It often feels like as a disabled person, that you receive praise for simply existing, or surviving. I spent a good part of 2020 working with a speaking coach to develop as a motivational speaker, and the further along I got, the more I became disinterested in the whole industry. Especially as its presented as a lucrative opportunity for anyone with a disability to ‘tell their story’ and for the wealthy woke to go ‘wooowwwww’. Don’t come in… Yet! takes aim at the idea that the closer you are to death, the more you are an inspiration to the rest of society. There’s a toxic positivity that can shield people from reality, and make them dependent on the aww of others, and in doing so prevent true independence. I seek to skewer the contradiction that the closer you are to death inspires people to live. It’s kinda fucked up. And to me, kinda fucking hilarious. Also a spider biting my foot without me being able to feel it — and then dying — is probably my greatest fear. I present this as a teenage love story where Jake searches for inner peace and finds it in his best friend June. She’s dry, funny and dismissive and the simple act of not trying to turn his every woe into some sort of positive affirmation or something inspirational is freeing. Don’t come in… Yet! is ultimately a love story. A darkly comic love story where the main character dies. Happy. Free.