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Aleks program Screenshots (contributed by Sullivan Voss)

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Aleks program Screenshots (contributed by Sullivan Voss)

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How To Be A Better Disability Ally with Daphne Frias | I Weigh x Jameela Jamil

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Signing Black in America - more about this project at www.talkingblackinamerica.org

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"lesbian youtubers" deaf "disabled youtuber" lesbian "deaf youtubers" "lesbian couple youtubers" "vintage hair tutorials" "vintage make up tutorial" "family ...

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Adding vintage lesbian fabulousness to a life with disabilities and chronic illnesses, aided by my beautiful wife Claudia, our son Rupert and our adorable pups. I make fun, uplifting and educational content that should help you get through tough times and not feel alone.

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disabled "disabled eliza" "mental health awareness" "disabled life" ocd anxiety ibd ibs "overactive bladder" hernia dyslexia dyspraxia eds "ehlers danlos syn...

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New videos every Thursday at 5pm about Disability awareness, lgbtq+ positivity and lifestyle things! I am a Disabled person who is living with many conditions and I was to raise awareness about what it is like to live as a Disabled person. Follow me: IG: Disabled_eliza Tiktok: Disabled_eliza Twitter: Disabled_Eliza Email me: disabledeliza@aol.com Thanks so much!

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By Dr. Nancy Proctor

Pre-Covid-19, this essay began as a discussion of the way in which contemporary lives blur the boundaries between the "real" and the "virtual." In our cross-platform world, my thesis went, we move between the physical and digital spheres like cyborgs: an encounter can be no less impactful, an emotion no less "real," for having been experienced in an online environment. By the same token, there are few activities in the physical world that remain unmediated by digital tools, at minimum the ubiquitous "phone," without which, it is easy to imagine, we would no longer have memories.

Ironically it took a global pandemic to reveal just how deeply rooted we still are in the physical world. By restricting us to online interactions for months on end, Covid-19 showed us how ill prepared we were to use our advanced digital technologies to their full potential, and where our digital blind spots lay. Even at the Peale, with a technologically-savvy team and a born-digital collection, we found ourselves in April 2020 wondering why we hadn't been doing more online pre-quarantine, given the extraordinary increase in our global reach and audiences as we took all of our programs online for the duration of the pandemic. For example, the Peale now has a growing audience of Deaf participants in its online programs - an inclusive design development that was inspired the Redefine/ABLE exhibition's move online and will continue into the Peale's programming in the physical world as well. What took us so long?

As "the oldest new museum in Baltimore," the Peale has embraced its unparalleled opportunity to question and reinvent the very concept of museum for the 21st century, while building on two centuries of cultural, technological, and educational innovation within its own historic walls. Opened in 1814 by artist Rembrandt Peale, Peale's Baltimore Museum and Gallery of the Fine Art Arts was housed in the first purpose-built museum in the United States. Rembrandt's museum was inspired by his father, Charles Willson Peale, who had opened the first American museum in Philadelphia in 1786. Rembrandt also introduced gas lighting to the city of Baltimore. By 1816 his Baltimore Gas Light Company was building the country's first gas streetlight network, giving Baltimore its nickname today: "Light City."

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By Dr. Nancy Proctor Pre-Covid-19, this essay began as a discussion of the way in which contemporary lives blur the boundaries between the "real" and the "virtual." In our cross-platform world, my thesis went, we move between the physical and digital spheres like cyborgs: an encounter can be no less impactful, an emotion no less "real," for having been experienced in an online environment.

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Education Perfect - Education Redefined: Bloom's Taxonomy. We're thrilled to be able to shar...

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Intent Versus Impact: When Making a Difference Doesn't | Miriam Barnett | TEDxTacoma

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Deaf & Blind On The Internet with @Molly Burke!

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Disabled person reacts to Tiktokers talking about ableist experiences [CC]

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PoTS Explained & Chronic Illness Tips [CC]

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Have you been ableist and not known? 10 common ableist sayings! [CC]

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Why We Need Universal Design | Michael Nesmith | TEDxBoulder

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Learn about CAST’s Universal Design for Learning framework, fostering inclusive educational experiences and improving learning outcomes for all learners.

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TikToker Teaches Black American Sign Language

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The Leading Source for News and Information on Universal Design

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The Leading Source for News and Information on Universal Design - The Leading Source for News and Information on Universal Design

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Universal Design is a design process that enables & empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health & wellness, & social participation.

