Invisibility within queer and crip communities: subverting the gaze

Amber Reid, a mad-identified femme lesbian, describes her experiences as a Personal Support Worker for a visibly physically disabled and neurologically different woman, referred to as "Rose" in this paper. Reid reflects on her invisibility in both disabled and queer communities, which she experiences as both a source of privilege and emotional pain, in contrast to the seeming over-visibility of Rose's disability, which frames her body as grotesque and offensive to the public. Reid argues that being a white, invisibly disabled person in a profession that can often be patronizing and ableist, intended to protect the outside world from disabled people and apologize for their existence, puts her in a unique position to analyze the "politically correct" tolerance of difference. She and Rose are brought together by their status as trespassers in spaces where the presence of queer and disabled people is considered unexpected and shocking, opening up the possibility of reclaiming those spaces and forming new communities