Processing our Pains, our Traumas... Collectively

We live in a world that does not recognize pain," said Melissa Wainaina in a recent session with us. "To survive, we've been pushed to mask what we feel to fit in."

These poignant words set a stage for us, as women with diverse disabilities in our Network, to start a reflection process. To not only think about the pains we go through at individual levels but also begin to think not just about pain and trauma but broadly about how they intersect with our collective advocacy...and what we would do about it.

Unwelcoming Ableist Spaces as a Source of Trauma

Experiences of trauma are not alien to many of us. Some experiences of growing up with disabilities in ableist societies include abandonment, exclusion and segregation, invisibility, esteem issues, fear, and uncertainty about acceptance, among many others. It goes without saying that many of these experiences are traumatic, yet often, we push them to the periphery. We don't talk about them. We immerse ourselves in advocacy. Sometimes, our early experiences of trauma are forgotten... but often, they may catch up...especially when we don't actively tend to them. Or even recognize them. "How do you show up at a collective level when you have so much pain to process at the individual level? How will you show up for the Network?" This is a question that we were invited to consider.

Trauma within Advocacy

As activists, advocates, feminists, and human rights defenders with disabilities, we have started to think more intentionally about how our traumas affect our advocacy. We acknowledge that left unhealed, trauma does affect how we show up for each other and for our collective advocacy.

We see this as an area that needs investment. To invest in collective care and healing justice for disabled activists to strengthen the disability activism space.

A Journey Starts

With the support of Urgent Action Fund - Africa, we've begun a journey dedicated to healing, exploring our own pains and trauma, how they show up in how we show up for each other, how we show up for our advocacy, and what we can collectively do to address such trauma.

In a world that's desensitized to pain, we want to be able to show up for our activism, not dimmed by pain and trauma but fired up by the promise of being able to process our pains and trauma within the safety of the Community. When we deal with our own pains by ourselves, it can become quite difficult to feel connected to the whole, the reason we are setting out to do it collectively.

As a Network, we're appreciative of such an opportunity to go through this process and glad to walk this journey with Urgent Action Fund – Africa.