I think one of the most common experiences, i don't think this is particular to disability, this might just be a human experience. They isolate one, probably visual fact about you, have a set of thoughts that are connected to that one visual fact and then they don't have second or third thoughts about you. And like people have it, and they don't give you the grace of any more thoughts. So i don't know if i could have written this piece, you know, before i wrote the book. That piece, i should say, sounds like an ambitious and incredible project. Now i'm looking forward to to reading it,. There's a direct line between that work and where
Chloé Cooper Jones is a philosopher and journalist whose work has appeared in GQ, The Verge, The Believer and many other publications. Her new book is Easy Beauty.
”I literally didn't talk to anyone in my life about disability until I was, like, 30. Ever. Not my husband, not my friends, as little as possible to my own mother. I had this very bad idea that what I needed to do in every single social situation was wait until people could unsee my body…. And it was all in service of trying to be truly recognized or truly seen. And, of course, what was happening is I was involved in a complete act of self erasure because my body and my real self are related…. There is no real me without my physical self…. I did not think I was going to ever write about this, but once I started, it felt like I met myself for the first time.”
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