On 28th November, Trinity Ability co_op launched our second annual art show, titled Unique: A Disabled Perspective. This exhibition ran through Disability Awareness Week, and featured work by disabled artists and poets from across Trinity, Marino and TCPID (Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities).

Far too often there is an assumption that disabled people can’t do certain things: can’t go to college, can’t be active in student life, can’t work, can’t make art. I hope today, we can prove that this is simply not true. In some small way, we’re hoping to overturn these prejudices and pre-conceptions, and show that we’re not incapable because we are disabled. 

Disability by nature is not a disadvantage. It’s not a burden, an affliction, or a hardship. Societal and systemic barriers are what make our lives harder, make it difficult for us to do certain things. The social model of disability puts forward this very idea, that we are limited only by the inaccessibility of our society. It’s not that we can’t thrive in life, in work, in college or socially – it’s that these places aren’t made with us in mind.  Ability co_op is working to make Trinity more accessible in as many ways as possible, be that clubs and societies, sport, or creative endeavours like this. 

When we were thinking about a possible theme for this exhibition, “unique” was put forward, only to be initially turned down. How many times have you heard the life or achievements of a disabled person deemed “unique”, “special” or “brave”? Why is it that when we do something of note, we are exceptions to the rule? Why has this “rule” not been overturned altogether? 

We decided to go ahead with this theme, to reclaim it. while it may sometimes be used in a demeaning way, the fact is that our voices are unique. Our perspectives on life are coloured by not only the challenges we have faced, but also the community we find and make, the experiences we share, and the joy we find in our differences. 

Far too often, the voices of disabled people in the arts are marginalised, with the disabled community left unable to speak. Others have created the images and clichés which paint us in a pitiful light, or render us as nothing more than objects of inspiration.  Unique: A Disabled Perspective was not intended to be an inspirational exhibition. It was formed as testament to the raw, authentic voices of the disabled community in Trinity, a community that is not shy about making itself known. In the chorus of many non-disabled perspectives on disability, that of Ability co_op dares to be different. It is unique.

 

TN2 is delighted to feature poems and commentary by Ross Ó Colmáin and Ben Rowsome. Also featured is Rachel Murphy’s art. These works were first exhibited in Unique: A Disabled Perspective.

 

I asked Ross and Ben how they think their disabilities influence their poetry. This is what they had to say:

ROSS: I am ambivalent about the role of disability in my writing. I am hesitant to write about it in the sense that, while I am a disabled person, this is not the full aspect of my being. I am disabled but I’m also gay, Irish, and from Dublin. Of course, authors have their themes – Ó Ríordáin wrote about loneliness, Ó Direáin wrote about Árainn, and Ó Conaire wrote about suffering – but these themes were not them and they were not typecast. I would not consider myself a disabled writer but rather a writer that is disabled. That lived experience has helped me understand the human condition that people hold in common, regardless of if they have an impairment or not.

BEN: I have Autism, which means I have a particular way of viewing and contemplating the world around me. In that sense, it influences what I write about. In terms of the way I write, I think my Autism also plays a major role there too in that I become fixated with particular writers or topics, which in turn make their way into what I put onto the page. In a strange sense, my Autism is the reason why I write poetry, even if it’s not necessarily the theme of my latest poem.

 

In contrast to Ross and Ben’s poetry, Rachel works in visual art. Her diptych forces the viewer to assess their perspective on both the artworks and invisible disabilities. Here is how she explains her illustrations:

RACHEL: It is up to the viewer whether they see it or not. These still-life images portray the same scene from different perspectives. The first photo is idyllic, soft, and easy to look at. The second is bruised, textured, and fills the viewer with unease. That’s okay though, because the viewer can refocus on the first image and pretend they never saw the rotting orange and damaged bowl. 

I have found benefits to being able to shift focus away from my invisible disability throughout my life. I felt like I had control over it; a sense of autonomy. I was once in the bowl of oranges, hiding among the crowd. I chose to change this and I have more in common with the orange outside of the bowl. Now that I have begun to sit confidently in my identity as a disabled person, I have realised the limitations of that agency. 

Even when I choose to make my disability visible, many people still do not see it, or view it in a different way than I do. This has been a surprising perspective to gain. 

