Cassie Q

So the thing about being a disabled child is that your parents probably aren't disabled. They read all those books – real books or metaphorical books – about how to be a good parent but the books didn't really have a chapter covering disabilities. Basically they have no fucking idea what they're doing, so they try to do an approximation: you're not a normal kid but maybe you can be as close to one as possible. The memory of this was always very close to my mind, in one way

For a long time in my life I felt deeply troubled by the burden put on my mother when she unknowingly gave birth to a child who, by simply being alive, would forever use every single drop of her life energy. Just like everything else related to my disability, in my family this was never consciously thought about, only vaguely implied, dislocated hints at my villainy, the devilishness inherent in me, never to be admitted in a conversation - maybe because crimes without a crimi

It is my belief that a supportive family is the greatest privilege someone can have. While mine never lacked in love, my folks have always struggled with chaos - orderly people who don't like things to be out of place and would rather deny what can't be fixed than to look at it. It's interesting how it works for people with disabilities, we usually come from abled families who had no clue their kid would turn out to be so completely different from what they expected, and the

The thing about disabilities is that you often need a little hand to get things done, and depending on how much help you need and how little money you have, that hand might be the one of a family member that fell into that role for lack of option. And the thing about help is that there is a power play, that the helper usually fails to acknowledge. During the time I stayed with my sister, in addition to other relatives as well, I learned that standing up for disabled dignity a

Everyone has their little web of aggravators, things that stops them from moving forward and forces a detour. Sometimes with disabilities, this web gets so detailed and so layered that it might seem impossible to move. I fear that one day it will be impossible to move. So many times I jumped to decisions because I just didn’t have the space to explore myself. So many times I didn’t hang out after class because I had no idea how to fix the need to pee and it just seemed easier

For 21 years of my life, I didn't have a caretaker. I am completely dependent on another, and for 21 years that another was my mom. Affording a caretaker is indeed a financial struggle, but it wasn't impossible for my family. The real reason why we took so long to find one, is one that I think many disabled people might relate to: as someone who never outgrew the childhood need for basic care, I was often interpreted as a half human being with no real need for independence or

I'd like to introduce you all to Cassie's sister, the lovely Alice. Alice was of course inspired on my own sister (I'm really not creative. Or mysterious), who I think perceives herself as this cute little girl lost in the middle of crazy people with crazy demands. Now, I think it's important to clarify that although the character is inspired in one specific person, Alice represents the largest part of the society as I see it as well as most of my family's interactions with m

For those of you who don't know me, I was born and raised Brazilian, and have never lived anywhere else. So for some of the people who know me in real life, it seemed odd that I'd choose to do my art in a foreign language. Of course English has the power to reach a much larger number of people, and I have been described as ambitious, but that's more of a pleasant afterthought and not an actual reason, so I'm sharing this comic from mini Cassie to explain how it came to be. O