6/01/01

As a queer activist, I've always thought that I've been very aware of injustice and oppression in the world. I've been involved in my community and one of many insisting on the importance of justice for all. I try to always keep in mind how necessary it is to be visible as a lesbian. A little over a year ago when my partner became disabled, I began to learn that I didn't really know anything about invisibility. I learned about an entire population of people that are ignored, left out of most discussions regarding their own lives. I learned that disabled lesbians are not only invalidated and marginalized by the larger society, but are ignored and avoided by able-bodied members of the queer community as well. And, I learned how I've participated in the process of isolation and alienation, and how I might have gone on not seeing had it not been for my partner's disability.
The invisibility of disabled lesbians is clear in the lack of research regarding their experience in society. Finding literature specific to lesbians and disability has been difficult at best. While I have found works written by disabled dykes that speak to the lived experience of being disabled, I have found little academic research that addresses the problems and possible solutions for these women in their negotiation of a heterosexist and ableist society. To read the entire article, click here to download.

Because we at women writers are concerned that some of our scholarly work has been plagiarized by students seeking quick cheats rather than legitimate research, we have gone to a format that is less easy to "copy and paste" and that is more readable and printable. Click here to read the entire article. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, you can download a free copy here.