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This resource includes several celebration ideas for facilitating the inclusion of all students in a general education setting in the classroom, in the school, and within the community.

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LDA advocates for laws and policies that create opportunities for people with learning disabilities. You can be a part of the grassroots efforts to get the message out to legislators and policy makers.

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LDA advocates for laws and policies that create opportunities for people with learning disabilities. Be a part of our grassroots efforts to get the message out to our legislators and policy makers. See how easy it is to add your voice as LDA works to protect and strengthen the policies affecting legislation on issues that concern people with learning disabilities.

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – June 2021 July 8, 2021
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – May 2021 June 10, 2021
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

LDA Action Alert: Keeping All Students Safe Act May 26, 2021
Congress has introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act (KASSA) because every child should be safe, protected and prepared to learn while in school. Sadly,…

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – April 2021 May 10, 2021
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – March 2021 April 5, 2021
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

LDA Action Alert: READ Act March 25, 2021
On Thursday, March 18th, Representatives Chrissy Houlahan, Bruce Westerman, Julia Brownley, and Brian Fitzpatrick reintroduced The Reading Early and Addressing Dyslexia (READ) Act. The READ…

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – February 2021 March 1, 2021
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – December 2020 January 4, 2021
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – November 2020 December 14, 2020
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

Public Policy & Advocacy Actions – October 2020 November 17, 2020
Learn about LDA’s latest public policy and advocacy actions that impact individuals with learning disabilities including the latest happenings in Congress, federal and state agencies,…

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Your Voice In Washington – Learning Disabilities Association of America

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LDA advocates for laws and policies that create opportunities for people with learning disabilities. Be a part of our grassroots efforts to get the message out to our legislators and policy makers. See how easy it is to add your voice as LDA works to protect and strengthen the policies affecting leg…

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The Autistic People of Color Fund is accepting donations to

support Autistic Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, & Mixed-Race People of Color in fighting, building, & sustaining for justice, healing, & liberation.

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All the weight of our dreams - On living racialized autism

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The resources in this category are limited, representative of the overwhelming lack of positive Disabled BIPOC representation in the media more broadly. There are even fewer resources available that are created by Disabled BIPOC themselves, pointing to how the intertwined forces of ableism and racism pervade and proliferate throughout much of the world.

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13 Stories and Experiences of BIPOC Individuals with Disabilities

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13 Stories and Experiences of BIPOC Individuals with Disabilities

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A series of original essays on the past, present, and future of disability rights and justice by disabled BIPOC that can be read but also includes audio to listen to their stories!

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#ADA30InColor: a series of original essays on the past, present, and future of disability rights and justice by disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) writers. Published and edited by Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project. Project Coordinator, Andraéa LaVant. Plain language summaries, Finn Gardiner. Audio narration, Alejandra Ospina. For more, read this article about our 7/26 online event by Hari Srinivasan for the Daily Cal and check out the video below ( text transcript).
"ADA 30: No Justice for Disabled Native People"
Jen Deerinwater
"#BlackAutisticJoy in ADA 30"
Timotheus Gordon, Jr.
"Building Bridges as A Disabled Korean Immigrant" "We Must Reimagine Ourselves"
Allison Masangkay

Reyma McCoy McDeid
"The Future Liberation of Disability Movements"
Valerie Novack
"They can take away the Mosque, but they'll never take my faith"
Noor Pervez
"The burden and consequences of self-advocacy for disabled BIPOC" "After 30 Years the ADA Leaves People with Psychiatric Disabilities Behind" "Decolonization as a Strategy for Accommodating Disabilities"
Rachel Setzer
"SixPointSeventyFive (6.75)"
Teefloetry
"How the ADA Gave Birth to a Black Sexpert"
Robin Wilson-Beattie

#ADA30InColor TEAM

Finn Gardiner, Plain Language Summaries

Finn Gardiner is a disability rights advocate with interests in educational equity, intersectional justice, comparative policy, and inclusive technology. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and a bachelor's degree in sociology from Tufts University. He also recently finished a fellowship in Leadership and Education on Neurodevelopmental and Developmental Disabilities-LEND-at the University of Massachusetts Medical School's E.K. Shriver Center.

