[MUSIC PLAYING]
Queer spaces represent a safe and supportive place
where queer people can be supported by other queer
people.
It's kind of bizarre in the queer community
to have so many queer people champions to call out
homophobia or transphobia and things like that.
But when it comes to ableism, that's never talked about
and that's never something that's worked through.
Queer disabled people are just never thought about
and never talked about and never involved.
It's not only frustrating, but it's extremely upsetting.
It quite literally feels like you're watching everyone else
in the community through a wall of glass
that you aren't able to enter.
Hi.
My name is Finn.
I'm 20 years old.
I use they/them pronouns.
I identify as queer, neurodivergent and disabled.
I have ME/CFS, POTS, fibromyalgia,
chronic joint pain, IBS, chronic pelvic pain, chronic migraines.
Those are most of my physical ones.
I have to take some supplements, electrolytes and sometimes
some salt if I need it.
I also need to have a little water in the morning.
So usually, around the house, I just
use my cane and my knee braces.
A lot of the time, I also use stools in the house
because I can't stand up for very long.
But if I'm going out of the house,
I alternate between using a walker or a wheelchair.
I think something I kind of really struggle
with is like labeling my gender, my sexuality.
I think this is probably because I'm autistic as well.
I find it quite hard to box myself into a specific label,
so I just label myself as queer, I guess.
But if I was to really dig into it,
my gender identity would be trans nonbinary or gender
diverse, and my sexuality would just be queer.
It's taken me a very long time to work
through letting go of people's expectations
of what I should be, and actually just embracing
who I am.
I'm definitely someone whose appearance changes a lot.
Part of being queer for me and being trans
is that with, like, hormones and, like,
gender-affirming surgeries and makeup and clothing
and hairstyle and tattoos and piercings,
I see all those sorts of things as ways to explore and alter
my body in a way that I feel is more comfortable for me.
For me, a part of being neurodivergent,
I just don't really adhere to social norms at all.
And so I think with my queerness, a lot of the time,
it does kind of tend to get me into trouble.
And I think especially being disabled,
I just don't look like anyone you would see normally.
I don't tend to really think about
that because I just feel happy and comfortable being myself.
I think I'm a very political person.
I think that's always been a really big passion of mine.
And I think especially with being disabled and queer,
a lot of my politics revolve around
accessibility in our society or rather, the lack of it.
So a metal jacket is a jacket that lots of punks
wear to show their interests and political views.
My identities and also my politics, I think,
are tied in very closely with who I am.
And so I like to put that into my appearance.
It makes me feel confident, not only in myself and who
I am, but also in representing the identities
and communities I belong to.
A lot of the time, societal views around disabled people
are that the disabled body isn't something
that you should be proud of or be flaunting,
and that it's something that should be hidden away
from people and not represented in the mainstream.
But that ideology is really wrong.
I want people to know that I'm proud to be disabled
and that I'm happy.
I'm really hoping that I get to wear this to K' Road
since it's the most important queer space in the city.
I really want to access queer spaces
just so that I can be around people like me
and people in my community.
I think it's really important that queer space has become
more accessible and friendly to queer disabled people because,
not only are we a part of the community,
but everyone else in the community
will become a part of us as well.
A lot of events and spaces and buildings
aren't actually accessible to disabled people.
Disabled people can't even get through the door
in the first place.
So they're never seen in these spaces.
It's just the problem of we're not able to access spaces
so we're never seen and so we're never thought about.
This is a very high walker and it has all-terrain wheels,
which is really exciting for me because my old walker had
a really worn down wheels.
And the seat is so much more comfortable
and the brakes are really good.
It's just a really good walker.
Unfortunately, a lot of walking aids,
they're made for older people.
And so there's not really any walkers or roll aiders
that have a nice color young people
or anyone who doesn't want a boring red or blue.
Right now, I'm kind of obsessed with the colors orange
and lavender.
I think in terms of my queer expression,
customizing my mobility aids really represents
how those intersections are being queer
and disabled meet together for me.
Today, we're going to go out to Karangahape Road.
So I'm going to be wearing a metal jacket that I just
finished with the big patch you on the back.
And I was going to take it out, a new walking
frame that I painted lavender.
Going out into queer spaces and forcing myself
as a disabled person into inaccessible spaces,
I just like seeing queer non-disabled people be shocked
at seeing a queer disabled person force themselves
into a space that they are not usually seen in.
Karangahape Road is a really awesome queer space,
but I think, in terms of accessibility,
it's really not up to par.
A lot of the stores aren't accessible.
You can't, a lot of the time, fit a wheelchair
through aisles of racks or shelves.
Or the entrance isn't accessible and you can't even
get in the door.
There's also no disabled toilet on the entire street,
and that's just bizarre because there are non-disabled toilets
there.
It's definitely interesting how almost overtly disabled people
are left out on K Road.
It would also be good if cracks in pavement
were fixed because that makes it really hard to navigate
if you're in a wheelchair.
Whether or not you want to be visible when you're disabled,
you're visible anyways.
You don't really have a choice.
With being queer, you can dress yourself down
to pass as straight or pass as cis for safety, if you need to.
When you're disabled, you don't have that kind of privilege.
You're overtly disabled and people will take notice of that
all the time.
I definitely like to challenge people's assumptions of me
and assumptions of disabled people.
And so I really enjoy being very overt in my disabledness.
One of the best ways to amplify queer disabled voices
in our community is to call out institutional and physical
inaccessibility when you see it in queer spaces.
Because if only disabled people are doing it,
nothing is going to change.
There needs to be non-disabled allies who are also calling out
ableism in our community.