 

Citric Morage

Rachel Murphy

 

 

Lár Baill

Ross Ó Colmáin

 

Lár Baill

Tá mé i lár baill

Is bhíos le cuimhne na gcat

 

Idir trí bheatha

Aerach

Gaelach

Míchumasach

 

Más ann d’áit dom

Is spás na beirte é

Aerach is Gaelach

Aerach is Míchumasach

Ach sin é

 

Tá mé san imeall

Gan teangmháil cheart agam

Gan cónaí, gan tearmann

 

I lár baill

 

Ar mhiste sin?

 

Níl a fhios agam

B’fhéidir go dtiocfaidh spás chun blátha

 

ROSS (on the meaning of the poem): As a gay, disabled Irish speaker, I belong to many communities, but I’ve never really felt at home in any of them. There are gay Irish speakers, there are gay disabled people, but I’ve never met someone else who is all three.

 

 

Blue Nights

Ben Rowsome

 

Blue nights come and go,

As still as the Angel of the North

But with a finer finish.

In the dark grasses a league away,

 

The horses’ screams are muffled

By the clouds starchy as pillows,

A sight to leave even

Stubbs speechless.

 

I’m sat here in this lodge,

Feeling safe as a tiger shark

Preserved in formaldehyde,

But perhaps just as lifeless—

 

Somehow, I write to stay alive,

Some Mae West keeping this

Shit-show afloat. Now,

I feel dark as Munch. 

 

 

Lockdown, April 2020

Ben Rowsome

 

Night:

Moon bleeds. Stars leak anxious light.

Wind howls like a psychiatric patient.

Sleep is now the desert gem I have crossed

Miles throughout the night to seize,

But it won’t be long before I tire out

And the quicksand shows me instead.

 

Day:

Sun bleeds. Clouds leak anxious rain.

Wind howls like a psychiatric patient.

I yearn for a semblance of touch, as

My worries congeal to make a barbed heart,

Slashing questions open and injecting

Terse answers like a coveted vaccine.

 

Everything in between:

Soul bleeds. Eyes leak anxious tears.

I think I am the psychiatric patient.

 

I see me in the dead mirror, and wish

That I was a mirror too, so we could

Blast infinitely out each other’s backs

And out of this hell we’re in.

 

 

BIOGRAPHIES

Ross Ó Colmáin is a writer, playwright, poet, and disability activist. He has written for the Irish Times and tuairisc.ie, and has had short fiction published in Comhar and Feasta . He won a place on Foras na Gaeilge’s mentorship scheme and is currently working on his first collection of short fiction under the mentorship of acclaimed author Ré Ó Laighléis. He is the current Graduate Intern at the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum Project.

 

Rachel Murphy graduated from history in 2022 and was an early member of the Trinity Ability co_op. She led the Inclusive Student Life Project which aims to make student bodies in Trinity more inclusive to disabled students. She is currently the Disability Service’s Graduate Intern, acting as a liaison between the Ability co_op and the service. 

Ben Rowsome is a third year Physics and Astrophysics student. While studying in Trinity, he has also been involved with the Trinity Disability Service and the Ability Co-op. As a teenager he became an Autism advocate through his work with the Autism group AsIAm, and most recently he was elected to the Youth Committee of the European Disability Forum. Ben strted writing poetry when he was fifteen, and has been writing ever since. Other interests include music, chess, running, quizzing, and of course, astrophysics.

 

To view the digital brochure for Unique: A Disabled Perspective, visit https://www.scss.tcd.ie/~connolr3/unique/

 

Trinity Ability co_op is a cooperative movement led by disabled students working towards radical inclusion on the Trinity campus. The co_op’s aims include making Trinity an inclusive environment for disabled students and raising awareness of their experiences, as well as providing opportunities for members to work together towards inclusion in Trinity. Past projects have included the 2022 exhibition Defining Disability, Gaelic Football for Everyone, and student voice podcasts and blogs on experiences of invisible disability, women with disabilities, being LGBT and disabled.

For more information on the Ability co_op, visit trinityabilitycoop.com/

IG: @ abilityco_op
Twitter: @ abilitycoop