True Confessions!
From New Contributor Sean Margaret Wagner!
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Hello intrepid SPORK! readers,
I am new contributor, Sean Margaret Wagner, and I feel
absolutely privileged to join the fine people at SPORK! in their endeavor to bring
stories pertaining and of interest to the differently abled community to a
growing readership. That said, if I am going to start this relationship off on
the right foot, there are a few things I really must get off my chest:
1.
Despite my woefully misleading moniker,
I, Sean, am a lady.
And as a woman who must shuffle through
phone messages, e-mails and bank statements all addressed to a non-existent
“Mr. Wagner”, I find gender politics and gender roles to be infinitely
fascinating. As long as the subject spans from the refreshing (fifty new gender
options available on Facebook) to the ridiculous (Rush Limbaugh deriding birth
control as ‘for sluts’), I will be there with my soft pink Bic ‘For Her’ pen.
2.
Recipient of only the soundest of
educational investments: A theater degree.
True, while I have no journalistic
accreditations to my name, my understanding of story and character comes from
working primarily in scripting & stage craft. On stage and on screen there
has never been greater opportunity for differently abled stories and performers.
Beautifully and respectfully wrought characters have become our fast favorites
regardless of ability (think: Next To
Normal’s Diana Goodman or Game of
Thrones’ Tyrion). Don’t worry, I promise I will keep my stage directions to
a bare minimum. (She exits to fly space via helicopter.)
3. I tip my Spock ears to my fellow,
unabashed geeks.
Be advised that I am a
series-marathoning, midnight-screening, convention-attending, costume-wearing, podcast-listening,
panel-discussion-hand-raising geek consumer. You can find me cracking the tape
on countless protective plastic sleeves and wondering absently if Professor
Xavier has ever bothered with obtaining disability status on his public transit
cards.
4. Well, Ms. Sean Margaret, just how
exactly are you differently abled?
In many ways, I am an incredibly
fortunate and healthy individual. I have few issues with mobility, keen senses,
and- aside from a complete inability to remember my internet passwords-
workable brain chemistry. However, I know that these abilities have the
potential to change any day, and I’ve seen many in my circle transition and
cope with a new label in their lives. It could be a change in brain chemistry,
loss-of-mobility, prosthesis, ocular degeneration, or deafness. We are lost at
sea in a new place on the spectrum of human function, and I find myself
surrounded by care-givers, activists and (for the purposes of this metaphor)
just excellent swimmers. I have long given up the thought that I am somehow
‘apart’ from a community of the differently abled. I am on a brilliant spectrum
of some of the most intriguing and beguiling people I’ve had the privilege of
knowing.
Thanks for letting me clear the air; I feel so much better!
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