Signs installed permanently at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin, Germany.
Signs installed permanently at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin, Germany.
I’m not sure when I first had the idea for this disguise, but it came from a desire to minimize the stares, patronization, paternalism, and invasive questioning that occurs as a wheelchair user. By swapping my custom-fitting, lightweight wheelchair for a more common hospital-style chair and fake leg cast, I could be perceived by others as temporarily disabled, or even ironically as “temporarily able-bodied” a term chronically disabled people sometimes use to refer to the currently non-disabled. I’ve thought of this disguise over the years in many contexts: a funny Halloween costume, a way to avoid discrimination during job interviews (or at least get to a hiring stage in which employment laws might offer some small protection), and more recently as a way to blend in with the crowd during protests.
Buddy System is informed by Rutgers University’s Office of Institutional Planning’s policy on the “Evacuation of Individuals with Physical Disabilities.” The buddy system is described there as: “During the first week of classes or employment, make acquaintances with fellow students, residents, class members, or office workers. Inform them of any special assistance that may be required in the event of a fire alarm. When the fire alarm sounds, the ‘Buddy’ will make sure of the location of the person with a disability, then go outside and inform emergency personnel that a person in that location needs assistance in leaving the building.”
I patched, repaired, and painted the gallery walls using the same shade of white as is used in the public hallways of the Civic Square Building that houses the gallery. I recreated the hallways’ black trim, and accent wall using Rutgers’ official color ‘Scarlet Red’. The mural is on the lower third of the gallery walls and stops at my seated height. The other works in Buddy System hang on top of this mural. Nothing was altered above the mural line including the lighting, which was kept as is from the previous exhibit.
Sign in the same style used by Rutgers University for way-finding and emergency information. The sign is placed in the emergency evacuation stairwell of whatever floor I am on, alerting fleeing people to my presence in the building, and making them all my “buddies.”
The air vent above the flag causes it to wave slightly in front of the window. This follows guidelines in Rutgers University’s Office of Institutional Planning’s policy on the “Evacuation of Individuals with Physical Disabilities,” which states: “If the phone lines fail, the individual [with a disability unable to evacuate] can signal from the window by waving a cloth or other visible object.”
Photograph of the length of one wall at my eye-level (32 inches from the ground) hung directly above at conventional hanging height (60 inches from the ground). Privileges my sight line as the primary document, and gives those who are upright or taller an imperfect reproduction instead of the other way around.
chloe@chloepascalcrawford.com