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Activists Around the World: Ruby Allegra · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is anny An Smith. Though I'm looking to
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  Speaker 1: stuff we never told you production, I heard you.
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  Speaker 2: And as we wrap up the twenty twenty six Pride Month,
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  Speaker 2: we are and are headed toward Disability Pride Month. We
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  Speaker 2: thought we would close out with an intersectional activist, a
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  Speaker 2: non binary disabled artist, Ruby Allegra. Yeah, I kind of
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  Speaker 2: like June's spending out longer than I expected.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know why that felt that way.
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  Speaker 2: I know it's not, but because it's reached into the
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  Speaker 2: second like another one of our episode dates, and I'm like, oh,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know why I was ready to hop into
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  Speaker 2: the next month.
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  Speaker 3: Time doesn't exist with me. You know this.
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  Speaker 1: Things are always movings about this.
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  Speaker 2: I stuck Withweny twenty six for a minute, so I'm
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  Speaker 2: doing so good.
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  Speaker 3: You know, they took control almost alive. Yeah, got it, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: moving on.
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  Speaker 2: So Allegra they them is a native of Australia and
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  Speaker 2: has been a giant voice in the lgbtqia plus disability world.
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  Speaker 2: In their community, they have been a big advocate in
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  Speaker 2: not only loving and embracing themselves and telling you us
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  Speaker 2: to embrace it ourselves completely, but also an express and
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  Speaker 2: share that with those around them from their work and
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  Speaker 2: makeup exhibitions, tattooing, and so much more. They use their
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  Speaker 2: art to share their voice and experiences with those who
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  Speaker 2: may have never felt represented before. And you know how
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  Speaker 2: we feel about representation here. It is so important, and
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  Speaker 2: voices like theirs is one of the big things that
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  Speaker 2: we talk about because it helps to see it helps
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  Speaker 2: to see yourself represented in media and we love that.
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  Speaker 2: So from their article from Bustle, they say this, growing
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  Speaker 2: up in Adelaide, Australia, Ruby Allegra never really saw someone
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  Speaker 2: who looked like them, that is, someone who has a
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  Speaker 2: disability that prohibits them from walking and therefore they use
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  Speaker 2: a powered wheelchair. Represented in film or TV or any
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  Speaker 2: other sort of media. Generally, if those characters did have disabilities,
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  Speaker 2: they weren't portrayed by actors that actually have disabilities, and
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  Speaker 2: they certainly weren't portrayed in a positive or strong way.
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  Speaker 2: Allegra tells Bustle, I never really heard news stories about
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  Speaker 2: disabled people achieving things. It's always had quite a negative
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  Speaker 2: spin on it, or sympathetic pity kind of vibe.
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  Speaker 3: And we've talked about that many times.
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  Speaker 2: How we see this as kind of like the pity
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  Speaker 2: porn and why we can't we get great representation or
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  Speaker 2: an ablest ideals And so, just like many others, Allegra
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  Speaker 2: saw that themselves, and the article continues for this reason.
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  Speaker 2: Allegra says they feel a responsibility to be a role
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  Speaker 2: model for more than seventeen thousand people who follow They
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  Speaker 2: are at for their Instagram page, which is our VB
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  Speaker 2: why A L L E g r A. Although they
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  Speaker 2: originally joined the social media platform to promote their makeup work,
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  Speaker 2: they began the secondary account to explore the activism side
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  Speaker 2: of Instagram, which we've talked about before, activism on social
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  Speaker 2: media and from the Star, Allegra has been using their
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  Speaker 2: platform to advocate for disability and LGBTQIA activism, and it's
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  Speaker 2: also in this type of activism they use the platform
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  Speaker 2: to teach and encourage others to love themselves. From a
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  Speaker 2: Frankie dot Com article, Allegra gives specifics for the marginalized
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  Speaker 2: folks to see themselves more positively, including the following things
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  Speaker 2: expressing themselves in their fashion. They write this, something that
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  Speaker 2: I like about fashion is being able to challenge what
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  Speaker 2: people assume about disability or body image or disability or sexuality.
