A Snake Oil Collage

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Ableist rhetoric

Words cut out from various magazines and advertisements are chaotically layered over one another. The words are ones which are common for chronically ill and disabled people to hear. At the top, one message says “New Joint-Supporting ‘Miracle Oil.’” Other messages include “Here to Care,” “Here to Help,” “8 Dimensions of Wellness,” and “Inspirational.” Dollar signs and words like “doctor,” “research,” and “wellness” are repeated throughout. The bottom right corner represents the ideal state of ‘post-cure,’ with words such as “Practice Makes Perfect,” “Perfect,” “healthy and independent,” “Normal,” “do yoga!” “Congratulations!” “Celebrating,” “every day excited” and “Restored?”

Audrey T. Carroll is the author of the What Blooms in the Dark (ELJ Editions, 2024), Parts of Speech: A Disabled Dictionary (Alien Buddha Press, 2023), and In My Next Queer Life, I Want to Be (kith books, 2023). Her writing has appeared in Lost Balloon, CRAFT, JMWW, Bending Genres, and others. She is a bi/queer/genderqueer and disabled/chronically ill writer. She serves as a Diversity & Inclusion Editor for the Journal of Creative Writing Studies, and as a Fiction Editor for Chaotic Merge Magazine. She can be found at http://AudreyTCarrollWrites.weebly.com and @AudreyTCarroll on Twitter/Instagram.