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arola 🇳🇬🇯🇲

@arolaaxo

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passionate 🫀
🏡 singapore london lagos
💌 freelance writer • [email protected]

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#BlackDisabledLivesMatter ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
A black person’s disability can never be a justification for their murder.
When we scream ‘Black Lives Matter’, we mean all black lives matter. Nobody can be left behind. Especially not the most vulnerable in our communities; disabled black people and trans black people. I haven’t seen any non disabled person speak on the intersection of race and disability in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement but it is time we have this conversation, it is long overdue and it is beyond relevant. Black people with disabilities are at extreme risk for police violence.

There is a clear overlap between police brutality and state sanctioned murder towards black people and people with disabilities including mental illnesses. Between 30-50% of all Americans killed by the police had a disability. Sandra Bland had epilepsy and depression, George Floyd also had a sickle cell trait in addition to his other conditions. To all able bodied and neurotypical people reading this, have you ever taken the time to consider that some disabled people can’t hear or see the police, some disabled people can’t say ‘hands up, don’t shoot’, some disabled people can’t walk in a straight line, sometimes I can’t even control my own limbs. Does that mean I deserve to die if I am having a seizure? Disabled is not a dirty word and we need to change society’s attitudes and perceptions towards this topic especially within the black community.
Black people and people of colour in general are more likely to be disabled, have a mental illness or have a chronic medical condition, due to many factors such as environmental racism and poor access to healthcare. These are the stories of only 6 black and disabled victims in the US and in the U.K. because I could only post 10 slides but I could go on and on. The revolution will be inclusive. The revolution will be decolonial. The revolution will be intersectional. Nobody will be left behind. Speak up for black disabled people. Speak up for black trans people. Speak up for black women. We have had enough. by @arolaaxo

rare. 🖤 by @arolaaxo

˚☽˚.⋆*ੈ✩‧₊˚ hi yesterday was the last day of disability pride month !! ˚☽˚.⋆*ੈ✩‧₊˚

i’ll be completely honest and say with the daily pain and suffering that comes with chronic illnesses, moments of pride are fleeting and can be hard to find but they exist. ‘disabled’ isn’t a dirty word and the lives of disabled people of all ages, races and backgrounds are full of happiness, tears, laughter, grief etc as is the complex human experience. there is no way for anyone to ‘look’ or ‘act’ disabled. our community is beautifully diverse.

since my first ever serious health complication, there has been constant change - new diagnoses, new medications, new specialists and I often feel like I can’t catch my breath. illness and disability have forever changed my outlook on community, my relationship with my body, my organs and all they do for me, grief, mortality and real, true unconditional love. becoming disabled has heightened my sensitivity, empathy, emotional intelligence, courage to advocate for myself and other patients and my medical knowledge (went from 0 to 100 real quick). the blood work, tests, scans, hospitalisations, medications, side effects, seizures, being in excruciating pain every single day … it takes a toll. I’ll fight forever for our voices to be heard and believed and for our access needs to be respected in healthcare, (higher) education, workplace and every sector of society as humans that deserve to live in a world in which ableism isn’t so deeply ingrained.

thank youuu for making this journey less lonely 🧠❤️‍🩹💊follow and support these disabled icons @rana2.0 @youlookokaytome @nina_tame @shelbykinsxo @luciaoc @sophielucy.seger @hannahdotmay @tatumkarmen @itskatouche @charliclement_ @chronically_simran 💐❤️ #disabilitypridemonth #disabilitypride by @arolaaxo

barbie core 🎀🩷🌸💕 by @arolaaxo

rare and sweet as cherry wine 🍒 by @arolaaxo

aquamarine 🧜🏾‍♀️🫧 by @arolaaxo

IN OUR THOUSANDS, IN OUR MILLIONS
WE ARE ALL PALESTINIAN 🇵🇸

I will stand with Palestine forever. The fortitude of Palestinians is awe inspiring. They are survivors. It is in their blood. This brutality did not start now. Palestine has been occupied by settlers that forcibly displaced them from their homes w/ no right to return for the past 75 years. This was The Nakba. The Catastrophe. We are witnessing another Nakba. Since 1948, Nakba survivors have kept the keys to their homes because they know in their souls that they will return. What an unshakeable amount of faith.

I pray that children in Gaza, after having endured generational trauma, suffering, grief & devastation all their lives can finally know true peace & safety. I support Black, Brown & Indigenous peoples right to resist colonial oppression. I condemn the grandstanding of Western politicians/war criminals with the blood of millions of innocent African, Asian, Middle Eastern & Indigenous children on their hands. Dropping bombs on children daily is terrorism. Palestinian children are all of our children no matter ethnicity, faith or birthplace. Shout for their freedom like you would for your own child.

Gazan civilians, journalists & medical staff have been deprived of food, water, electricity & communication w/ the world in the world’s largest open air prison. They have committed no crime. This is collective punishment (illegal under international law) & one of many war crimes committed by Israel. If a country’s “right to defend itself” = airstrikes on residential buildings, hospitals, ambulances, churches & mosques, what does that mean for humanity?

I have seen deceased babies pulled out of rubble, children weeping over the bodies of their parents, parents carrying the remains of their children in plastic bags, hospitals deprived of fuel (a death sentence for incubated preterm babies), the dead buried in mass graves & the living sustaining life threatening injuries (lost limbs, open guts, white phosphorus 3rd degree burns that corrodes flesh off their bones). All religions are rooted in justice & peace. CALL FOR A CEASEFIRE & END TO THE OCCUPATION NOW!

#FreePalestine #GazaGenocide #Ceasefire by @arolaaxo

she’s a lady 🌹♥️ by @arolaaxo

life lately with my chosen family 💐

highlight reel with a sprinkle of realness by @arolaaxo

forever i’m that girl!! 🪄🔮✨💜♒️

belated birthday dinner post from aquarius season!!! 🥰 felt so happy and so loved by @arolaaxo

feeling 22 🎂🤍 by @arolaaxo

she a baddie, she know she a 10 by @arolaaxo