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  Speaker 2: I'm enjoying challenging the stereotypes that say that your body
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  Speaker 2: type determines whether or not you're allowed to be fashionable,
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  Speaker 2: that fat people can't wear crop tops or type fitting clothes,
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  Speaker 2: that this able people don't have style and can't enjoy
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  Speaker 2: what they look like. I also like being able to
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  Speaker 2: use fashion to illustrate to others that I'm queer and
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  Speaker 2: that I'm not cis gender. That's really important to me
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  Speaker 2: because gender and sexuality aren't necessarily things that you can see.
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  Speaker 2: It's a sense of being part of your identity and
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  Speaker 2: something that you can express through your style. And with
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  Speaker 2: that for the queer community taking down the pressure. This
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  Speaker 2: is one of the other things that they say. There's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of focus in our society on gender binary,
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  Speaker 2: male and female. There's this idea that there's nothing in between,
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  Speaker 2: is one or the other, whether you're sis gender woman
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  Speaker 2: or man, or a transgender woman or a man. That
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  Speaker 2: may is it difficult for people who are non binary,
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  Speaker 2: or gender queer, or gender fluid or a gender to
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  Speaker 2: find a sense of belonging in community and identity. And
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  Speaker 2: they go on to explain that they have more that
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  Speaker 2: with more people willing to step beyond these norms. There's
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  Speaker 2: more representation for that queer community, which we agree, we
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  Speaker 2: love that. In a twenty twenty two interview with Sola
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  Speaker 2: Podcasts about their exhibition from My Room, they talk about
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  Speaker 2: their interconnected works, which ranges from zine making, tattooing to
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  Speaker 2: makeup artistry. They say, I feel like it then answering
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  Speaker 2: this question, they all kind of connect together to form
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  Speaker 2: my practice or like the medium that I'm using, I
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  Speaker 2: guess it kind of depends on the work that I'm
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  Speaker 2: wanting to make and like what the message is when
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  Speaker 2: I'm wanting someone to feel from receiving that work, And
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  Speaker 2: so that's kind of what informs what I choose to
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  Speaker 2: go in terms of direction of what medium I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to use for it. So having all of these different
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  Speaker 2: elements I definitely think is probably very closely linked with
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  Speaker 2: my ADHD as well as autism in terms of getting
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  Speaker 2: hyper fixated on a specific hobby or skills or things
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  Speaker 2: and having a hyperfixation really intensely. And then they talk
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  Speaker 2: about discovering new skills and having new mediums and why
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  Speaker 2: this is so important to them as well as being
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  Speaker 2: hyper focused on certain things and why they have so
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  Speaker 2: many hobbies, which yes, I think many people can relate to.
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  Speaker 2: And also the fact that they go outside of the
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  Speaker 2: binary and outside of the box is really important to them.
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  Speaker 2: In speaking of that exhibit, here's a bit from demir
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  Speaker 2: mag dot com about that work, described as a colorful
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  Speaker 2: celebration of a disabled existence. From my Room is like
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  Speaker 2: the rainbow that appears when light hits a prism. Ruby
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  Speaker 2: has taken their disabled joy, pride, pain and pleasure, and
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  Speaker 2: with it created illustrations, paintings, lino prints, textile works, sculptures
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  Speaker 2: and installations, all made as the name suggests, from their bedroom,
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  Speaker 2: and I continue, from my Room is an invitation to rest,
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  Speaker 2: to share love and joy, and to honor ourselves at
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  Speaker 2: our disabled ken, with Ruby generously cultivating a space space
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  Speaker 2: for us to do so.
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  Speaker 3: You're here, amids art, you can rest rise.
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  Speaker 2: Ruby, from the exhibition opening to the exhibition itself From
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  Speaker 2: my Room continuously reminds us to take care of each
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  Speaker 2: other and ourselves, to rest as political protests and to
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  Speaker 2: always be practicing collective care, access and liberation.
