wait fer the next installment!
i wanna ride around in Ellery’s truck. Just sayin’! ;)
thank you both for being your hot crip selves!
omg. thank you. this is exactly what i needed tonight and well every night really. <3
crip love.
Pingback: Sopa de Mujer « Shameless Yonis
I loved this video and will share it on my facebook page.
It was really validating to hear Ellery discuss how she has varying types of mobility and doesn’t always “look” the same from one day to the next — this is my experience (manual wheelchair most of the time, but sometimes short walks with one crutch, with two crutches, sometimes with rigid backbrace). I also feel drawn to people with disabilities (men, though I wonder if my bandanna-ed/make-up free look is actually considered genderqueer?) — I think what I fetishize is the expectation that another person with a disability will have more innate understanding of my body’s limitations and more willingness to accommodate them. So far, the men with disabilities that I have dated have had a range of disabilities, and the non-dis men I’ve dated have also varied greatly in height/age/etc. My first partner with a disability was actually really horrible! A non-dis guy saved me from that psychologically abusive situation and did all of the understanding of my body and accommodating my needs — get this — without any pity or ever making me feel less than the most beautiful woman in the world every time he held me. International border separated us and ended what was the best relationship of my life.
Now I have developed many more physical limitations as well as chronic illnesses, and I am trying to find a way to date in spite of needing to be home most of the time and in bed most of the time that I am home. Your video gave me a lot of hope that there are options out there and that even though sometimes dating has its ups and downs, the ups are worth it and a good pattern may emerge where certain aspects of people are good indicators of compatibiity. If I see a bumper sticker that says “Men for Feminism” and “Disability Pride,” I wil make sure to honk wildly with as minimal distraction to my driver as possible… :D
Thanks again for such an uplifting video that makes the viewer feel warmly welcomed and part of the discussion. All the best to you, Leah, our fellow PWDs, and our allies (where are they?)!!
hey, just wanted to post my english subtitled version of the video:
http://universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/MMxlwDP1hC1i/info/
thanks again for this awesome installment, every time i see it i love it <3
Pingback: phocks
amazing and eye opener too.are there any more video?
there aren’t for now, but would maybe love to do more in the future and will post here if we do! :)
This was great and hilarious, thank you. It’s amazingly like comforting and funny and great to hear about other people losing their balance (I have Meniere’s disease). Thank you for providing the transcript. Can’t wait to see all the other stories.
here are the updated captions i re-did a couple months ago:
http://www.amara.org/en/videos/MMxlwDP1hC1i/info/crip-sex/#activity
Loving the real conversations about crip sex. I was part of a video “Healthy Relationships” made by the Utah Parent Center, an orginazation supporting families with special needs children. It started as a sex education project but not everyone was ready to take it as far as we hoped on the first try so it morphed into a more relationship based video. I was still pleased they included my queer voice. They also began a discussion based on the assumption that children and adolesents with disabilities can look forward to a life that includes sex and relationships. As you know, so often our sexuality is ignored or forbidden so this video’s importance in influencing parental attitudes is huge, especially in a conservative state like Utah.
Your work here is critical to furthering that message. Not only can we crips be sexual but we can do it with flair and a complete lack of shame.
As a visual artist I am in process of putting together a project about this topic. Anyone who would like to offer suggestions can email me at toni@lushlensphotography.com
Pingback: church of phocks
Pingback: Class facilitation 3/21 – Feminist and Queer Disability Politics