(In)Visible
Program (In)Visible was developed to draw attention to forms of disability and exclusion that often go unnoticed in everyday life, institutions, and public discourse. The program focuses on invisible disabilities, multiple forms of discrimination, and the need for greater understanding, self-advocacy, and social visibility for people who live with these experiences.
Goals
Let’s Ask
Investigate the key ideas and practices around so-called “normal people”. Discover the reality that different bodies and minds more closely describe the human experience. Challenge and protect legal and bureaucratic systems that protect human rights
Speak up
Strategically dismantle the culture of silence and secrecy around invisible disabilities to raise awareness and improve self-advocacy skills. Advance the action of all project community members, regardless of gender, race, class, or disability, with the aim of disrupting individual and collective “invisible experiences.” Mobilize a community that supports each other and constantly asks, “What is invisible?” when approaching identity issues
Educate ourselves
Advanced learning that rejects “ableism” (the notion that so-called “normal bodies” are always more desirable than bodily diversity or disability). Ableism, like racism, sexism, and elitism, is a cultural bias. This project acknowledges multiple forms of “invisibility” as they are delivered to marginalized people. Our goal is to intersect invisible disability through race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Provide
Offer a range of concrete steps for supportive interaction between allies, partners, parents, friends, caregivers, healthcare workers, educators, employers, media, and industry, and those who reveal forms of psychiatric, emotional, and physical illness or disability. (Practical solutions may include, for example, strategies for managing health-related paperwork or navigating accessibility in real spaces, social environments, and the workplace.)
Create
Design and embed a new language for discussing disability and multiple categories of identity (race, class, gender, and sexuality) that always resist the fantasy of “normal.” Create a safe system for questioning, observing, and acknowledging bodily/neuro diversity in personal, social, and work environmentsa.
Reduce
As a result of our public conversations and interactive online content, this project aims to reduce the shame and stigma associated with widespread social “invisibility,” as well as reduce the frequency of bullying, school dropout, unemployment, marginalization, suicide, and other acts of violence.
Define
We define the body outside the usual fantasy of the “normal” body. We characterize the body and mind as different; therefore, our use of the terms “bodily diversity” and “neuro diversity.” “Invisible” or “intangible” or “hidden” or “unobvious” disability is any physical, mental, or emotional impairment that mostly goes unnoticed by the general population. Invisible impairments include but are not limited to: cognitive impairments and brain injuries; the autism spectrum and its physical manifestations; chronic illnesses and diseases such as MS, chronic fatigue, and chronic pain, autoimmune compromise, fibromyalgia; hearing and vision impairment; ADHD; mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD; and others.