We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Edie Young. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Edie below.

Edie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I have worked on was The Disability Justice Fair because I am disabled and have noticed people at my school use slurs and often aren’t very accepting of disabilities. The fair allowed people to learn how to be a better ally and it showed the disabled students at my school that they are accepted and don’t have to hide their disabilities. I believe it is really important to teach people how to be better allies because I believe everyone deservers a chance to learn how to become a better ally. Some people may not know how to be a good ally or grew up thinking it was okay to say certain words, like the R word. At the fair, we had tables set up with information about different disability topics, and we had a resources table, a prize and an info table where we had a passport they could do where they answered questions based on the different tables information and got a prize. It was initiated by me, and it was a collaboration between my club, the Disability Student Alliance, and SGA.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi, I’m Edie Young, a political queer and disabled activist and artist from DC.I specialize in issues surrounding disability rights, human rights, and gun violence prevention. I also specialize in supporting artists.

I hope one day people will stop losing their lives to guns, that people will be able to feel safe in schools and public spaces, and that queer and trans youth will be able to freely express themselves and not have to worry about coming out or simply existing. I also hope disabled people will one day be able to exist without fearing their lives.

I also hope one day artists will be able to feel supported, because it is often hard for artists to get support without paying. Not every artist has a lot of money to afford support. Every artist deserves support because I believe there is something good about every art creation.

I am currently President and Founder of my school’s Disability Student Alliance, and I founded and co-organized the Disability Justice Fair and Queer Visibility Fair at my school. I also founded and lead We Are Artistic. I also work with the Queer Youth Assemble. I love supporting others and advocating for them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

One of the rewarding parts of being an artist is being able to uplift others with your art. Many people don’t realize how easy it is to uplift someone using art and how much joy it can bring them. In the summer of 9th grade, I learned about Cards for Hospitalized Kids, learned how easy it was to uplift kids in the hospital with art, and started hosting card-making events through my organization. We Are Artistic because I wanted to show others how easy it is to uplift someone using art and to provide them with a space where they could take time to uplift using art. Many people think it takes a while to make a card for a kid in a hospital, when in reality it doesn’t take that long. It means a lot to me to see people of all ages uplifting others using art.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

One thing I think many non-creatives struggle to understand is how harmful asking for free art is. When you ask for free art, you are not understanding how much time and energy goes into creating a piece. Also, some people do it for a living, and when you ask for free art, they aren’t making money. A lot of artists already don’t have a lot of money.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weareartistic.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistic.edie/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareartistic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edinafyoung/