Persecuted, outlawed, imprisoned,
shunned. You might think this refers
only to the LGBTQ+ community, but
their experience is remarkably closely
aligned to the experience of the Disabled
community.

This book examines the histories
of these two movements are they ran
alongside each other often intersecting.
Both the Disabled and the LGBTQ+
movements have rich and intriguing
pasts that date back beyond recorded
history. As Holder explores the journey
of these movements the journey highlights
their shared history through the stories
of the people who brought both into
modern consciousness. They represent
vital landmarks in the little-explored
intersections between the two groups’
past and present.

Turn-of-the-century Mexican bisexual
painter, Frida Kahlo, was Disabled by
both polio and injury; Michelangelo
turned his artistic talents toward
homoerotic poetry to manage his arthritis.
The iconic Marsha P Johnson lived with
and cared for those with AIDs, and Dr
Fryer, the psychiatrist with depression,
has been credited with planting the seed
that led to the removal of homosexuality
from the American diagnostic manual of
mental disorders. While many of these
events seem small, they shape our Queer
and Disability cultures and shared history,
to show just how far we’ve come and
how far we still have to go.