Not Waiting
by Martha Bonnie
Click here for the ASL interpreted video.
[Video Description: The video starts with a title card featuring a dark blue background. At the top is The Disability Collective logo. To the left is the No Body Left Behind graphic. Beside that are the words "Not Waiting by Martha Bonnie". Underneath is "thedisabilitycollective.com". All text is in white. This fades into a video featuring multiple clips of nature and women walking in nature. At the end of Martha's poem, there is a photo of Martha with her back to the camera, walking along a desert trail with the sunset in front of her. After she finishes speaking, this fades into the end card, featuring the dark blue background from before, the No Body Behind Logo in the middle, with the TDC logo on top, and "thedisabilitycollective.com" at the bottom]
MARTHA BONNIE (she/her)
Originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin, Martha and her family relocated to Arizona in the fall of 2021 to give her the best opportunity to live a full life after sustaining a traumatic brain injury two years prior. Arizona is famous for its blue skies and sunshine, and the climate has been great for healing her body and soul. Before her injury, Martha was a literacy coach working with students and teachers at a bilingual elementary school. She loved her job as an educator, but her favourite role has always been as a mother to her own two children. Now, Martha writes poetry and narrative nonfiction about her experiences since her brain injury, including adventures hiking the endless trails of mountain wilderness near her home and finding beauty in the natural world. While speaking aloud doesn't always come easy to Martha, the words flow onto the page for her, letting her genuinely express her emotions and experiences. Martha is grateful for her continued ability to write, a passion since childhood.
No Body Left Behind is an online campaign centred around the disabled community’s concerns regarding the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, including mask and vaccine mandates. We hope that this campaign will raise awareness around those who are being left behind as the world returns to “normal”.
We are currently raising money to go directly towards paying the artists and Deaf Interpreters who are featured as part of this project. We are relying solely on donations from our incredibly community to support this project!