Extraordinary Eight

Celebrating ThisAbility® Limited's Eighth Birthday. Wheeling, forwards.

22 October 2024.

Today is our 8th Birthday! Today, we rest. Today, we reflect. Today, we celebrate.

Though I feel strange celebrating today. Chaos is everywhere.

Image description: On an abstract purple background, a white quote says, [Open Quote] “That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.” [End Quote] [DASH] Octavia E. Butler. The new and (re)imagined ThisAbility® Limited Mark logo is on the top right. End.

The above quote by our ancestor, Octavia, feels appropriate to share today and is my whole mood today. Yes, I must survive and keep wheeling forward. Walking is overrated.

Furthermore, this is what I wrote two nights ago via my personal Substack,

Leaving Sunbeams

and feels pertinent to share here:

[Open Quote] “Words are weapons. Use them wisely.

The world is in crisis. The world is fucking scary right now. We know what’s happening.

From Afghanistan to Australia, the Bahamas to Bangladesh, Congo to Canada, Haiti to Hawaiʻi, India to Iraq, Sudan to Suriname, Pakistan to Palestine, Vietnam to Vanuatu, Ukraine to the United Kingdom and everywhere in between, we know.

From multiple genocides to ableism, inaccessibility to a lack of critical thinking, climate inequity to the biological crisis, Disability hate crime to eco-terrorism, from climate catastrophe to inaccessible housing, extreme weather (such as recent events in Florida) to forced Disabled poverty, lovelessness to a lack of interdependent community care, racism to resource-grabs, imperialism to capitalism, white supremacy culture to anti-queer legislation, eco-ableism to ecocide and everything in between, we see you…” [End Quote]

However, although I don’t feel like celebrating today, as the Founder and Chief Radical Officer here at ThisAbility® Limited (and as a Global Majority¹ Disabled AF Oracle), in Crip Time², I’m being radical and publicly sharing and celebrating my business’ eighth birthday today. Woohoo!

Joy is another thing that capitalism and the systems of oppression try to steal from us. No more. I often use joy as one of my tools for anti-oppression. I also understand that there’s no joy without grief, and there’s no grief without joy.

This past year, I have faced the most intensely personal and professional grief I have ever faced–from potential clients (including multi-national corporations) refusing to pay me, having to replace a leaking roof in my space (where I live and work) in December 2023, an immediate family cancer scare in June 2024, having practically zero sustainable income with my business or otherwise since December 2023 (yeah, I know), a massive kitchen fire on 14 July that we’re still trying to sort with insurance, a worsening degenerative Disability with increased pain et cetera, and much more–I which is my truth. It’s been extremely challenging. So much so that I have been seriously considering if the year ending 28 February 2025 will be the last year of ThisAbility® Limited operating, not because I don’t get joy from ThisAbility® Limited, but because without long-term, sustainable income, it’s very difficult to continue.

Everyone wants me and my spicy wisdom, yet no one wants to invest in me (not just financially but also holistically).

I’m not hating; I’m just stating.

Additionally, this is what I recently wrote in a text reply to a dear friend when they asked how I was doing:

[Open Quote] “I’m miraculous! I’m a miracle. Everything I do and how I interact with all (human and more-than-human) is a miracle. I have miracles everywhere around me, and I create miracles. As a Global Majority Disabled AF Oracle, my existence at energy is a miracle.” [End Quote]

Moreover, through my Disabled sixth sense of observation, I have noticed that because I’m not willing to sacrifice my values leading my business, nor afraid to speak truth to power, and always do things radically, as a Global Majority Disability-owed business, we don’t seem to be getting much traction and income. Nonetheless, that’s okay. I know why we do what we do (and how we do it) matters. Again, I’m not hating; I’m just stating.

Regardless, fear doesn’t take me. I take the fear. I’m not afraid of change and what the future holds for us.

So, today, I honour joy by celebrating ThisAbility® Limited’s eighth birthday because I believe it’s critical to celebrate the small wins daily, not just the one-off, big wins. Wow, time flies! I’m proud of what we’ve achieved in eight years and counting. Big love to those select, sacred people in my life who have supported ThisAbility® Limited from day one and who wholeheartedly and unconditionally continue to support us, too. You know who you are. I appreciate you; you give me the strength to keep going daily. Thank you so much!

Also, the image above with the Octavia E. Bulter quote (and this refreshed Substack) is a sneak peek of our new, (re)imagined Design Identity via my dear friend and living legend, the Disabled designer,

Jessica Oddi

coming soon. Watch this space.

That said, as ThisAbility® Limited is a Certified B Corporation–and we exist in an anti-oppressive praxis (namely anti-capitalist, anti-ableist, and anti-racist)–I see this as a stepping stone for my business to become a fully regenerative business in harmony above balance with (and not for) nature and our sacred ecosystems through Disability Justice and Funga Justice.³ May I continue to be curious, compassionate, and courageous in leading my business, and may ThisAbility® Limited start thriving, not merely surviving. Bold, wild, fearless. Always. I trust myself, my ancestors, my descendants, my Disability, the universe, fungi, trees, nature, my wisdom, my richness, Disability Justice, joy, grief, Access Intimacy, interdependence, and

Revolutionary LOVE®

to guide me.

Here’s to the next eight years of radical adventures to continue centring Disability, daringly!

As I always say, [Open Quote] “Onwards and Upwards.” [End Quote]

Are you in?

1. People of the Global Majority: coined by Rosemary M. Campbell-Stephens, MBE is “a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called, to think of themselves as belonging to the majority on planet earth. It refers to people who are Black, African, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or, have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities'. Globally, these groups currently represent approximately eighty per cent (80%) of the world's population, making them the global majority now, and with current growth rates, notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, they are set to remain so for the foreseeable future. Understanding that singular truth may shift the dial, it certainly should permanently disrupt and relocate the conversation on race.” (R. Campbell-Stephens, 2020). This term aligns wholeheartedly with my Disabled AF British-Pakistani existence and Queer creative energy. It is my way of wheeling away from all systems of oppression, including but not limited to me no longer being capitalism’s plaything, ableism’s commodity, racism’s tool for power, colonialism’s puppet for violence, white supremacy culture’s fetish for manipulation, cis-able neocolonial-racist-supremacist heteronormative patriarchy’s armour for bullying, and oppression’s pawn for harm.

2. Like nature, particularly Fungi, and through my radical and badass leadership, I work, live, exist, play, and love in Crip Time. I lead ThisAbility® Limited in the same way. In short, Crip Time is the bending of time (and time travel) that Disabled people (especially Global Majority Disabled folks) are experts in practising; it centres Disabled bodies and minds by and for Disabled people through Access Intimacy for systemic change, interdependence, and Revolutionary LOVE® for collective liberation.

3. Funga Justice is a term I coined and am still working on a working definition, but ultimately, it centres Fungi in a human-centric world.