Many map-makers documented experiences of isolation and feelings of being stuck since the start of the pandemic. The maps found within Isolation/Stagnation capture these feelings of loss and the lack of movement that stay-at-home orders initiated. While some of the maps have a similar neighborhood scope to those found within Outward/Community, map-makers document their inability to move within and through these spaces here. They describe the activities, spaces, and people they miss or wish they had access to. Yet, as the map-maker from Kathmandu notes, for some disabled people, little has changed. The lack of movement found within these maps, then, occasions a much larger reflection on the ways that COVID has and has not changed the movements and environments of disabled people.
Map 38 by: Robin
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: Robin said that her neighborhood and community has changed because she’s not allowed to go into it. She can’t go to her boyfriend’s house which makes her very sad and she can’t go to her mom’s house which makes her extremely sad and and sometimes depressed. Something else that’s upsetting is that she can’t go do her favorite summer stuff like swimming or out for an ice cream. Robin also really misses going to her day program where she gets to see her friends.
Image Description: “Robin” appears on the top left. On the left side of the drawing: “My Boyfriends House, To See My Boy,” and a blue house with a pink heart in it. To the bottom left are the words “My Moms house in Kankakee” with a sad face. The house is orange with a pink heart in it. There are also arrows pointing towards the house. In the middle is a house labeled “My House” with a blue smiley face is in it. Three people outside the house labeled, “Visitors at my house.” The top right side of the drawing shows a yellow and green rectangle labeled “Day Program – see my friends.” Below that is a small blue and brown square labeled “Hoveys – taco salad. The one on the left is green and has a brown dot in the middle with the label “Ginger Ales – fun drinks.” The rectangle to the right of that is brown and labeled “Dairy Queen -blizzard.” Below that is a blue and orange rectangle labeled “Swimming pool – swim.” The bottom right corner shows a orange rectangle labeled “Walmart – shopping” with a big blue W in it.
Map 39 by: David
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: David said that things just aren’t like they are supposed to be. We have to wear a mask if we do go outside of our house and I can’t even go get my own tobacco pipes because it’s just not safe for me. Every Friday I used to be able to go and get a drink from Ginger ale’s or from Burger King and I haven’t been able to do that for three months, I don’t like it.
Image Description: At the top right corner is a turquoise area with the words “Tobacco store – pipes & tobacco.” Under that is a orange rectangle labeled “Burger King” – “Whopper.” Below that is a pink rectangle labeled “Harvey’s for Burgers.” To the left of that is a brown area labeled “Casey’s Fountain Drink.” In the middle of the picture is a turquoise diamond labeled “Ginger Ales – Drink & Pretzel.” Near that is a white pentagon labeled “My house.” To the bottom right corner of the image is a blue and yellow Walmart logo labeled “shopping.” At the bottom left corner of the image is the name “David.”
Map 40 by: Debbie
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: Debbie said it makes her sad that she can’t stop and talk to her neighbors and shake their hands and that she misses that. Another big way things have changed is that she can’t go and see her church family and hug her church family and tell them what she did at work during the week because she can’t go to church and she can’t go to work. Another thing that’s different is that she can’t go to North house and see her friends who live there.”
Image Description: To the bottom left corner is the name “Debbie.” In the center of the image is a pink area with two flowers that is labeled “My house.” To the right is a blue area labeled “Library.” At the top left corner is a brown area with the words “Arby’s in Vincennes – Out to eat.” To the right of that is an orange area and an ice cream cone with the words “Dairy Dee in Summer – Ice cream.” Next to that is a rectangle labeled “Get Groceries – IGA.” Below that is a teal colored area “Ginger Ale’s – Miss Diet Vanilla Pepsi.” At the top right corner is “North House” – “My Church Family” – “Elm Street Christian Church.” To the bottom right corner is Walmart and Dollar tree labeled “shopping.”
Map 41 by: Richard
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: “Richard says that he is ready to go see his church family because he knows they miss him and he misses them because he is not allowed to go due to this virus. It’s also different because he can’t go to work to earn a paycheck and cannot go out to eat with his sister. It’s just a mess I can’t even go get my own craft supplies. It just isn’t right that he can’t see his friends from Jonathan in person and that he can only see them on the iPad :(“
Image Description: At the top left is the name “Richard.” On the left side of the page shows a yellow rectangle labeled “dollar general – To Buy Crafts.” Under is a big blue lake with a grey boat in it labeled “The lake for picnics.” Near the lake is a grey rectangle and the name “Richard.” as it. In the middle of the page shows Richard’s house in grey and under is Jonathan’s house in brown and the words “Seeing my friends.” At the top right of the page shows a blue area labeled “Burger King – home of the Whoper.” Below is a building with a blue cross at the top, two colorful stain glassed windows and a door between them. This building is labeled “Elm Street Christian Church” and captioned “I miss going to services.” Under the church is an orange square labeled “Walmart” captioned, “Buying Crafts.”
