Diversifying your friendship group to include the able-bodied pays off, as they’re a practical choice for physical tasks. They might not know the theory behind mutual aid, or what community care is, or even understand why you cancelled brunch last week — but damn, can they lift a couch! And not just lift it: pivot it, wedge it through a doorway, and confidently declare, “oh, it’ll fit.”
The Squeaky Wheel spoke to befriender of fit people Gina Edgerton as she completed a move across town this weekend. “I love my disabled and chronically ill friends. They give the best moral support, bake the best cupcakes and bring the best housewarming gifts. But sometimes, you need an able-bodied person to get all your books off the shelf and into a box, carry the box and shelf into a van, drive the van across town, carry the box and shelf back out of the van, and unpack the books back on the shelf.” She paused. “Preferably without asking me ‘have you actually read all these?’ But we’re working on that.”
Edgerton added nuance to her definition of able-bodied with a hot tip: “Some disabilities aren’t physical, so hit up your physically fit disabled folk.” Edgerton gently swayed and clutched her cane while dispensing wisdom. “Though this time I even invited non-disabled people to help. It’s amazing what these aberrations of nature can do. They walk up and down stairs, balance perfectly, and chit-chat with neighbors who only stared at me with their mouths open for the past two years I’ve lived here.”
They have the privilege, the energy and the leg strength. During the move this weekend, Edgerton’s friend Patricia proved her allyship by not dropping the coffee table, even though it’s an awkward shape. Edgerton looked on affectionately as her friend’s biceps strained with abled usefulness while lugging a modified chair.
As Edgerton says: “The abled — for all their flaws — are so good at manipulating and moving objects from one place to another, and for that, we thank them.”