From the Margins to the Centre Reimagining Our PanAfrican Future

[Music]

came oliver a black six foot one

disabled wheelchair using goddess with

rare disease was invited to speak at

tedx accra

because my perspective my wisdom my

experience

was seen as having value i'm here

as an authority feel free to google me

however i and millions of people around

the world who look like me

who look like jamarcaire my co-founder

are yet to have this experience

they are yet to hear their own voices

they are yet to see themselves

represented

anywhere or centered in any conversation

or space

let's clear one thing up first

disability is

literally environmental or genetic

lottery

it can happen to anyone of any age class

sex

sexuality gender religion or political

affiliation or skin complexion

it's not an inherent moral flaw it does

not negate one's humanity

it does not require overcoming or hiding

and it is not there to provide you with

inspiration

on that point disabled people make up at

least 20 percent

of any population yet we are erased from

our environments and history

often without question upwards of five

million folks here in ghana

are disabled poverty and lack of access

to good medical care

are major contributors to the numbers

however

due to taboo and social stigma lack of

up-to-date recording

and reporting the number is likely much

higher

can a world where such a large portion

of the population are maligned in ways

that are often

fatal call itself civilized or

enlightened i ask again can an

africa where the key vulnerable part of

the community

where our disabled parents siblings and

cousins

are dehumanized and face the highest

rates of poverty

abuse and death call itself

civilized enlightened or even african

we all know that who is seen represented

and remembered

is who will be catered for listened to

welcomed

and seen as having value that is one of

the reasons we created the triple

cripples

to redress the imbalance of value within

our society

through the powerful tool of

representation

we want to create an equitable society

for us

and the generations to come it is

erroneous to believe that a space which

centers folks in the margins so black

disabled women fems non-binary folks and

trans

folks will automatically exclude anyone

else

the issues of folks in the margins of

the margins are planetary issues

as we the triple cripples always say

when you centre those within the margins

of the margins

everybody benefits being focused on the

margins is not

being exclusionary it rather helps to

form a framework for creating a society

where holistic inclusion

and non-tokenistic diversity are at the

center

so nobody falls through the gaps

it's safe to say that i'm the only

active highly visible

fem presenting wheelchair user in accra

i wish i could say that my visibility

will hold

this government and all african

governments to account

i wish that my presence demanded that

when they say come

home or year of return they prove that

they truly mean

all of us i mean it won't they don't

even want the ones born here they hardly

want disabled imports right

common retorts to me bringing up the

topic of integrating disability into the

social consciousness

include you're not in the west this is

africa

how insulting uncles in crimea lumumba

and sankara must turn in their graves

every time

people talk about their ancient beloved

continent

like it has no rich past and no hopeful

future

africans after all are who civilized and

educated the west

or at least tried to sometimes

our perception of the possibility of a

great black future

is tainted by the disregard for a

millennia's worth of

hoarding of our intellect and our

resources

by the west who have subsequently

presented their gains as their own in

history books in media in film

something else i hear is if you give up

you'll be just like the useless beggars

on the street

incidentally the disdain for the poorest

people

is one of the detestable leftovers of

colonial capitalist white supremacist

patriarchal conditioning

and often miraculously not the poorest

folks

just so happen to be disabled

coincidence

i think not a review of the research

places disabled ghanaians

firmly at the bottom of the societal

hierarchy with the most

heinous and disturbing outcomes

most of us cannot access education

inaccessible schools classrooms colonial

content

societal stigma and attitudes from both

staff and students

all form barriers for disabled africans

accessing education

most of our experiences of relationships

are just disheartening

from parent child to intimate

relationships our experiences and our

outcomes

are marred by the heavy weight of

societal stigma

and erasure physical psychological

emotional and sexual abuse

rates for disabled people are high

especially for disabled women and

children

erasure of disabled women from the

societal landscape

makes them easy victims and allows

perpetrators free reign

to terrorize in perpetuity with

impunity by the way the erasure of

disabled women from the ghanaian

landscape

is a clear sign of sexism but this is a

tedx talk

not a course so you know if you want to

learn more you know pay me i'm an expert

that's why i'm here most disabled

ghanaians cannot access

skills training or employment employers

won't even take

applications from disabled people people

write us off before we even open our

mouths to speak

or sign don't believe me check out this

interaction between me and

a ghanaian skills training provider you

see even i

a disabled diasporan and desperate to

try and make ends meet here in ghana

so much so that i did what all the taxi

drivers claim the disabled beggars don't

i try to go and learn a skill or trade

as you can see i can't even access the

training due to the immediate barrier

of not being able to get into the

building second is their lack of

flexibility or innovative approach to

teaching

and third and probably most important

is the price of the training itself

access to healthcare unsurprisingly is

another barrier for us

you see when a system requires that you

utilize money to access medical

attention of any kind

the presumption is that you will have

access to some means of acquiring money

and based on previous examples we should

