Out of Bodymind Exploring, Fungi, and Other Things

I feel like writing. So, I write.

Imagined, written, and shared in Crip Time.¹

I’m sharing now because I exit and explore outside time and space. I also don’t owe anyone anything. I wrote this blog post for myself, not for anyone else, to explore my current thoughts through words.

Today is International Wheelchair Day. Although I love my power wheelchair and the in(ter)dependence, liberation, and

Revolutionary LOVE®

it gives me, I don’t have a usable wheelchair at the moment. I’m thinking of it as the case of the missing wheelchair. In short, it feels like Wheelchair(less) Day. I haven’t used my old wheelchair in over two months because I have been testing my so-called “new” wheelchair, and I’m not sure if I am comfortable using it anymore. My “new” wheelchair was taken away again this week by the wheelchair company for more vital amendments; I have had it for over two years, yet I still can’t use it because it is not functional for my needs. Yeah, I know. And don’t get me started on how not fit-for-purpose local wheelchair services in the UK are. But this is all a story for another day.

More critically, today is also Disability Day of Mourning — a sacred day to remember Disabled victims of filicide: unalived by a family member or caretaker.

Today, we’re in a global polycrisis. I wrote it best in my blog post from 20 October 2024, “Enough”², from my personal blog,

Leaving Sunbeams

:

[Open Quote]

“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, Islamaphobia to deliberate Disabled oppression, extreme weather (such as recent events in Florida) to forced Disabled poverty, lovelessness to a lack of interdependent community care, filicide to epistemicide, 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.

In the UK, this may look like:

• A winter arriving,

• risk of more severe flooding,

• a farming and food crisis in the UK is made worse by Brexit (61% of UK farmers think they will lose their business in the next 18 months due to climate-impacted poor crop yields)

• a Cost of living crisis, or is it a scandal?

• A genuine fear about heating our homes,

• Pensioners who are being further hit by cuts to their winter fuel allowance,

• and the ‘meanness’ of means-testing our safety nets.

Through my Disabled sixth sense of observation, I always feel and notice everything. So, I’m nothing and questioning who suffers most.

Poor people? Older adults? Global Majority people³? Queer people? Disabled people? Unhoused people?

I believe it’s all us.

Politicians and society have gone from heartful to heartless. Enough.

We can’t act like the world (and our sacred ecosystems) aren’t on fire and dying.

We have a collective responsibility and duty not to tolerate the easy path for tangible change to create collective liberation of all kin (human and more-than-human).

We feel the pain of this.

We refuse to accept this.

We know this because we are this.

We are not mere witnesses. We are catalysts for change. This time in history will transform us, and in turn, we will transform the world around us.

We will never stop fighting for collective liberation for our kin (including our human and more-than-human kin, our flora, fauna, and funga kin, and our inner and outer selves).”

[End Quote]

Image Description: Black and white photo of Sulaiman (a wholeheartedly Disabled AF Oracle wisdom, British-Pakistani man, Queer-creative energy) tucked cosy under his blanket asleep in bed. He has a ventilator mask over his nose. Yes, he knows it may seem like his eyes are not closed while he’s sleeping, too, but as someone with a muscle-wasting condition, he finds it difficult to close his eyes when sleeping fully. Sulaiman is dreaming of Disability Justice and Funga Justice. End.

Despite ongoing personal and professional challenges, I hold grace and compassion for myself today. As I wrote in my LinkedIn post for Rare Disease Day yesterday, [Open Quote] “I barely recovered last week from being highly unwell for over 12 weeks (more stress from a devastating 2024), but today, I honour my rare existence and the rare blessings I give.” [End Quote] Again, I hold grace and compassion for myself.

Today, I feel like writing. So, I write.

The depth and breadth of my Bodymind

I’m passionate about justice and liberation for all (my human and more-than-human kin). As a Global Majority Disabled AF entrepreneur, this is one of the main reasons I started my business, ThisAbility® Limited. Through Disability Justice, reenvisioning anti-ableism into creativity and helping socially conscious brands become anti-ableist, socially impactful ecosystems is core to this. I suppose that’s why the universe guided me to update my “job title” from Chief Purpose Officer to Founder and Chief Radical Officer of this business, ThisAbility®⁴ Limited, a few years ago.

