Blog Post

Intersectionality

Description: This is an infographic featuring text and descriptions TITLE: INTERSECTIONALITY: A FUN GUIDE 1. A drawing of a triangle with a smiley face. The triangle is two shades of blue striped. A speech bubble comes from his mouth saying “Hi”. It is captioned “This is Bob”. 2. Caption: “Bob is a stripey blue triangle AND SHOULD BE PROUD.” Bob has a speech bubble saying “YAY ME”. 3. Caption: “SOME PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE BOB. BOB FACES OPPRESSION FOR BEING A TRIANGLE AND FOR HAVING STRIPES” Image of Bob with a sad face, positioned between stick figures holding a sign saying “Down with stripes” and another set of stick figures holding a sign saying “Down with triangles”. 4. Caption: “LUCKILY THERE ARE LIBERATION GROUPS! BUT THEY AREN’T INTERSECTIONAL. SO THEY LOOK LIKE THIS” An arrow points to two rooms, separated by a barbed wire fence. A room with a sign saying “welcome triangles” with triangles inside of many different solid colours. A room with a sign saying “welcome stripes” featuring many different shapes with stripes. 5. Caption: “BOB CAN’T WORK OUT WHERE TO GO”. Bob has a sad face. His thought bubble says “Am I more of a stripe, or a triangle?” 6. Caption: “THEY DON’T TALK TO EACH OTHER. IN FACT THEY COMPETE”. A solid yellow triangle with a cross face is next to a pink striped circle with a cross face. The solid yellow triangle says “I’m more oppressed”. The pink striped circle says “No! I am! I deserve more!” 7. Caption: “BOB WISHES TRIANGLES AND STRIPES COULD WORK TOGETHER”. An arrow points to a red striped circle with an open mouth, and a solid blue triangle with an open mouth. The red striped circle says “Oppression of one affects us all”. The solid blue triangle says “No liberation without equal representation”. 8. Text, in red: “INTERSECTIONALITY IS THE BELIEF THAT OPPRESSIONS ARE INTERLINKED AND CANNOT BE SOLVED ALONE”. 9. Text, in black: “OPPRESSIONS ARE NOT ISOLATED! INTERSECTIONALITY NOW”.
Intersectionality, A Fun Guide by Miriam Dobson

At Art Possible Ohio we are wrapping up 2020 and looking forward to 2021. While 2020 posed a lot of challenges it also opened up a lot of dialogue and discussion. We are all about dialogue and discussion! It is how we learn, grow, develop empathy, and become better and stronger for one another. One of our focuses in 2021 is better understanding the role of intersectionality in all of our lives.

Description:  This is an infographic featuring text and descriptions  TITLE: INTERSECTIONALITY: A FUN GUIDE  1. A drawing of a triangle with a smiley face. The triangle is two shades of blue striped. A speech bubble comes from his mouth saying “Hi”. It is captioned “This is Bob”.  2. Caption: “Bob is a stripey blue triangle AND SHOULD BE PROUD.” Bob has a speech bubble saying “YAY ME”.  3. Caption: “SOME PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE BOB. BOB FACES OPPRESSION FOR BEING A TRIANGLE AND FOR HAVING STRIPES” Image of Bob with a sad face, positioned between stick figures holding a sign saying “Down with stripes” and another set of stick figures holding a sign saying “Down with triangles”.  4. Caption: “LUCKILY THERE ARE LIBERATION GROUPS! BUT THEY AREN’T INTERSECTIONAL. SO THEY LOOK LIKE THIS” An arrow points to two rooms, separated by a barbed wire fence. A room with a sign saying “welcome triangles” with triangles inside of many different solid colours. A room with a sign saying “welcome stripes” featuring many different shapes with stripes.  5. Caption: “BOB CAN’T WORK OUT WHERE TO GO”. Bob has a sad face. His thought bubble says “Am I more of a stripe, or a triangle?”  6. Caption: “THEY DON’T TALK TO EACH OTHER. IN FACT THEY COMPETE”. A solid yellow triangle with a cross face is next to a pink striped circle with a cross face. The solid yellow triangle says “I’m more oppressed”. The pink striped circle says “No! I am! I deserve more!”  7. Caption: “BOB WISHES TRIANGLES AND STRIPES COULD WORK TOGETHER”. An arrow points to a red striped circle with an open mouth, and a solid blue triangle with an open mouth. The red striped circle says “Oppression of one affects us all”. The solid blue triangle says “No liberation without equal representation”.  8. Text, in red: “INTERSECTIONALITY IS THE BELIEF THAT OPPRESSIONS ARE INTERLINKED AND CANNOT BE SOLVED ALONE”.  9. Text, in black: “OPPRESSIONS ARE NOT ISOLATED! INTERSECTIONALITY NOW”.
Intersectionality, A Fun Guide by Miriam Dobson

Researcher and adorable infographic creator Miriam Dobson created the infographic above to help explain intersectionality. Click here to view her website. Imagine yourself living in Bob’s world. What is your shape? Color? Name? Pattern? Are there parts of yourself that feel more sensitive or difficult to navigate than others? Do you sometimes feel like people only see your polka dots? Or overlook you because you are a rhombus? Is it frustrating to be purple and a pentagon? We feel you. Disability is piece of the intersectionality puzzle.

Intersectionality Isn’t…

Some people misinterpret intersectionality as a competition to see who can be the most oppressed. However, it is the opposite. Intersectionality is more like a basket. Our interwoven identities layer together in a complex pattern that lifts us and holds us all. To remove an identity is to weaken the over all integrity of the basket and create cracks that people might fall through. We all deserve to be seen and heard for who we are and to have space and support in the basket.

Here are a few great articles about intersectionality:

Identity Beyond Disability by Diversity and Ability, featured on Medium

Black Disabled Lives Matter by Alison Hayes, featured on Thriving While Disabled

What Access-Centered Means from the Access-Centered Movement website