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  Speaker 3: I love that and that podcast, as we mentioned.
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  Speaker 2: Earlier, that interviewed them where they actually went to their
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  Speaker 2: room and sat around and talked about what this topic
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  Speaker 2: exhibition meant for the disabled community and how it represented
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  Speaker 2: them themselves. So very interesting works and they're currently still
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  Speaker 2: doing quite a bit, including selling their art in forms
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  Speaker 2: like letter writing sets, which I love later like Snell
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  Speaker 2: Meil Writing is What It Says, which include hand drawn
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  Speaker 2: art with writing paper, envelopes, postcards, and so much more.
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  Speaker 2: You can go take a look at their instagram RVB
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  Speaker 2: Why the Artist at RVB, Why the Artist to look
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  Speaker 2: at all of their art which have some of the
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  Speaker 2: most incredible art you can see, as well as their
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  Speaker 2: T shirts that they've been selling and I think the
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  Speaker 2: shoot and I think they went viral for their T
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  Speaker 2: shirt as well, and yeah, other great pieces, so you
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  Speaker 2: should definitely check that out. And we wanted to end
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  Speaker 2: the show with something they wrote for a lore titled
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  Speaker 2: disabled hands are magical and deserved to be seen. So
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  Speaker 2: they write, and I'm not reading entire thing, so you
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  Speaker 2: definitely should go and look this up because it's a
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  Speaker 2: beautiful piece. We're just reading a little bit from the
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  Speaker 2: top in the bottom kind of give a summary of
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  Speaker 2: what they wrote. So they write this, I have very
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  Speaker 2: very soft hands, I have been complimented for this by
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  Speaker 2: many people who wonder about my skincare routine or which
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  Speaker 2: magic hand cream I use. I don't use hand cream. Often,
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  Speaker 2: the softness of my hands is the first impression I
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  Speaker 2: make when I shake hands with a new acquaintance, render lover.
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  Speaker 2: There are surgical scars on both of my thumbs which
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  Speaker 2: look like rose thorns. It make me feel at home
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  Speaker 2: in my garden. I think there's something poetic in that.
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  Speaker 2: My best friend once told me that I have magic
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  Speaker 2: in my hands when I draw, cook for my chosen family,
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  Speaker 2: put makeup on, or write poetry about a cute queer babe.
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  Speaker 2: Disabled hands are magic, and this is at the end
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  Speaker 2: of the article. Over the years, many others have not
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  Speaker 2: wanted to touch or be touched by my hands, and
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  Speaker 2: I sometimes think of this as evidence that my magic
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  Speaker 2: hands can protect me without my knowledge ableism, transphobia, fat phobia,
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  Speaker 2: and massage. You threaten my softness each day. Often I
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  Speaker 2: exist wearing armor to protect myself from systems that cause harm,
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  Speaker 2: not my hands, though my magic. Disabled hands are the
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  Speaker 2: softest part of me. When I have to be hard
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  Speaker 2: and rough hue to survive, disabled hands are magic. I
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  Speaker 2: love this, and so if you have a chance to,
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  Speaker 2: definitely go read the entirety of their article. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's so beautiful and poetic. Obviously they are artists, so yes,
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  Speaker 2: it's not surprising that they would write something so heartbelt
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  Speaker 2: and lovely. So yes, and again go check out their instagram.
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  Speaker 2: It is really amazing that art is so fun.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, go do all of that. Listeners, go check all
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  Speaker 1: of that out. As always, let us know if you
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  Speaker 1: have any thoughts about this or who we should cover,
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  Speaker 1: episode topics, whatever.
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  Speaker 3: We would love to hear from you. How has your
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  Speaker 3: pride been well?
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  Speaker 1: Are you thinking about disability pride? As we move into
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: that line.
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  Speaker 3: Let us know.
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• 10:18
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