D.A.R.E. tells the story of four radicalised disabled men who declare war on a world that has declared its intent to destroy them. Under the guidance of the mysterious Jason – Argos, Hylas, Acastus and Heracles form the Disabled Anarchists Revolutionary Enclave.
After making video goodbyes to loved ones, they arm themselves. In their first operation they liberate a disabled women who faces enforced sterilisation on account of her and her disabled partners desire to have a child. Having done so successfully their triumph captures the popular imagination. It is short lived when Hylas’s lover, in a bid to prove his commitment to “the cause”, succeeds only in killing himself and DARE is outlawed as a terrorist organisation.
The men meet for the first time, to decide to flee or to fight. In a scene of devastatingly brutal banter they tear each other apart before committing themselves to their new lives as an active service unit.
“DARE left me on edge, ruffled me, my well-brought up liberal nerve ends feeling as if they’d been scarified with emery boards. I fell asleep, still inwardly debating the issues raised – and I woke, next morning, mind seething and a bit on the defensive side. Why? Because DARE puts me – puts us all – on the spot. It challenges the nature of our feelings toward the disabled and it exposes us to their anger. They’re not interested in the kind of condescending patronage that masquerades as sympathetic concern. They’re no longer willing to deny sexual desire to spare our blushes, no longer willing to stay silent when science declares it has found ways – involving DNA screening and genetic engineering – to prevent them from being born.”
Mary Brennan , The Herald.