Map 42 by: JD and HM
Location: Charleston, IL
Tell us about your map: Not submitted
Image Description: To the left is a street labeled “XX street.” The satellite image displays 3 houses. The top left house is labeled by a pink dot that indicates “my house.” In front of the house is a street. The top right corner is a address “Charleston IL, 61920.” The bottom right corner is a key, the pink dot represents a house, and 2 lines and dash marks represents the road.
Map 43 by: Anonymous
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Tell us about your map: “I live in outskirts place call Budhanikantha, in my place we don’t have blacktopped road and no access of public vehicle. In the time of rain mud puddle are seen which is very hazardous for scooter”
Image Description: A photo of a quiet neighborhood in Kathmandu, Nepal. The top of the photo shows buildings and trees on different levels of ground. Throughout the photo shows greenery and dirt roads. The middle of the photo displays a car covered in blue tarp and electric lines running through the area.
Map 44 by: Amber E.
Location: Mattoon, IL
Image Description: At the top left corner in green letters reads “I live in Mattoon IL. COVID 19 has been tough I can’t go to work, stores, church, pool or to Mom + Dad’s. I hope we can get back to all of this soon :)” The bottom left is a map key titled “Map key drawing from ___.” “Can’t go” in red letters. “Pool” in blue letters. “Mom dad” in pink letters. “Church” in green letters. In the middle of the drawing is a purple bordered rectangle. The bottom right corner is a pink heart labeled home with five red squiggly lines leading out ofit to five purple boxes. The first line leads to a box labeled “Church.” The second box reads “pool.” Third box is “mom dad.” Fourth box is “work.” Fifth box is “store.” The bottom right corner of the drawing is labeled in purple letters “Amber E.”
Map 45 by: Anonymous
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: “These are the Places that I can’t go during covid.”
Image Description: At the bottom left corner in red states “These are the places that I can’t go during covid.” At the top left is a house with a person, circled and labeled in red, “Covid Safe Place.” In the middle is a square labeled “Movies” with a red X. The bottom middle is a rectangle labeled “Walmart” with a red X. On the top right is a square labeled “work shop” with a red X. And to the left middle is a square labeled “Mcdonalds” with a red X on it. The red X’s in indicate places that they can’t go during covid. Throughout the drawing are red, orange, green, and pink swirls.
Map 46 by: Anonymous
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: Not Submitted
Image Description: With red marker is the address “XX Court” written at the top middle of the image. Next to the address is a square. Under the address is a series of drawn circles together as the middle has two big drawn boxes together. To the right of the circles is a box with a dot and to the bottom is another box.
Map 47 by: Anonymous
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: “Kan’t go to work,” “Can’t go out no,” “sucks, frustratid, horboll, stuck in the house, no stors:”
Image Description: The image is created on blue construction paper separated down the middle with a purple scribble. The top left corner in purple words, “Kan’t go to work.” Under that is an image of a square with a person in it. Below that is a person with short curly hair with a sad face. On the top right corner in purple words, “Can’t go out no.” Under that in red are words listed “sucks, frustratid, horboll, stuck in the house, no stors.” Over these words on the right side, vertically are black and red scribbles.
Author 48 by: MJ
Location: Mattoon, IL
Image Description: A hand-written narrative discussing the experience of MJ during the pandemic that reads:
“it sucks that we cant go no waer. We cant evin go to the bank to get money or a check to go to the bank AT ALL RIGHT NOW. We haf to be so sol didingbut we are all in the saem house together and some has to have asisting with the restroom or being chand and rey p shinging how is that sosol didng.
