Disabled Guide to the Wolf Creek Sanctuary

This land is sacred and alive.  We’re blessed to touch, feel, and form a relationship with the land here, the water, the sky, and the spirits.

Disabled people experience hazards and challenges here that abled people do not.  This guide is written by and for disabled people, intended as a resource for sharing ideas about how to have good experiences.

Access Needs

Although our disabilities might contribute to our suffering, human beings are fortunate to come in so much variety.  Here at the land we’re creating justice by the ways we relate.  All bodies belong here with respect and love, including disabled bodies.  

Many who come here are disabled regarding mobility, visual impairment, hearing impairment, autism and ADHD, seizure, sleep disorders like narcolepsy, diabetes, congenital differences, mental health differences, heart issues, and countless more.  

Because disabilities vary and most are invisible, please communicate about your access needs. These could be needs around

• bathrooms

• ramps and handrails

• visibility

• ritual

• food

• seating

• electricity

• paths, roads, and surface terrain

• smoke

• perfumes and scents

• where it’s best for you to park

• ways that information is shared

Most faeries come here caring and curious.  Especially the ones who organize events and choose to live here signed up to listen to you.  We care who you are and what you need.  If we can’t help, we’ll find someone who will.

Speaking up about what you need is important so you can advocate for yourself, but imagine others who come after you.  What you say to advocate for yourself creates change that improves the lives of many.  Thank you for helping all of us by stating your access needs.

If you’re at a meeting check-in and folks are flippant about access needs, we apologize.  Over time, we’ll become more fluent in disability justice.  Thanks for being patient.  

Have a plan

If you’re taking risks beyond your usual risks, please have a plan.  Drug use, forestry work, cooking for 100 people, ritual, and sex with new people can challenge anyone, but especially us.

Having a plan for before, during, and after risk taking makes a difference.  Here are examples of ways to prepare.

• Before using a substance, ask someone to assist you on uneven paths.

• Know where first aid supplies are kept.

• Teach your friends how to test your blood sugar and what to do if it’s too high or too low.

• Inform new lovers about muscular/skeletal, heart, or lymph issues that could contribute to your injury.

• Know where you’re going to rest after intense socializing.

• Tell the people you’re spending time with what it looks like when you’re having a seizure, and what to do.

• Label your epi-pen, rescue inhaler, noise-canceling headphones, and medication.

• Keep snacks and water nearby.

• Research whether any drugs you want to try interact poorly with your prescription meds.

• Wear a disability ID bracelet, and keep a paper with you that explains your health.

Your access needs might amplify when you do things outside your everyday life.  If you’re not sure what to ask for, event organizers and medics can help you make a plan.  Please let them know your disabilities so they can be there for you skillfully.

Disrepair

Some areas are held together by spider webs and spells.  Please speak up if disrepair is interfering with your safe use of a space.  Those who decide how resources are spent will take your needs into account.

General Land Access Information

The sanctuary consists of 80 acres of land with varied terrain. When arriving on the land, you enter through the parking lot, which is unpaved and has a slight gravel texture. There is a dirt road (less then ¼ mile) that leads to the land’s “downtown” which consists of access cabins, the vision garden, Garden House, two shitters (one with a makeshift ramp and the other up half a flight of stairs.  

There are natural type paths from the parking lot to downtown. These are mostly flat but not wide enough for two people to fit next to each other (maybe challenging using a walker or such on these paths). The land has a few rolling carts to lug items around the land from the parking lot. Usually, vehicle use of this road and parking between the barn/drag closet are reserved for access needs or unloading, then moving the car back to the entrance parking lot. 

Access elder cabins: one has 4 steps up, and another has a wheelchair ramp leading into it.

Other Access Considerations

• The land is not super accessible for non-electric wheel chair access, but some people have navigated electric wheelchairs and scooters. Note that sometimes they get stuck due to terrain (ask for help).  

• The land is not currently equipped with low vision or braille access 

• Community communication happens in English, and ASL interpretation is not provided.

• The front of the barn where most meals are served has four or five big steps to get inside. On the other side of the barn, there is a ramp, but note that it is wobbly. 

• Unless a gathering is renting port-a-potties, people are generally encouraged to pee outside (this can be challenging with different access needs). There is a lot of openness about where you pee–ie if you’re someone who cannot walk very far from the group to pee, it’s still okay to pee on the side of the group outside. 

• Shitters on the land are not easily accessible with mobility devices. There is at least one step up to access most of them. After using the shitter, it’s asked to spray the toilet seat down, clean it, and add wood shavings down the hole.

• There are often loud noises like bells, conches blown to indicate meal times, and groups yelling “yoo-hoo” to get attention. Often people warn “loud sound,” but it is helpful if possible to communicate that you’d like a warning before any loud sounds.

• The sanctuary is in a rural area, and neighbors often shoot guns. You likely will hear some gunshots while visiting.

• The land has some chairs in the barn etc, but if you’re someone who needs to sit in a chair (with a particular need like a back, a size, or strength) please try to bring one, like a camping chair, to ensure that need is met. You can always ask the community to move your chair around if and when it is needed.

• There is an AED on the land that is in Garden House.

• The nearest emergency room is at least 45 minutes away via car .

• Meal times can sometimes be inconsistent. If possible, bring snacks that meet your dietary needs or meal-type items.

• If you have special dietary access needs, you can ask for a fridge space in the Garden House to store some of your food and cook it in there. Note gatherings try hard to meet everyone's dietary needs, but if you have very specialized needs, it's great to plan to have food to supplement that.

• Please note that faerie culture and gatherings usually hold agreements that people will be responsible for themselves mentally, physically etc, naming when they have an unmet need, asking for help, and doing our best to care for ourselves.

Considerations for Larger-bodied Faeries

As a self-identified super fat person, I want to share that much of the infrastructure is fragile and was not made for larger bodies. The flights of stairs (one inside the Garden House and one on outside) in particular, and the ancestor room itself, feel unstable for my body. I would highly recommend bringing your strong camping chair or similar that meets your needs for sitting, that will support your body.

Thank You

Thank you for building a richer faerie culture by showing up as your gorgeous disabled self.  You’re just living your life, but you’re also showing everyone how disabled people matter here and we all belong.

Please contact Disability Justice Circle with questions, ideas for how to improve this guide, and with requests for this guide in another format. 

We love you,

Disability Justice Circle disability-justice@nomenus.org

Glossary

• Disability - Any health, mental health, or developmental difference that seriously limits your options.

• Disability Justice - All bodies are valid bodies, and we all deserve our needs met– not just abled people whose needs are default and easy.  There’s nothing lesser about us, and there’s no reason to be ashamed of who we are.

• Access need - Something you need in order to participate when your disability means that you might not be able to participate otherwise.

May - July 2025 by Wolf Creek Disability Justice Circle, including Strawberry and Beef