However, there’s so much more to me; Disability and otherwise, I’m multi-dimensional.

Beyond any algorithm, I am a manifesting generator: a multi-hyphenate, multi-passionate person here to do and accomplish many diverse things.

I’m an interested person. No, not interesting. Interested.

Everything interests me.

More than “interests” me, I am ignited by everything.

I have an insatiable curiosity.

Curiosity, compassion, and courage are the only way for us all to progress.

We’re multifaceted, so in Revolutionary LOVE®,⁵ I create, design, exist, play, and love from the fringes.

My principals

I'm obstinately aligned with these five quotes:

• [Open Quote] “Disabled people know what it means to be vulnerable and interdependent. We are modern-day oracles. It’s time people listened to us…” [End Quote]
  Alice Wong 王美華, Disabled Oracles and the Coronavirus (Disability Visibility Project)

• [Open Quote] “Relationships are everything. Move at the speed of trust.” [End Quote]
  adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy

• [Open Quote] “Joy is an act of resistance.” [End Quote]
  ‍Toi Derricotte, From “The Telly Cycle” (Poem)

• [Open Quote] “Just as we need to eat and breathe, we also need rest to thrive.” [End Quote]
  ‍Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance

• [Open Quote] “Fungi have taught me that there is a continuum that transcends most existences.” [End Quote]
  ‍Giuliana Furci, GIULIANA FURCI on the Divine Time of Fungal Evolution /239 (For The Wild)

They’ve supported me in growing as a creative Revolutionary Lover and sacred energy beyond simply being human.

Image Description: Landscape photo of a sacred tree during a glorious, ethereal, hot summer day in August 2024 at Sulaiman’s local park. In the background, you see clear blue skies, glistening (albeit dehydrated) grass, the bark of a large fallen tree behind the single tree Sulaiman is sitting next to, and trees (Sulaiman’s sacred more-than, human-kin) all around the park in nature. End.My beliefs

My beliefs

I believe in Faith rather than forgery, we rather than me, bold Adrak (ادرک) rather than all betraying billionaires, Mamas and grandmothers (and their mothering wisdom) rather than malice and manipulation.

I believe in Queer rather than fear, hope rather than hypocrisy, bees rather than brutality, and organic seasonal sacred Pakistani mangos rather than mediocrity.

I believe in sequins rather than glitter (everyone can sparkle, yet very few people can genuinely, fully shine), Transness rather than blandness, humpback whales rather than worrying, and joy rather than jadedness.

I believe in community care rather than clicks, Fungi rather than followers, relationships rather than reels, and trust rather than tech.

I believe in (most) people (and planet) rather than (most) politicians, poems rather than pedantism, South Asian slow fashion rather than fast fashion, and wildflowers of Pakistan (and wheeling in nature) rather than human-centric extraction.

I believe in seeds rather than sanctions, soil rather than speed, hydroponics rather than robotics, and heartful rather than the heartless.

I believe in Radical Black Imaginations rather than isolation, wit rather than white supremacy culture, grief rather than grifters, and principles (especially when they cost you something, including income) rather than pirates (and pirate behaviour).

I believe in humour and the true Global Majority rather than harm and the actual minority, Vandana Shiva rather than viciousness, oceans rather than oppression, and Make Love Not Porn (Cc:

Cindy Gallop

) rather than wars.

I believe in kindness rather than knavery, trees rather than trends, critical thinking rather than (oppressive)-phallus energy, and justice rather than jealousy.

I believe in Disability (Justice) rather than disharmony, in (the real AI) Access Intimacy rather than artificial intelligence, (collective) liberation rather than (unnecessary) lacerations, and these six “C’s” (creativity, cadence, communication, curiosity, compassion, and courage) rather than these six “C’s” (carelessness, caste, cynicism, corruption, cruelty, and complacency).

I believe in equitable integrity, income, and ideas rather than indifference, impatience, and intolerance, the heart rather than hatred, watermelon rather than wastage, and glorious energy rather than glorified gatekeepers.

Ultimately, I believe in love rather than likes.

