We're talking about beauty, disability, and self-identity today with Chloe Cooper Jones. We will be right back with more from Chloe Cooper Jones after this short break.Īnd we are back. And I count them until everything else fades and I'm lost in a void that nullifies, dulls what needs dulling. And on the walls, one at a time, gray numbers flash. There are no doors or windows in the neutral room, nothing but white walls. I center myself in the neutral room, a separated space inside my mind I constructed when I was very young as a method for dissociating from physical pain. I search for anger and find only numbness. The men bicker over the issue of my unfortunate birth. Unable to leave the table, Chloe tries to distance herself mentally. A little setup first: Chloe has been getting drinks with some colleagues when the conversation turns to their views about the quality of Chloe's life as a person with a disability. Here's a clip from her audiobook, courtesy of Simon and Schuster Audio. Chloe talks about the way that she is othered because of her visible disability, but she also talks about the ways that art and beauty in an internal life have helped her to broaden her experience and self-define outside of those narrow boxes. In it, she talks about the ways that she's been reduced by her appearance.Ĭhloe was born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis, which affects both her stature and gait, and frequently causes her physical pain and discomfort. Today's guest, Chloe Cooper Jones, is the author of the book Easy Beauty. Whether your identity is subsumed into parent or woman or elderly, we are all so much more than the reductive label that society might put us into at first glance. But I cannot forget how discombobulating it was to see so clearly the box I was being categorized in.Īnd yet, for many people, that is a daily experience. And spoiler: I never booked a commercial, not a single one.

There were maybe half a dozen of us who all looked a lot like me, except everyone else was slightly taller or fitter or more handsome. On the other side where I was seated was a row of skinny guys wearing plaid button-downs, about to audition for the part of “nerd who works from home”. On one side of the waiting room for this audition was a row of identical bodybuilders in white tank tops. I remember one audition for a terrifying energy drink alternative that was like a patch that somehow delivered the caffeine straight into your skin or something. The weirdest part of the audition, though, happened before I ever got in front of the camera. One time the casting director literally gave me the note, “Could you be less wooden?”Īnd the honest answer was no. There was a period of time in my life when I was auditioning for commercials semi-regularly, and full transparency, I was terrible at the auditions. You are listening to How to Be a Better Human.

Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones