Rest

Pig and dog laying in bed
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We urgently need a society that’s better at letting people get the rest they need.

Fergus Murray
orange tabby cat lying on blue comforter
WIP
by Kristina Daniele

I’m in pain.
Mental. Physical.
The result’s the same.
Retreating into silence.
Resting my brain.
Taking deep breaths.
Trying to reframe.
Writing in my journal.
Listening to myself.
Trying to get centered
But drifting to the left.

I’m in pain.
Mental. Physical.
Emotionally, it’s the same.
Stimming to reset
Moving to get rest.
Blocking out the world,
And listening to myself.
Trying to get centered
But drifting to the left.
I'm a work in progress.
I'm not finished yet.

Nothing in this culture wants us to have rest. Wants us to have ease. Wants us to have care. The softness was stolen. Our dreamspace has been stolen. Our space to just be has been stolen.

Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry.
Our collective rest will save us

Our collective rest will save us.

Tricia Hersey
A group of disabled queer Black folks talk and laugh at a sleepover, relaxing across two large beds. Everyone is dressed in colorful t-shirts and wearing a variety of sleep scarves, bonnets, and durags. On the left, two friends sit on one bed and paint each other’s nails. On the right, four people lounge on a bed: one person braids another’s hair while the third friend wearing a C-PAP mask laughs, and the fourth person looks up from their book. In the center, a bedside lamp illuminates the room in warm light while pill bottles adorn an end table.
A group of disabled queer Black folks talk and laugh at a sleepover, relaxing across two large beds. Everyone is dressed in colorful t-shirts and wearing a variety of sleep scarves, bonnets, and durags. On the left, two friends sit on one bed and paint each other’s nails. On the right, four people lounge on a bed: one person braids another’s hair while the third friend wearing a C-PAP mask laughs, and the fourth person looks up from their book. In the center, a bedside lamp illuminates the room in warm light while pill bottles adorn an end table.

Credit: Jonathan Soren Davidson for Disabled And Here

Naps help you wake up.

The Nap Ministry
A Black trans person with idiopathic hypersomnia sleeps contentedly on a bed of warm blue and purple clouds. They’re wearing an eye mask and their dark curly hair is wrapped in a colourful sleep scarf. A small purple bat plushie is nestled beside them. Behind the sleeping person is a window, bathing the room in warm afternoon light.
A Black trans person with idiopathic hypersomnia sleeps contentedly on a bed of warm blue and purple clouds. They’re wearing an eye mask and their dark curly hair is wrapped in a colourful sleep scarf. A small purple bat plushie is nestled beside them. Behind the sleeping person is a window, bathing the room in warm afternoon light.

Credit: Jonathan Soren Davidson for Disabled And Here.
A fat Filipino person with a continual glucose monitor on their arm and insulin pump on their stomach lies on the chest of a transmasculine Black person, who has a bandage on their stomach post testosterone injection. The two are shirtless, wearing matching yellow and pink underwear, and looking content in sleep. A cream colored fluffy cat snuggles at the right edge of the bed and a smartphone reads 3:42 on the left.
A fat Filipino person with a continual glucose monitor on their arm and insulin pump on their stomach lies on the chest of a transmasculine Black person, who has a bandage on their stomach post testosterone injection. The two are shirtless, wearing matching yellow and pink underwear, and looking content in sleep. A cream colored fluffy cat snuggles at the right edge of the bed and a smartphone reads 3:42 on the left.

Credit: Campbell Royales for Disabled And Here
A cat rests on a pile of laundry
A cat sleeps curled up in a chair
A yawning black and white cat laying on a stone patio
Doan Lotion Potion Yawns Mightily

Further reading,

Interdependence
Community
☀️💪 Offline: Fresh Air, Daylight, and Large Muscle Movement
⛑ Mutual Aid: Real Help Against the Onslaught

Published by Ryan Boren

#ActuallyAutistic retired technologist turned wannabe-sociologist. Equity literate education, respectfully connected parenting, passion-based learning, indie ed-tech, neurodiversity, social model of disability, design for real life, inclusion, open web, open source. he/they