I am more loving because of the wisdom and richness of Access Intimacy, non-academic (life-long) education, my Faith, my ancestors, my descendants, Fungi, Disability Justice, the universe, my Disability, and my Soma, Bodymind. 

I am more loving because of my interdependence and Revolutionary LOVE®.

I am more sexy, spicy, and sacred because I was born and because of me.

My values

My personal and professional values are consciously in alignment with each other and consistently centred on interdependence and Revolutionary LOVE®. They are a reflection of my existence, actions, and interactions.

In my divinity, truth, power, creativity, interdependence, and Revolutionary LOVE® as a (time-travelling yet time bound) energetic sun and moon, I shine brighter than Sirius (the brightest star in the sky). I’m also more curious than the deepest moon — craters, scars, flaws, farts, and all. I know I won’t always get things right. Instead, I intend to use these values to do better today than I did yesterday. Progression over perfection and a work-in-progress, always. I trust non-academic (life-long) education, my Faith, my ancestors, my descendants, Fungi, Disability Justice, the universe, my Disability, and my Soma, Bodymind to support me and guide me on this adventure to the next right and best thing for me.

Radical, restful, regenerative. Always. XO

The Magnificent Seven: My Seven Values

1. Radical

2. Anti-ableist

3. Anti-racist

4. Interdependent

5. Accessible

6. Healing

7. Regenerative

These values are deliberately and decisively designed to be an anchor for my personal and professional existence, actions, and interactions.

Radical, restful, regenerative. Always. XO

Funga Justice

Additionally, there’s so much more depth and breadth to my Bodymind that most people don’t even know. I’m more than my productivity, whatever society says about constantly justifying my existence, and how you see me beyond Inspiration Porn.⁶

Being underestimated and facing adversity every day has its advantages. The world is crisper and clearer while allowing me to be more creative. I never take anything or anyone for granted–nothing–my human and more-than-human kin, including the Flora, Fauna, and Funga.

I exist outside of borders, barriers, boundaries, and binaries beyond Bodyminds (mine and others). And thankfully, I’m not trapped by the cis-able neocolonial-capitalist-racist-supremacist hegemonic-heteronormative patriarchy.

Over the past five years or so, Fungi, in particular, have got my heart beating faster and my mind envisioning things like never before. The living legends SPUN | Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, MOTH Rights (NYU Law), Paul Stamets, Dr Merlin Sheldrake, Giuliana Furci, Fungi Foundation, Jess Jorgensen, Maymana Arefin, and more are giving me life right now.

Thus, I have been exploring the possibilities of Funga Justice since April 2024, and my thought process on Funga Justice became clearer on 14 February 2025. Discovering the Lifeworlds podcast and listening to an episode with Giuliana Furci and Sophie Strand (Firmenich, 2024)⁷ before writing this blog post further sparked this question around Funga Justice: “Going beyond the human-centric paradigm, how can I become an interdependent, thoughtful accomplice to Fungi rather than an extractive exploiter of Fungi?”

Disabled AF Oracle Wisdom (mine included), Disability Justice, and Disability teach me about Funga Justice through interdependence and Access Intimacy with my inner and outer ecosystems. Revolutionary LOVE® is the anchor that guides me.

Image Description: On an abstract stone background, white, bold text reads “Funga Justice.” Below, white text reads, “Funga Justice is a term and a movement-building framework facilitated by Sulaiman R. Khan and rooted in Spores with Disability Justice, which centres the variance, wisdom, and richness of Fungi for our future thriving. It’s a way of organising and thinking about Fungi outside of traditional rights and laws. This movement is influenced and ignited by the work of notable figures in Mycology, such as Giuliana Furci, Dr Merlin Sheldrake, Paul Stamets, and Global Majority and Disabled Mycologists. Their contributions are crucial in re-centring Fungi in a human-centric, extractive, and oppressive world.” In white text at the top right is Sulaiman’s personal logo, “Sulaiman R. Khan,” in Urdu. In white at the bottom left is Sulaiman’s personal logo, “Sulaiman R. Khan,” in English. The “R” in the English part of his logo is script. End.

