I have resently got returned from a weekend in Manchester where i worked with a group of Disabled Lesbians on a new progect to chalange both gay and straight people's idea's on the sexual identitys of disabled people.

The Project organisers Paula Henderson and Gemma Nash also help to organise the disabled lesbians group that meets once a week in Manchester.

Gemma found an advert in 'Stone wall', a magazine for lesbian and gay people that offered a grant of £5000 to people who worked with other minority gouprs. Forinstance black gay and lesbians. Other criteria the group had to fit was either a long term goal or a product at the end. Gemma desided on a cartooning project, where disabled lesbians could draw images that would be put on post cards, poster's and beer mat's. The images would come from the groups own experiences and ideas and would show both the gay, straight, disabled and able-bodied community that disabled people too have different sexual identitys.

Gemma and Paula organised two weekends when the women could meet up in Manchester with the rest of the group and start work on the progect. The first weekend was in May. This weekend was open to all ideas, as a group they desided what issues they wanted to tackle along side the main reason for the project. They all agreed on 'coming out', 'relationships' and a few others that might help show that disabled people can and do have lesbian, gay and bisexual relationships. Every one put ideas in to the group that would be worked on at the second meeting in June.

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the second meeting in June when all the ideas were brought together. We talked a little more about what we wanted the images to show then got to work on drawing things out. Every one had ideas based on true life storys, storys other people had told and social stereotypes.

We brought up the issues that most of us in the group felt were 'most common', the main one being social identitys and stereotypes. When a woman walks down the street holding a childs hand along side another woman, what is she? Is she a mother? A lesbian? A disabled person? A daughter? A sister? A friend? ... we all jump to put every one in to little box's so we know 'what they are' rather than seeing them for who they are.

A huge problem that me and Fran face on a personal level is every one assuming i am Fran's carer rather than her partner. So some of the images we produced were of disabled people and there partners with phrases that rased the issue of carer/partner relationships.

Durning our first day we all put our ideas on to paper and at the end of the day we talked them though with each other making plans for the next day and what images we would follow though.

After a discussion on the sunday morning we desided what images we wanted to work on as a group to see if they could be our final designs. It was so hard choosing what images to take as all of them showed something to each of us. Once finally chosen we worked together gathering images and words that could finish the idea off.

We used a range of methods to produce the images, digital cameras, painting and drawing.

By the end of the second day we had about 6/8 images that we had worked on that were going to be taken away by the artist's and worked on until the final product was ready.

The images and ideas that people came up with over the weekend were so eye opening for me personally. There we so many things that entered my head about social stereotyping that i personally do, yet hate it when others do it to me. Also some of the storys that other people told that they had experienced enraged me!

The weekend tought me to keep my eyes and mind open, rather than 'putting people in to boxes' i will see them for who they are and rather than assuming the person standing next to a disabled person is a carer i will assume nothing!

Its so very easy to try and fit people in to boxes as it almost makes you safe, but as a disabled lesbian myself i wouldn't want to be put in any one else's box!

The final images should be ready by the end of October and i will be placing the images on the web site as soon as i have them! There has already been a huge demand for the posters and post cards and i'm hoping if it takes off and more funding can be gathered to produce more cards, i can bring them into the Cambridge gay scene too.

Im planning to gather some more ideas on this subject and make them into icons for the web page. If any one has any storys, ideas or images they think i should use please E mail me!!

I look foward to showing you the finished product and getting all your storys too!!

Jo xx