Being Allowed (transcript)

(Acetone transfer of handwriting) My community (the disabled and chronically ill community) is being allowed to die off. This is genocide.

Even the people who should know better, those who face their own barriers + oppressions, don't care about my limitations and see my different timeline of success as weakness and evidence that I do not belong and am not worthy of resources. And so, I am not allowed to continue in their world.

Many early portraits of mute self. Mouth is missing. She became a singer, closeted. Nodules developed. recordings in boxes. Myself + my mother. Reclaimation station.

I was a freshman in college. I remember waiting to hear that it was all a joke. People from my hometown were trying to squash distress from their timeline... trying to say "the election is over". How did they not realize that this was just the beginning of it, and it would change history. My friend is currently in hiding, a Palestinian refugee. He just lives in his room, works, and plays video games. His mom is in Jordan with his sisters and his dad is in Dubai. They flew in and I met them, because I was supposed to marry him for papers. It broke my heart to tell him that I couldn't go through with it. There was a lot at stake. I just tried to do whatever I could to help him from that point on. I used to drive him to his lawyer every few weeks. I hope he's doing okay.

Depression. Fear. Every Day.