all now see how that system

actively excludes the most vulnerable

people in this society

but not only that studies show that

attitudes towards disabled folks from

staff is reflective of the general

animosity

and lack of understanding that exists

within the society at large

apparently medical school cannot cure

colonial pseudoscientific bigotry

for most disabled africans it is a

never-ending loop

of poverty and fatality caused by

socio-cultural exclusion

and stigma as well as the societal

structures which remain

non-existent you might have noticed me

include myself in the demographics

well i'd like you to understand clearly

that there is no difference between me

and the disabled people you pretend not

to see

or actively abuse at the traffic lights

our humanity is parallel

and if you want to separate me from them

as that feels more comfortable and

better suits your sensibilities

i invite you to interrogate the

respectability politics

and colonised bigotry you are afflicted

with

i dr kim recommend a consistent

dose of introspection and a lifetime of

decolonization

as a sure remedy to reiterate what i

said in a video i wrote and edited for

erica hart's black history series

yes i'm a multi-talented bay of goddess

a catch

all black is not the same here certain

passports

currencies and accents hold undeniable

power

but when we throw disability into the

mix the narrative

morphs yes disdain and animosity towards

disabled people is global

colonization was global

but perhaps it feels more pronounced

here because i want to feel at home

somewhere

i too want to experience the pan-african

future that miriam makiba aikwe arma

fella cutie franklin and faustina oliver

dr albertine and goyi and kwame ture

envisioned through their work

an african utopia but

disabled black folks on the continent

and in the diaspora

are often left out of conversations

about pan-africanist futures

and repatriation there are you see

no disabled people in wakanda

religion plays a huge role in attitudes

towards disability

as well as queerness the discourse

surrounding both

is often abysmal dehumanizing and

downright chilling

often linked to evil demonic activity

curses and white influence

erroneously this wreaks havoc in a

society and directly impacts the

psychological

emotional and spiritual and physical

safety of disabled folks

as is evidence from the outcomes we

discussed before you see

colonizer religions teach us not just to

fear the black consciousness

but to fear its variety of iterations

i am but one of its beautiful iterations

you see everything has a root but let me

not shake any more tables

again paid black women for their

expertise on a personal note

i am grossly aware of my positioning not

just from the inaccessibility of the

city and its homes

but from the taxi drivers that don't

want to carry me in their cars the

shopkeepers that refuse to look me in

the eye the groups of people that pull

out their phones to film me when i'm out

in public the comments of open pity

the fear of touching me the open

assertions that they don't want to see

me in a wheelchair

the prayers the open rudeness not

afforded to able-bodied diasporans who

often show deference the men that treat

you like a grateful hostage

the unprecedented extortion

i'm completely reliant on the good will

the pity and or moral obligation

of strangers who may or may not see me

woman as human as whole

this is not what i signed up for i

signed up for anonymity

i signed up for ease for welcome for

home

but this isn't about me it's about

everyone who looks like me who exists

across the spectrum of disability

in my skin those who are hidden

and erased from existence it has to be

bigger than just

one individual but if we are going to

use me as a template for the macro

i am a disabled black woman you have no

idea what it is like to live in this

patriarchal

ableist racist world without a single

place to call home even within your own

family

community or nation surrounded by

non-disabled people and structures that

actively exclude you

and even with the best of intentions

make it woefully known

that you are unwelcome that your life is

not equal

that your entire being is a flaw that

you are

easily disposable don't tell me to smile

give me something to smile about don't

tell me to be strong

be my supporter don't tell me to try

harder create avenues for me to flourish

don't tell me how sad you are for me

make the environment one that caters for

whatever needs that i might have

so that i have an equitable experience

alongside you

this can be an africa that leads the

world in understanding the depth and

breadth of humanity

leading with structural and cultural

compassion

building on the premise of ensuring that

its most vulnerable constituents

experience safety equity and that they

thrive

i don't want an ideological home i want

a physical community societal structure

and culture in which i can feel like an

equal player in the game of life

and you know what we should all be

creating it especially white people and

everyone else who has benefited off of

black nations

our land sea multiple types of human

resource and labor

we created the triple cripples to make

room in our collective consciousness

for a future that included all of us

with those in the margins of the margins

at the center

being visible being represented is only

part

of that journey this africa is within

our grasp

we are not truly free until all of us

are free until we embed that into our

thinking

we will keep having this same

conversation for the next hundred years

and instead of kwame nkrumah

i kim oliver will be rolling around in

my grave wondering why my children are

wasting time and not sitting at the

table that i laid before them

you

{{}}

[音乐]

我

来了 Oliver 一辆黑色的六英尺一号

残疾人轮椅使用患有

罕见疾病的女神被邀请在 tedx Accra 演讲，

因为我的观点我的智慧我的

经验

被认为是有价值的

我和全世界数百万

长得像我的

人长得像我的联合创始人

Jamarcaire 还没有这种体验

他们还没有听到自己的声音

他们还没有看到自己

在任何地方都有代表或集中在任何对话

或空间中

首先明确一件事

残疾

实际上是环境或基因

彩票

它可能发生在任何年龄层的任何人

身上

在这一点上，它并不能为您提供灵感，残疾人至少

占任何人口的 20%，但我们是 e 从

我们的环境和历史中

抹去毫无

疑问，加纳

有超过 500 万人是残疾贫困和无法

获得良好的医疗服务

是造成这些数字的主要原因，

但

由于禁忌和社会污名缺乏

yReaders

英语演讲, 学习英语。

From the Margins to the Centre Reimagining Our PanAfrican Future

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