He is currently the Communications Specialist at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University. Throughout his work, Finn combines disability advocacy, policy analysis and research, and written and visual communications through policy briefs, original reports and white papers, and contributions to research projects. His research and advocacy interests include education and employment for autistic adults, comparative disability policy, inclusive technology, LGBTQ cultural competency, and policy that takes into account the intersections between disability, race, LGBTQ identities, class, and other experiences.

Twitter: @phineasfrogg

Andraéa LaVant, ‎Project Coordinator and President & Chief Inclusion Specialist, ‎LaVant Consulting, Inc.

Andraéa LaVant is a passionate disability inclusion/communications consultant with over a decade of experience building, supporting, and managing national and local initiatives to effect positive, sustainable change for people with disabilities across the nation.

Website: http://lavantconsultinginc.com/

Alejandra Ospina, Audio Narration

Alejandra Ospina is a first-generation native New Yorker and full-time wheelchair user whose family has roots in Colombia. She has been active for several years in various advocacy and performance projects online, locally and beyond, and also works as a media access provider, creating closed captions and audio descriptions. Always glad to be a part of formative works to share with new audiences, she has previously collaborated as a vocalist, actor, dancer, and/or accessibility provider with organizations such as Heidi Latsky Dance, Infinity Dance Theater, ZCO/Dance Project, Kinetic Light, the Queens Theatre, HiGlass Entertainment, and others.

Website: superaleja.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/superaleja

Twitter: @superaleja

Alice Wong, Editor and Publisher, Disability Visibility Project

Alice Wong (she/her) is a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant. She is the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project (DVP), an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014. Currently, Alice is the Editor of Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century, an anthology of essays by disabled people, available now (June 30, 2020) by Vintage Books.

Twitter: @SFdirewolf / @DisVisibility
Support Disability Media and Culture DONATE to the Disability Visibility Project®

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ADA30InColor: a series of original essays on the past, present, and future of disability rights and justice by disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) writers. Published and edited by Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project. Project Coordinator, Andraéa LaVant. Plain language summaries, Finn Gardiner. Audio narration, Alejandra Ospina.

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This elementary school had students draw, write, and create on post-it notes around their school to celebrate their differences and diversity.

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We are so impressed with the Wall of Inclusion Miraloma Elementary in San Francisco created! Enjoy their Press Release below. December 6, 2016 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Visiting author Todd Parr and spontaneous art installations around the country inspire art project at this San Francisco elementary school.…

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This resource is a free-and-inclusive stock library with photos and illustrations celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC).
https://affecttheverb.com/collection/

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Affect creates media campaigns and resources that amplify multiply-marginalized folx and embody disability justice.

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Honoring Black History Month: Unsung Heroes of the Disability Rights Movement

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Honoring Black History Month: Unsung Heroes of the Disability Rights Movement

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From the National Center for Learning Disabilities, a short article about unknown figures including Johnie Lacy, Brad Lomax, Chuck Jackson, and Bessie Blount.

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The month of February is dedicated to honoring the long history of Black Americans and their many contributions to society. The first celebration began in 1926 and it has grown steadily over the years into what we now know as Black History Month. This month, we're highlighting the stories of Black heroes whose vision, commitment and activism helped advance progress for people with disabilities. As we reflect on the past, we remember the incredible advocates who are too often left out of the retelling of history.

Johnnie Lacy: A Voice for Black Women with Disabilities

Johnnie Lacy was born in 1937 in Huttig, Arkansas but soon relocated with her family to Mcloud, California. Lacy was diagnosed with polio at the age of 19 and placed in an iron lung for weeks. Eventually, the polio left her paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.

After rehab, Lacy went back to college and completed her degree, at a time when doing so meant overcoming discrimination based on her race, gender and disability. She helped found the Center for Independent Living at Berkeley and became the Director of the Community Resources for Independent Living (CRIL) in its early days from 1981 to 1994. During her time at CRIL, she engaged the community in groundbreaking and essential conversations about identity and the challenges that come with being a Black woman with a disability.

In her own words, listen to or read Johnnie Lacy's oral history.

Brad Lomax & Chuck Jackson: Uniting the Civil Rights Community

In 1977, frustrated with the federal government's failure to address disability discrimination, disability rights advocates participated in a 28-day protest at a federal building in San Francisco. These activists demanded that the government issue regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and their efforts have now become known as the "504 Sit In". Many of the activists - having disabilities of their own - lacked the necessary medical equipment, caretakers and medication to participate in the sit in.

