Sideways-glancing, we see: a reflection on the work of Mel Baggs

Mel Baggs was a writer, artist, poet and disability rights advocate who challenged neurotypical, abled views of disabled people. Sie died on 11th April 2020 due to medical neglect during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here I have collected some of my reflections on hir work, along with some favourite quotes, pictures and poems by Baggs, and suggested reading by hir. Baggs had a great impact on me, and I'd like to share that with others.

This zine is free. I suggest donating any money you would like to spend on it to your local mutual aid fund, or to a mutual aid fund that you wish to support.

A note on some ethical issues:

• This is a reflection, not a critique.
• I didn't know Mel Baggs personally, although we interacted once or twice online.
• This zine contains references to ableism, medical neglect, and institutionalisation.
• The image used in the header was taken by Baggs to illustrate this post: https://cussinanddiscussin.wordpress.com/2018/05/05/the-problem-isnt-that-we-need-institutions-back-the-problem-is-we-havent-got-as-far-away-from-them-as-we-think-we-have/
• Writing about a recently deceased person with a complex background is difficult: in many ways, Mel Baggs defied categorisation and rebelled against being categorised. Sie made it clear that sie was concerned by changing expectations of how to word things correctly, as sie wasn't always capable of this. Sie also had a highly complex medical profile.
  Because hir medical history covered many different conditions, I have given an indication of some of Baggs's disabilities and said sie was chronically ill. As far as I know, these labels are accurate to how sie identified and/or was profiled by the medical system.
• Pronouns: I understand that Baggs described hirself as "genderless" and "laid back" about pronouns, and pointed out that people with language/speech issues can struggle with using and remembering pronouns. I have used sie/hir pronouns, which sie outlined a preference for here: https://ameliabaggs.wordpress.com/glossary/ 
• I've been careful with these details so as not to misrepresent Mel Baggs. This is just a small work, but I hope I've shown some of the complexity of hir rather than putting hir in a neat box.
  I welcome any input on this work from people who knew Baggs personally. - Jay (@zoziinthemetro)