In the world today, being disabled and being queer are discussed as separate issues in most cases. Because of this, the importance of allowing disabled people to explore their sexuality and gender expression is often forgotten. There are studies that show a higher prevalence of disabilities in members of the LGBTQ+ community. Drag is an art form that is synonymous with queerness. Because of the close relationship between disability and queerness, I’d expect to see a similar relationship between disability and drag, but I don’t. Even though you see a higher percentage of LGBTQ+ people in artistic spaces, you don’t see as many disabled people.
I am a disabled queer person so I have firsthand knowledge of this subject. I am not only considered physically disabled, but have also been diagnosed with both ADHD and autism. I have been a part of the arts community my whole life. I starting dancing at 2 and began theatre in middle school; I am now a film major in college. I have done performances with all kinds of people with a large range of abilities. I was lucky enough to go to a dance school where anyone could dance, whether you were in a wheelchair or had Downs syndrome. As I branched out further into the art world, I realized this level of diversity is not the normal.
I was the only queer disabled person in my performance groups growing up. When you are on the autism spectrum, you have trouble fitting in. When you can’t even fit in socially, you are much less likely to be brave and try breaking out of the gender binary as well. I was trying so hard to keep up with my peers socially that I felt like I had no room to play with my gender expression outwardly. I decided I was non binary early in high school, but I didn’t begin to express it in any way until college began. The combination of being queer, disabled, and artistic present a unique set of struggles.
There is a collective of drag performers called Drag Syndrome that is breaking boundaries associated with these struggles. All the performers in the group have Downs syndrome. Not only do they pioneer in being disabled and artistic, they perform drag. They are bringing gender and queerness into the mix; all of this in the public eye, and challenging the way people think about disabled people and the ways they can express themselves. So often the disabled community is infantilized. Many people don’t acknowledge that disabled adults are still adults, with adult thoughts and feelings. The desire for sexual expression gets swept to the side. The members of Drag Syndrome express their sexual feelings freely and openly. They are artists who perform to be recognized for their talent, their disability is secondary.
Another challenge that disabled creators face is the problem of perceived exploitation. Perceived exploitation is people who don’t know a disabled creator assuming they are being exploited by making money off of their craft. This issue comes back to infantilizing disabled people. Many people assume that creators with disabilities don’t think to sell their art without an evil, exploiting able-bodied person behind them, looking to make cash and create a selling point out of the artists disability. While many disabled artists struggle to get paid properly for their work, many want to perform and make money from their passions. Drag Syndrome dealt with this struggle firsthand on their first trip to perform in America.
When the London based drag, group came to America in anticipation of their first stateside show, the greeting was less than warm. While many people were very excited to see the group perform, there was a smaller very vocal group that felt the performance was exploitative of the disabled performers. One of the people in the group pushing the idea of perceived exploitation was a Republican congressman candidate. This man also happened to own the venue that Drag Syndrome was set to perform at and decided he would no longer host the event. After major outrage, another venue picked up the performers. They sold out almost immediately and had to add a second night.
Groups like Drag Syndrome are leaders in the fight to prove that people with disabilities are just as complex as every other human being if not more. Drag is giving these artists a way to explore their sexuality and gender in a way society doesn’t allow. It is the first steps to creating a world where every disabled queer person can express their selves and explore their sexuality as equals.
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