Ableism is an invalid basket for no one to stay in

Unapologetic bodies on stage and off stage

Ambiorn Happy, Kulturnyt.net
27. january 2023.

You think it can be sometimes difficult to be special in a normal society which is hyper regulated by architects, politicians, lawyers, teachers, and the people. For example, if I have that bodily extension called an electric wheelchair, I might enjoy the pace riding down the pedestrian street here in Aarhus, but eventually, traditions and ableism will throw a wrench into my machinery.

Doris Uhlich, Artist. Photo: Happy Ambiorn.com

The ability to see the abilities

Denmark, being the Europe first nation to establish formal laws for racial purity in 1929, still has got a problem in seeing behind the wheelchair and just connect to the person driving it. Mostly, we focus on the disabilities and don't notice much of the abilities. Something about our mood, I think - too much dusky rain and darkness - and almost 100 years after 1929, our country is still governed by those same parties giving Hitler the inspiration to the atrocities coming from putting people into baskets of being able or being invalid.

It might be true that Hitler lost his battle for purity, but being unwanted in Danish schools, museums, buses, airplanes, or buildings of any kind, that basket did actually survive and is praised today in an almost religious chant:
"Oh poor guy, I feel so much with him, I am so sorry, so hard is his life! Poor guy, why don't he just kill himself, oh poor guy, it were better he was never born."

Dancing with naked wheelchairs and what not

I'm at the ableism-seminar in Godsbanen, Aarhus. "Unapologetic bodies on stage", created by The Performing Arts Platform in Aarhus, and the Det Frie Felts Festival, Copenhagen. 100 people, or so, are listening and sharing inspirational thoughts about ableism and disableism. The first being: "I prefer blonds, sorry", and the second being "Red-haired people has no access, sorry".

A woman from Austria is on stage. Doris Uhlich. I forget the color of her hair, but she is relaxed and joyful when talking about ableism, and the way she lives with creating both terapeutic and inspirationel performances. One of the performances, you can witness on Bora Bora here in Aarhus - check it out, it has bodily extentions and shameless nudity, like you never seen before. Hopefully.

"I like to be naked," she says. "In fact I want to be buried naked. If that's even allowed," she asks. The audience listens. "I like the naked space, and I always try to motivate people to be naked. But first, I wanted to be a dancer. When I was 11, I said to my piano teacher, 'I want to become a dancer.' She laughed. 'You are too thick!' Then I went for it, for many years, and finally got to an audition in Vienna as a young woman. They wouldn't let me in. 'You are too corpulent to be a dancer,' they said. Then I lost 20 kilos, went for another audition, I got admitted to the school, and took all those kilos back."

Doris Uhlich smiles and the audience laughs. Apparently, there are ways to get around ableism. I like that.

The power of moving your body

"One of the reasons to be naked, is the power there is in undressing. All people came into this world from a womb, naked. That is the sacred space we all share," she says. "Nakedness."

She puts on a video of an artistic performance with houndreds of people being naked or dressed. Dancing like babies, wobling, up and down. Moving the body in repeat. Like trembling, shaking, experiencing the muscles and the gravity and the coastal line between them, the space of movement.

"When you move and you are happy, it gives you energy," Doris says. I believe her, she seems unstoppable.

Victor Vejle, Artist. Photo: Happy Ambiorn.com

The art of ableism

Another artist at the seminar, is Victor Vejle. He says that other countries, like England, are years ahead of us, when it comes to having cities and schools and minds that are open for people who want to get out of the old invalid basket. He is attending the very fine art school in Copenhagen, and one day he noticed: 'Hey, there is a wheelchair ramp in the school yard. It was delivered months ago by the freight man, but nobody has cared to assemble it, so it can be used...'

Victor was puzzled. Why would the school invest in the ramp, but not finding any motivation to use it, so that the bodily extended would be able to be part of the school's education. In fact he was so puzzled, that he chose to use the ramp as an art project in the school. He wrote a letter to the school administration and asked, if he could borrow the pallet of unassembled metal parts.

"I promise to put it back in the school yard, after my art project has been evaluated. I won't even assemble it, I promise."

The school didn't answer his request, and it was too heavy to carry inside the building single-handedly. So, Victor Vejle took pictures and made an art installation of that: 'The wheelchair ramp in the school yard.' A symbol of the structural ableism in our Danish educational system.

Or what do you think?

Till now, I've only met one man who had to climb the stairs at our workplace, after he lost his legs in a dispute with a combine harvester and he was just a small boy. The machine won, as we can all imagine. Stairs and no legs, he had to climb every morning and on every break. How is it in your experience? Did we ever abolish that invalid bag, or did we just stuff it under the bed. Do we pretend to being able to see the abilities, or are we in fact able to connect, move our body and just enjoy living with bodily extentions and fairytale rare additions under the skin, and what not.

And then we had coffee, - or I didn't

Time for a short coffee break, but I could not consume one single drop more than I already had been given. Thereby missing the words from Cath Borch Jensen, performer, after the break.

Instead I hurried home and changed my life. Kissed my woman and let go of my shoulders. Have a nice one.

Redaktion

Editors

Giv folk i Aarhus et godt tilbud

Skriv selv din foromtale af ting du arrangerer. Alt kommer med i kalenderen for Alt om Aarhus. Musik, foredrag, kurser, teater, dans, fest, digtoplæsning, cykeltur, god mad, vinsmagning.
Skriv selv din foromtale Kontakt redaktionen