The "504 Sit In" has been widely written about, but the involvement of two Black disability activists, Brad Lomax and Chuck Jackson, has been largely overlooked. These two members of the Black Panther Party, Brad Lomax, and his assistant, Chuck Jackson, participated in the sit in. Lomax was an Oakland resident with multiple sclerosis which required him to use a wheelchair. Together, Lomax and Jackson worked with their community to cook and deliver hot meals to disability rights advocates during the 28-day protest.

Lomax and Jackson joined other disability rights activists, including Judy Heumman, to fly to Washington, DC to further pressure the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to implement the regulations. To learn more about Judy Huemman's amazing work and her involvement in the sit-ins, watch our conversation with her.

Ultimately, due to this unified advocacy effort, the government issued regulations for Section 504. These regulations would eventually lay the groundwork for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. According to disability rights activist Corbett O'Toole, these advocates "showed us what being an ally could be. We would never have succeeded without them. They are a critical part of disability history and yet their story is almost never told.⁠"

Glenn Lomax, Brad Lomax's brother, shares a first-hand account of his leadership through this video.

Bessie Blount: Transforming what is Possible through Assistive Technology

Bessie Virginia Blount was born in 1914 in Hickory, Virginia. She made significant breakthroughs in assistive technologies, particularly for World War II veterans who were amputees.

Blount attended Diggs Chapel Elementary School, a small school house that educated children of free Black people, former slaves and Native Americans, until sixth grade. There were no schools in her area for Black students where she could continue her education. She was self-educated until attending Union Junior College in Cranford, New Jersey and gained nursing training at Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital. Blount then became a licensed physiotherapist.

During World War II, Blount joined the Gray Ladies, a group of non-medical volunteers who worked at military hospitals. "After coming in contact with paralyzed cases known as diplegia and quadriplegia (blind paralysis), I decided to make this my life's work." Blount told Afro-American.

Blount believed that it was important for people with disabilities to be able to feed themselves in order to have independence and increase their self-esteem. To do this, Blount came up with a device that consisted of a tube that transported individual bites of food to the patient's mouth. Blount's innovation was one of the earliest forms of assistive technology for individuals with disabilities and she paved the way for many more advancements in the field.

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These Black advocates, inventors, and activists - Johnnie Lacy, Brad Lomax, Chuck Jackson, and Bessie Blount - each contributed something unique to the disability movement and have helped our communities get to where we are today. It's hard to imagine a world without their significant contributions.

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Honoring Black History Month: Unsung Heroes of the Disability Rights Movement - NCLD

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The month of February is dedicated to honoring the long history of Black Americans and their many contributions to society. The first celebration began in 1926 and it has grown steadily over the years into what we now know as Black History Month. This month, we're highlighting the stories of Black heroes whose vision, commitment [...]

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A blog that tackles various issues regarding existence, disability justice, etc.

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Experience by a physically disabled Korean who identifies as queer and trans.

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Black Disability History is Black History, Too

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Black Disability History is Black History, Too

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From the National Disability Institute, a short article about major figures in the Black Disability History.

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By Donna Walton, Ed.D., Founder of The Divas With Disabilities Project and LEGGTalk, Inc; and Carmelys Vincent, M.A.

Everyone should know the phenomenal work and life of Harriet Tubman who led enslaved Black persons through the Underground Railroad, which was a secret passageway northward to Canada. Often called the "Moses" of her time, she suffered from epileptic seizures. However, the seizures did not deter her from helping enslaved persons to escape. Not letting her impediment hinder her, "Moses" led 70 souls to freedom within 13 trips. Recently, there has been legislation passed to have Tubman be the new face of the U.S $20 bill.