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Focuses on race but some concepts can also be applicable to ability/disability

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An ally is anyone from a dominant or majority group that is working towards ending oppression by supporting and advocating for those in marginalized and oppressed groups.

Becoming an ally is a process and it isn't always easy or comfortable. It requires one to recognize the power and privilege that being part of the dominant culture affords them.

There is no prescriptive method to becoming an ally but there are steps that everyone must follow to become better informed.

1. Who are you? Look inward and create an identity map that lists your place in society. Think about your race, gender, ethnicity, family roles, professional roles, and religious affiliations. Understanding how you've reached your worldview is important to understanding your relationship to others, ideas, and events.

2. Educate yourself! Begin thinking about your own identity map and challenge yourself to learn more about the groups, cultures, and identities that you do not identify with. Have you experienced privilege in a way that those in other groups have not? It is only through learning about others that you can stand with them and advocate for them, using your own power and privilege in ways that marginalized voices cannot.

3. Use your new found skills. Recognizing the differences in power and privilege amongst social groups is only the first step. Learn how to communicate your thoughts about privilege, power, and oppression. It may be scary at first, so look for a way to practice these skills in safe environments.

4. Take action. Being an ally means more than just knowing the right things to say. Get out in the community and talk to others about the struggle marginalized groups go through.

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LibGuides: Anti-Racism and Social Justice @ Pitt Libraries: Ally to Accomplice

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An ally is anyone from a dominant or majority group that is working towards ending oppression by supporting and advocating for those in marginalized and oppressed groups. Becoming an ally is a process and it isn't always easy or comfortable. It requires one to recognize the power and privilege that being part of the dominant culture affords them.

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quick internet search will result in dozens of different definitions for Allyship. After a couple of years of testing different definitions in workshops and observing the types of understanding that followed, Awaken has developed our own that we believe captures the most important aspects of thoughtful Allyship.

This definition highlights and clarifies what constitutes allyship, and what it does not:

Allyship is an active practice that requires action.

It is not an identity we get to claim (e.g., "I'm an ally!" - Mia McKenzie's piece around ally theater is a must read)

It is not passive - believing in the values of diversity, inclusion, and equity is great, but it is not enough to just believe - you must actively live those values through concrete actions and behaviors

It is practiced consistently and renewed with each act of allyship

Allyship requires an understanding and self-awareness around power and privilege.

It cannot happen unless we understand what power and privileges we hold

It is built on the foundational understanding that our society has not distributed power and privilege equally amongst different social groups

Your privileges coexist with your marginalized identities

Allyship's purpose is to achieve equity and inclusion

It is not to self-congratulate, promote, or validate one's virtue

It is not about "saving" anyone - rather, it's about working towards equity, fairness, and justice which many have yet to experience

Allyship requires us to hold ourselves accountable to advancing marginalized people's needs

It is about understanding the needs of marginalized people and aligning our actions to meet those needs

It is not allyship if we fail to prioritize or advance marginalized people's needs

Myth #1: "Allyship is about engaging straight white men. "

Allyship can be practiced by many, in addition to cisgender, straight, white men. We all have multidimensional identities that provide us with both marginalized and privileged experiences. For example, while all women are subject to sexism and misogyny in the U.S., cisgender women do not face transphobia that trans or nonbinary people experience on a daily basis. In order to practice allyship, cisgender women can normalize the behavior of not making assumptions about one's gender identity by proactively sharing their pronouns, so that trans and nonbinary people aren't the only ones shouldering the burden. Even though all people of color face racism in the U.S., Black and Indigenous people face the highest rates of police brutality. Knowing this, white people and non-BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) can practice allyship by being in closer proximity to police at events, witnessing and recording police interactions with Black people, or joining anti-police brutality demonstrations or protests, etc.

Myth #2: "Since I have privileges, I should be the one to solve problems."

Having certain privileges doesn't make you a better or superior person. We've all been dealt different cards in life due to no fault of our own. Being able to avoid police brutality as a non-Black person doesn't make them a better or superior person. On the other hand, being a queer person doesn't make them a victim who needs to be saved by straight people. No one needs to be saved, we just need to share our access and privileges to level the playing field.

Myth #3: "I'm an ally because I believe in equality."

