Episode 2: Alok V Menon Cripping Ulysses

00:00:10 Sinéad BurkeWelcome to episode two of crippling Ulysses. A podcast that explores. The friction between how we see ourselves. And how the world sees us. But what does that mean? Specifically, through three conversations, we explore the notion of disability consciousness, which Joyce was supposed to have. Within three conversations across geographic boundaries and identities, we look through the lenses of physical disabilities, neurodivergence, chronic pain to learn a little bit more about who people are. How they navigate the world and how they're observed. Today's conversation is with somebody who. Is incredibly special to me. And has had an enormous impact. On my life. And how I think about myself and the world. Alok V Menon is a poet, a writer, an activist, a thought leader. And a stand-up comedian. Over the past 12 months, I've seen them perform twice in person. Here in Dublin, at home in Ireland and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and while both performances had a similar script, what I took from each of them was extraordinarily different. I've been fortunate to get to know Alok across coffee tables at parties. In intimate conversations and I am always. So moved by firstly their command of language and their use of it. And secondly, just their insightfulness in how they push us all to think. Beyond. Going into this conversation, I felt like I had a great understanding of what the output would be. There are moments when you can probably sense that. The cogs are turning live, at least for me. This conversation ends with some amazing moments. Where it's not just thinking about the practices that we all know about to create change. But actually. What role does love play? And a disability consciousness. Both in terms of how we love ourselves. And how we love each other. It's a theory of change that I haven't given much time to. But I'm going to do it after this episode. This is episode two of crippling Ulysses. I am so pleased and feel very grateful to be joined in conversation today by Alok V Menon. Alok is a writer, a thought leader, and somebody who has genuinely shaped how I think about myself. And also has given me tools to see the world from a different perspective. But I'm conscious that they're on the end of the line and me waxing lyrical about how I see them. It's probably not the greatest start to a podcast whose whole purpose is about how they see themselves. I guess to start, for accessibility reasons, I'm going to give a brief visual description of myself and then I'm going to throw to Alok to do the same. Oh, hi, my name is Sinéad and I have been your host for these three episodes. I'm a white cisgendered woman who uses the pronouns she and her. I identify as queer and physically disabled. I have brown shoulder length hair and today I am wearing. A burnt orange pangaia jumper in the hope that it feels warmer than it is in Ireland currently and I'm wearing just comfortable, leisurely trousers because it has been a long week of working from home. But Alok I'll pass to you now. Do you describe yourself visually today?
00:04:29 Alok V MenonHi everyone. Thanks so much for having me. My name is Alok and tell me a joke, Alok. I use they/them pronouns and it's Fashion Week, which means in protest I'm wearing a T-shirt and a pair of gym shorts and utterly unfashionable and glamorous in it. I've got multi coloured green hair. I'm being interrupted by a siren so you know that I'm truly in New York City. And I am Indian and gender nonconforming and live with chronic pain.
00:05:08 Sinéad BurkeThis podcast was born out of a piece of academic research which talked about James Joyce having a Disability Consciousness, both because he himself had low vision, though he never in his own descriptions described himself as having a disability or being disabled. But in Ulysses, there are many characters who have disabilities, and across Joyce's work, disability exists, though disability is often used as a metaphor to ta