January 27, 2023

What Affect’s been up to

Crossposting from Twitter.

2022 was the first year Affect operated without grants or sponsorships. Instead, we ran on a barebones $4,687 budget, funded solely by individual and org donations, all while dealing with the usual unpredictability of disabled life.

During January 2022, we were still wrapping up the Community Care awards. The rest of the year, our focus went to Disabled And Here.

Galadriel bird spotting

In the midst of a lush forest, Galadriel Mozee looks up with binoculars, grinning at the bird they spot. Galadriel has one hand resting on their cane and is a Black non-binary hiker with a shaved head and glasses.

In our new pandemic reality, we resumed Disabled And Here photoshoots with COVID-safe practices. Besides masks and tests, we:

To limit exposure, Disabled And Here shoots became solo sessions, with one featured (and paid!) participant at a time. (Behind the camera, there’s at minimum the photographer and onsite assistant, plus Elea as creative director.)

Andre signing like

Andre Gray smiles and signs “like” in American Sign Language while holding a “Deaf joy” print. Andre is a Black and Deaf man wearing glasses and denim overalls, with a beard, septum piercing, and hair pulled back by a bandana.

We wrapped two shoots, growing Disabled And Here with images of disabled work and play (and joy), plus a new interview with Andre Gray. Huge thanks again to Andre and Galadriel for starring!

Coming up for 2023

At the end of 2022, we became recipients of Northwest Health Foundation’s Advancing Disability Justice grant (after applying in Summer 2022). That means more Disabled And Here photoshoots and interviews in 2023!

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