Allyship is not self-defined. Whatever action we take, the communities we seek to be in solidarity with must recognize our actions as an act of allyship. Only they get to decide which actions qualify as "allyship." Because of this, it is vital that we always seek out information that validates the best way for us to support the communities we seek to ally ourselves with. You can start by diversifying your news source (social media, newsletters, etc.) and leveraging your existing relationships and asking what support looks like for people in your network (e.g., friends, family, colleagues, etc.).

Myth #4: "I don't want to overstep or say the wrong thing. I don't have what it takes to practice allyship."

We can practice allyship without knowing all the answers. In fact, making mistakes is an inevitable part of the allyship journey. While we should always strive to minimize unintended harm and be thoughtful about how we show up as allies, we must not use the fear of making mistakes as an excuse to do nothing. It is critical to build resilience for receiving critical feedback and continue to course-correct as we hone our allyship skills.

We all have a unique set of privileges that affords us special access and immunity that others may not have. Through allyship, we can begin to close that gap by strategically using our privileges.

We also need allyship because we need people who face less risks to take on more risks to disrupt harm. Studies have found that when women or people of color advocate for diversity, they face negative repercussions - they are seen as self-serving and disruptive, while the opposite is true for white men. With allyship, we ask people with privileges to take on the burden of challenging the status quo, so those without aren't the only ones fighting the battle.

Lastly, it's important to name that none of us - yes, including cis straight rich white men - are truly free until all of us are free. All of us are impacted by systemic oppression in one way or another, whether as folks who presently benefit from the structure or as people directly oppressed by it. Women face misogyny while men are consumed by toxic masculinity - without making false equivalencies, both are products of sexism. People of color face racism while white people grapple with white guilt, shame, and fear of being racist - these are not the same struggles or should be weighted equally - but both are products of white supremacy.

In order for us to achieve equity, justice, and freedom for everyone, we need to work in solidarity and share the burden of allying against all forms of oppression.

Do

Do map out your privileges to understand where you can be the most useful as an ally

Do continue to learn about different communities' issues and struggles

Do ask what support looks like for people you seek to be in solidarity with

Do apologize and take accountability for your mistakes (you will make many mistakes on this journey!)

Don't

Don't assume you know the best solution to other communities' struggles

Don't act entitled to other people's emotional or educational labor - while most will be open to answering your thoughtful questions, don't behave as though they owe you the education simply because you want to learn

Don't lead with your "good intention" when you make a mistake. Instead, focus on the impact and the harm you caused without explaining you "didn't mean to hurt anyone"

Let's push the envelope a bit more. Some of you may have heard an emerging conversation around being an "Accomplice" rather than being an Ally. What does it mean and how are they different?

In 2014, Indigenous Action Media published, Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex. An Indigenous Perspective. Some highlights on being an accomplice:

Accomplices listen with respect for the range of cultural practices and dynamics that exist within various Indigenous communities.

Accomplices aren't motivated by personal guilt or shame, they may have their own agenda but they are explicit.

Accomplices are realized through mutual consent and build trust. They don't just have our backs, they are at our side, or in their own spaces confronting and unsettling colonialism. As accomplices we are compelled to become accountable and responsible to each other, that is the nature of trust.

The work of an accomplice in anti-colonial struggle is to attack colonial structures & ideas.

The Accomplice framework challenges the morality of the legal system - just because a practice is legal and lawful does not mean it is moral or just. Therefore, in order to achieve equity sometimes laws must be broken. For example, segregation in the U.S. was legal and unjust. There are myriad of examples of people of all races breaking the law to integrate society and work to advance equity during segregation. The concept of Accompliceship is necessary as local and national laws and practices are still created to disenfranchise and marginalize different groups of people. Therefore, we need folks who are able to be Accomplices and take on the risks associated with breaking the law to achieve equity.

At Awaken, we appreciate the accomplice framework in tandem with allyship because we recognize we need both rather than one instead of the other. Achieving equity takes many tactics and we recognize not everyone can be accomplices in every context. What do we mean by that?

Can you be an accomplice in the workplace?

Being an accomplice in a workplace can mean going against or violating company policy or practices that may be unfair, unlawful or further marginalizing to advance equity. It may mean going against the company itself by organizing direct action and protests. Accompliceship is about dismantling systems. Put simply, if you are an accomplice in a workplace, you could lose your job or face negative repercussions.