We all have a disability and I now that it sucks and all day eoey day wut we haf to deal with. Wen we go out we cant go to the bathrooms at all because we cant go in enywear at all. Some of us cann speak and ixspres that flings and some cant because thay have a hard time with it and with spelling and righitng and reding and that’s part of the disability”
Map 49 by: Anonymous
Location: Lockport
Tell us about your map: I live in Lockport, I do identify as having a disability. This is me painting with diamonds. Ever since the virus I have been sitting at the table or in my room. It is very frustrating that I am not allowed to work or be with my friends. I hate that we have to always find things to do around the house because we are not allowed out of the house to go places. There has been times I have isolated myself because of being frustrated. There has even been times where I didn’t act like I usually do. I have gotten myself into trouble more than I ever did before. I can’t wait until things go back to normal so that I can stop being frustrated and bored at home. However, I would also like to share some recent things that I have done to help me get thru this time. It has always been a dream of mine to become a preschool teacher so I started taking online classes about childhood development and I am enjoying the classes. I have also been working on more of my other goals recently.
Image Description: A picture of a fair skinned individual with short red hair. They are wearing a colorful mask, a black and white geometric short sleeved top, and a smartwatch on their wrist. They are partaking in an art project on the dining table.
Map 50 by: Anonymous
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: Not Submitted
Image Description: A line drawing of the top exterior view of a home. At the top right is a section labeled “patio.” In the middle of the page is an area labeled “roof.” At the bottom right is an item labeled “satalite dish.”
Map 51 by: Anonymous
Location: Howard city, Michigan, United States
Tell us about your map: “Doctor visits have become frightening and I don’t feel comfortable leaving house or wearing a mask because of panic attack. Covid has disrupted my entire life even more than this disability has. No assistance or compensation yet I feel we deserve it for so many reasons”
Image Description: A screenshot of an Instagram post that displays a white colored art piece of a father and son holding hands. The words in white text, “son was made from pieces removed from the statue of the father, representing what parents do to build the lives of their children.”
Map 52 by: Anonymous
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: “I love to sit in my recliner during the day and hold hangers and other objects. Since Covid-19 and staying home all day.”
Image Description: The top of the image says, “I love to sit in my recliner during the day and hold hangers and other objects. Since Covid-19 and staying home all day.” The drawing under depict someone in their living room. To the left are two recliners and tables as someone is sitting on the recliner. Next to them, labeled, are the couch, coffee table, love seat and tv. The couch, one recliner and love seat have marks of green, while the coffee table and tv have marks of yellow.
Map 53 by: Anonymous
Location: Unknown
Tell us about your map: “He loves to listen to his radio or watch movies on his tablet. He will sing Happy Birthday to Everyone.”
Image description: At the top of the image in purple says, “He loves to listen to his radio or watch movies on his tablet. He will sing Happy Birthday to Everyone.” Below are drawn images. In the middle are two green tables. The table to the left has a tablet on it and the table to the right has a birthday cake. Under the tables says, “Kitchen Tables” in red, and green and purple scribbles. On the right side of the image is an individual in a wheelchair listening to the radio.
Map(s) 54 by: Justice Hargis
Map 54 by: Justice Hargis (Part 1 of 2)
Location: Mattoon, IL
Tell us about your map: “I live in Mattoon, IL – My name is Justice Hargis. – I hope to be able to see family & friends again also go visit family. After virus is gone soon.”
Image Description: At the top in blue “I live in Mattoon, IL – My name is Justice Hargis. – I hope to be able to see family & friends again also go visit family. After virus is gone soon.” Top right corner is a map key with the words “Wal-Mart & stores – Bank – Ryan’s sit-down place eat – my house – mom’s house.” Near the top is a pink stick-figure with black curly hair labeled “Me – Justice H.” The stick figure has a sad expression and is crying. Coming from the stick figure is a pink path that leads to a heart. Each location labeled along the path has a red “X” over the words “Walmart & Stores,” “Bank,” “Ryan’s sit-down place eat,” “my house,” and “mom’s house.”
Author 54 by: Justice Hargis (Part 2 of 2)
Location: Mattoon, IL
Image Description: A handwritten narrative that discusses the experience of Justice Hargis during the pandemic that reads:
“I live in Mattoon, IL. My name is Justice Hargis I have a disability. It sucks be home I really want to go to a store I really want to go on a home visit and be with family. I had to stay in the cila its so boring and its hard to breath in masks. I wish the c-virus was gone so we could have anyone inside our house it’s for our safety so we can’t get virus. and get sick. it sucks not able to go to bank to get money also cooking outside on grill and swimming and getting wet also having out door activities. also visit family out of state. Like Moms or Dads. and going into stores without masks & giving hugs to our family without catching c-virus and not having masks. So we can be closer to friends and family without 6-feet.”
