Article
Crip Poetry in Bed addresses and calls into question the relegation of the experience of chronic pain and suffering to the private. This project involves writing and polishing a series of poems about disability and presenting them to an audience via online poetry readings. The readings are also coupled with information sharing about the science of chronic pain, hypermobility, and associated disabilities; all of the poems were written in bed, often during chronic pain flares.
Throughout each event, Oluwatobi threads together how Long COVID and the medical industrial complex impact the lived experience of being physically disabled and what conditions are disabling.
Project Development
Oluwatobi’s original action plan was far different from the one presented here. Due to a long health flare, the original plan was disrupted. However, this experience gave Oluwatobi the inspiration to complete the project within the confines of their condition, focusing on the embodied experience of disability while having to stay in bed.
Support conversations with Humanity in Action staff helped shape the new direction of the project. To support their work, Oluwatobi researched the practice of chronically ill people conducting advocacy while in bed due to pain or fatigue.
One of the goals of Oluwatobi’s project is to draw from the knowledge that disabled self-advocates already possess about their lived experiences and interactions with systems of oppression and control. They continue to work toward this goal as the series unfolds.
Updated August 2024