Image Description: On an abstract stone background, in Spanish, white, bold text reads “Funga Justicia.” Below, in Spanish, white text reads, “Funga Justicia es un término y una forma de construir movimientos, dirigida por Sulaiman R. Khan, y basada en Spores with Disability Justice. Se enfoca en la diversidad, sabiduría e importancia de los hongos para ayudar a crear un futuro mejor. Es una manera de organizarse y pensar sobre los hongos fuera de las reglas y leyes tradicionales. Este movimiento se inspira en el trabajo de figuras importantes en micología, como Giuliana Furci, el Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, Paul Stamets y los micólogos de las mayorías globales y con discapacidad. Su trabajo es clave para poner a los hongos en el centro de un mundo que está demasiado centrado en los humanos, toma recursos sin cuidado y trata a los demás de manera injusta.” In white text at the top right is Sulaiman’s personal logo, “Sulaiman R. Khan,” in Urdu. In white at the bottom left is Sulaiman’s personal logo, “Sulaiman R. Khan,” in English. The “R” in the English part of his logo is script. End.

As a member of the British Mycological Society, radical questioning, critical thinking, nature, Disability Justice, Funga Justice, and Indigenous (Decoloniality and equitable) regeneration ignite me. I am excited to keep learning and collaborating as much as possible as an accomplice of Fungi, not an extractor or exploiter. Curiosity, compassion, and courage feed me.

As a non-academic (continual work-in-progress) Global Majority Disabled AF Oracle and Mycologist, I wish to support the joy of Mycology to be equitable and accessible for all Disabled people, especially Global Majority Disabled folks.

I trust the wisdom and richness of Access Intimacy, non-academic (life-long) education, my Faith, my ancestors, my descendants, Fungi, Disability Justice, the universe, my Disability, and my Soma, Bodymind.

Are you in?

Onwards and Upwards. 💚🍄‍🟫

Ps: As I don’t speak Spanish yet, I used ChatGBT to translate my English words into Spanish. 🤔

Final thoughts

There’s a lot more I could write. Yet, as typing is fatiguing due to my physical Disability and I have been typing this blog post for over seven hours, I am knackered. So, now I rest. I’m content with my content. Everything else can wait for another story for another day.

In summary, I am becoming who I needed to be as a youngster, and I will be my own hero, no matter what anyone thinks. Thinking critically and living vividly, I will continue to ignite my insatiable curiosity.

For (and because of) me, my Disability does define me, but it does not confine me. One heartbeat at a time. Because for many of us, a day at a time is too challenging. Because radical healing demands radical dreaming, and radical dreaming demands radical healing. I’ll be radical in my healing and dreaming.

Once again: Onwards and Upwards.

Daringly yours in Spores,

Sulaiman 💚🍄‍🟫

1. Like nature, particularly Fungi, I work, live, lead, exist, play, and love in Crip Time. I lead this business in the same way. In short, Crip Time is the bending of time (and time travel) that Disabled people (especially Global Majority Disabled folks like me) are experts in practising. It centres Disabled bodies and minds by and for Disabled people through Access Intimacy for systemic change, interdependence for community care, and Revolutionary LOVE® for collective liberation.

2. Khan, S.R. (2024) ‘“Enough”’, Leaving Sunbeams. Substack, 20 October. Available at: https://leavingsunbeams.substack.com/p/enough (Accessed: 01 March 2025).

3. People of the Global Majority: coined by Rosemary M. Campbell-Stephens, MBE is [Open Quote] “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.” [End Quote] (R. Campbell-Stephens, 2020). This term aligns wholeheartedly with my Disabled AF Oracle wisdom, British-Pakistani (non-binary male) 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 hegemonic-heteronormative patriarchy’s armour for bullying, and oppression’s pawn for harm.

4. ThisAbility is a registered trademark of ThisAbility Limited at The Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom. UK Trademark number: UK00003954170.

5. Revolutionary LOVE is a term coined and defined by Sulaiman R. Khan/ThisAbility® Limited. It is a registered trademark. Registered, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and The Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom. United States trademark registration number is 7685224. UK Trademark number: UK00003954175.

6. (2014). TED, YouTube. 9 June. Available at:

(Accessed: 27 February 2025).

7. Firmenich, A. (2024) LifeWorlds [Podcast]. 27 May. Available at:

(Accessed: 27 February 2025).