Allyship in the workplace denotes challenging the status quo and advancing equity while working within and with the current power structures. We believe using allyship and accompliceship interchangeably can have the negative impact of distorting the original intent of the accomplice framework.

After much debate, our team has consciously chosen to stay within the frame of Allyship given our primary work within workplaces. We acknowledge that not everyone can be an accomplice given their current context and threat level they face at work. We use the term Accomplice only when we can ensure the original intent offered by the Indigenous community can be preserved and practiced without dilution. To achieve equity, we need allies and accomplices. One person can be each of these things in different scenarios and all are needed.It is also not possible for everyone to be an accomplice all the time or ever, as some are not able to risk losing employment or income in the present day, and some face a greater risk of incarceration in the U.S. That said, we look forward to seeing more and more accomplices in and outside of the workplace willing to take higher risks to achieve equity, inclusion, and justice.
Rather than giving up on the term "allyship" because of the prevalence of its diluted usage, we implore everyone to revisit the essence of allyship and continue to create new frameworks to provoke and disrupt inequities in the workplace.
We all can do our part to make our workplace and society more equitable and just. To do this effectively, map your own power and potential consequences and utilize whichever framework that best enables you to advance equity!

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Allyship (vs. Accomplice): The What, Why, and How

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quick internet search will result in dozens of different definitions for Allyship. After a couple of years of testing different definitions in workshops and observing the types of understanding that followed, Awaken has developed our own that we believe captures the most important aspects of thoughtful Allyship.

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Recently, I attended a Diversity Committee meeting at my daughter's school. For context, the majority of committee members, including me, are white. This committee actively works to educate our community on issues of racial injustice through events for students and parents. One event is an Ally Week during which students consider the hard work of allyship with marginalized communities. As the clerk of the committee, I strive to make ally work-not "savior work"-a core component of our mission and programming.

So when someone mentioned the word accomplice in the context of social justice work, I was taken aback. I joked and said, "It sounds like we would be committing a crime!" But I wanted to know more about how some social justice advocates are using this term. I also wanted to know how I might rethink how those in power can stand with and not for marginalized populations.

Thinking about the word accomplice, I remembered my Latin roots from high school- com means "with" or "together." So while one may hear accomplice and think about crime, the original meaning of the word conveys a sense of cooperation-and not in a criminal sense. In a social justice context, accomplice speaks to a sense of community or "folding together," from the Latin complicare.

Here's something else I learned: For social justice advocates who use the term accomplice, they often see the site of focus as the main difference between the work of an ally and that of an accomplice. An ally will mostly engage in activism by standing with an individual or group in a marginalized community. An accomplice will focus more on dismantling the structures that oppress that individual or group-and such work will be directed by the stakeholders in the marginalized group. Simply, ally work focuses on individuals, and accomplice work focuses on the structures of decision-making agency.

An ally will mostly engage in activism by standing with an individual or group in a marginalized community. An accomplice will focus more on dismantling the structures that oppress that individual or group-and such work will be directed by the stakeholders in the marginalized group.

Of course, these two brands of work blend into each other and are hard to untangle. But for the sake of understanding, we can look at an example: An ally will "volunteer at a local racial justice-focused organization," while an accomplice will "join an organization with an explicit aim of naming and disrupting racial injustice," according to the useful guide " Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice." The former is working with individuals toward those individuals' access to representation, dignity or some kind of protection. The latter is working on dismantling a structure, thereby striving for those same protections, but through a different kind of work.

While some writing about these terms implies a hierarchy, with accomplice work as the "best" type of social justice work, I would argue that both ally and accomplice work are crucial. Working on the individual level will push us toward the safety and dignity of marginalized populations in the present moment (ally), and working at the structural level will take a long view to destroy oppressive social structures and create a more equitable world (accomplice).

I don't see the committee at my daughter's school changing the name of Ally Week to Accomplice Week in the near future, but I can see the term accomplice as an entry point for those of us having conversations about how to enact social justice from positions of privilege. Continuing to critically investigate our positions in social justice activism allows us to be more thoughtful teachers and practitioners as we all work toward a more just world.
Clemens is the associate professor of non-Western literatures and director of Women's and Gender Studies at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

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Ally or Accomplice? The Language of Activism

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A new use of the word accomplice pushed this educator to rethink her activist approaches inside and outside the classroom.