Hold That Terrified Animal Illustration by Lewis Figun Westbrook: Crip Futures Collection

Disability Pride Month initially started as a single day of celebration in 1990, the year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in the United States. The city of Boston held the first Disability Pride Day that year. Then, in July 2015, after years of advocacy, the first official celebration of Disability Pride Month was held, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the ADA. Today, we recognize Disability Pride Month as a cultural and political movement built on decades of international organizing, resistance, and care work.

The Catalyst is a blog and community hub for the work of healers, organizers, artists, and storytellers. Throughout Disability Pride Month, artists, writers, activists, and healers were invited to submit their work for our Crip Futures collection. The following digital illustration was made by Lewis Figun Westbrook in 2024 and first published in their zine Sore Throat.

"Hold that terrified animal", digital illustration, 2024.

Image Description:

A drawing of a person with their hand on their chest. Hard and soft lines illustrate the boundaries of this person’s body, with soft lines showing wrinkles and folds. Text on the illustration reads (from top left to bottom right, bolded as in the illustration):

Hold that terrified animal,
softly please, soft as can be

I can’t help but be kind to myself

as necessary as

a tree to the roots

the wings to the wind

Lewis Figun Westbrook (all pronouns/no genders) will always prefer their bio be a joke but apparently that isn’t professional. They are a queer writer of too many genres and artist of too many things. He is currently published in Love Gone Wrong and FatherFather. Find them on most social media @lewisrllw