Not the Same Boat
by Sioux Dickson
[Video Description: There is a dark blue background. On the left of the screen, taking up 2/3 of the screen, is the 'Not the Same Boat’ video. On the right is a video of Sarah Stadnicki, a woman with short brown hair, diamond studded earrings, and red framed eyeglasses. She is wearing a dark purple jacket with the collar downturned. The 'Not the Same Boat’ 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 the Same Boat by Sioux Dickson". Underneath is "thedisabilitycollective.com". All text is in white. This fades into a video featuring a digitally constructed photograph that shows a large yacht to the right. The sky is dark blue and threatening. The clouds are crowding one another, foreshadowing. Lightning flashes throughout the video.
Black silhouettes of people on the yacht are celebrating despite the ominous weather. Thick storm clouds push lightning to the left of the yacht. The waterway is swollen thanks to recent flooding but no one seems bothered by what could happen.
While not obvious at first glance, there are flames in the bowels of the boat. Fire has begun to ascend; a striptease behind the windows.
On the deck, someone’s silhouette holds up a magic wand. Magic dust surrounds everyone, even the children jumping into the water. Strings of white lights glow festively. Everyone is having a grand time and no one looks concerned about anything, despite the constant lightning.
Some of the yachters do acrobatics, some are engaged in conversation. On an upper deck, someone plays the saxophone. A woman holds up a wine bottle. A person toasts, their wine glass in silhouette.
A heavily pregnant man stares at his corpulent belly. He is looking for something. He is trying to find something that he never had or maybe he lost it long ago. He has no shame. At his feet - a bottle of beer that likely was more expensive than his beloved buck.
In front of beer guy, a bespectacled man stands at the bow. A spotlight hangs from his hand but he gazes into the distance, daydreaming of fiefdoms. The light illuminates a child, and their party hat, jumping into the water.
The light does not reach the six small boats to the left of the yacht. Perched on the tiny boats are colourful wheelchairs. They are a contrast to the yacht’s one-dimensional black silhouettes. They are as beguiling as spring violets after a hard winter.
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]
ASL Interpretation by Sarah Stadnicki
SIOUX DICKSON (she/her)
Sioux Dickson is an artist and accessibility advocate living in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough, Ontario). Having to manage disability and chronic illness means she is no longer able to participate in public spaces as in the before times. Now she lives in virtual spaces and travels within her community early in the day before it gets too peopley.
Infuriated to be burdened with the consequences of medical ableism again, Sioux very much understands growing weary of an illness dictating one’s personal freedoms. But she can not imagine compromising someone else’s health or safety for her own comfort and is shocked that so many people relish elevating themselves over their neighbours.
Sioux is adamant that we should not be forcing those who are already living in vulnerable positions to bear the brunt of a return to nOrMaL. She bemoans the emotional paucity of those who know that many disabled Canadians are living in poverty and do not speak up when they see governments funding food banks instead of people.
Instagram: @SiouxLilyDickson
Facebook: @AccessibilityAdvocate
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!