Black Disability History can be observed as early as 1850 when Thomas Wiggins, also known as Blind Tom, who was sold in 1850, along with his enslaved parents, Charity and Domingo "Mingo" Wiggins, to a Columbus, Georgia lawyer, General James Neil Bethune. Born into slavery, Wiggins was an autistic savant and had a wonderful life as a pianist and composer. As a toddler, Wiggins had an affinity for noise and was capable of echoing any sound he heard. At four years of age, Wiggins stumbled upon his master's piano, taking delight from the sound it made. He was constantly found playing with the instrument and would later have to be removed from it. The realization that Tom was gifted gained him entry and access into the plantation house to learn how to play. He sold out performances in Georgia at age six. By the age of eight, he was hired out to Perry Oliver, as a part of his freak show, which was frequently visited by Mark Twain. He was advertised as the "gorgon with angel wings" because he would go from a state of agitation to serenity once he began to play. Wiggins would go on to become the first Black performer invited to the White House, performing for President James Buchanan.

Fannie Lou Hamer and Johnnie Lacy left their indelible footprints on the civil rights movement, in spite of their disabilities. Both born with polio, they were ardent activists and leaders. Fannie Lou Hamer coined the iconic phrase, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." Johnnie Lacy, born into poverty, directed the Disability Law Resource Center at the Center for Independent Living (CRIL) in Hayward, California for more than a decade. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Johnnie Lacey succeeded in bringing the issue of disability rights to the Community Service Administration and its agencies through training and outreach. Two of the most notable examples of her leadership are evident in the Las Vegas and San Bernardino programs. Both Lacy and Hamer championed civil rights and fought hard against ableism and racism.

As we commemorate this Black History Month, let us not only remember those who braved the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial labor movement and the social change movement, but let us celebrate the magic of intersection- of living Black and disabled- and being inclusive of the accomplishments of countless African American contemporaries, like myself, living with disabilities and making history every day. By honoring these trailblazers, we set a standard for ourselves and shed a beacon of light on disability as the new black history for future generations to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Donna R. Walton, the author of Shattered Dreams, Broken Pieces, had dreams of international stardom. All it took was one diagnosis at the age of 18 to turn her life upside down. Through the power of reinvention, Ms. Walton got her a new lease on life. Through thousands of hours working with other amputees, receiving national recognition and being featured on C-SPAN for her community-building projects surrounding the beauty of being a Black woman with a disability, Ms. Walton credits her unforeseen success through life's journey that asks the question, "What's a leg got to do with it?" Her latest endeavor as the founder of the Divas with Disabilities Project has made an unprecedented impact in the disability and women of color communities as a hub for thoughtful discussion on issues, self-love and showing up, unapologetically in all forms of media. Ms. Walton earned her bachelor's degree in 1979 from American University, a master's degree in adult education in 1985 from Syracuse University and a doctoral degree in counseling in 2005 from The George Washington University. As a certified cognitive behavioral therapist, Walton is the founder of LEGGTalk, Inc., a company that motivates and empowers individuals to conquer their personal limitations (real and perceived) and achieve their vision of success. Carmelys Vincent, M.A., was born with spastic cerebral palsy in 1989. Despite the diagnosis, she overcame several obstacles through perseverance and resilience. She obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology and public service from Rutgers University-Newark. Ms. Vincent obtained her master's degree in counseling psychology from Washington Adventist University in Maryland; currently she resides in New Jersey. Ms. Vincent current experience is working with The Gem Project and as an intern for the National Institute of Health Office of Space and Facilities Management (OSFM). Currently, Ms. Vincent serves as a data analyst and researcher for the Divas with Disabilities Project.

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Black Disability History Is Black History, Too! - National Disability Institute

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By Donna Walton, Ed.D., Founder of The Divas With Disabilities Project and LEGGTalk, Inc; and Carmelys Vincent, M.A. Everyone should know the phenomenal work and life of Harriet Tubman who led enslaved Black persons through the Underground Railroad, which was a secret passageway northward to Canada.

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The Overlooked History of Black Disabled People

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The Overlooked History of Black Disabled People

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An article written by a Black disabled millennial who discusses the disability erasure of famous Black people including Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary Davidson, and more.

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What do Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Mary Davidson have in common? They were all important Black historical figures who made incredible strides in our nation's ongoing struggle for human and civil rights, and they were all disabled.

If you were surprised to learn that these women were disabled, you are not alone. Many Black historical figures, innovators, and activists have had their disabilities erased when their stories are taught in schools and covered during Black history and women's history observances-by educators and advocates alike.

This erasure speaks volumes about how our society recounts stories of disabled people and the narrow lens through which stories are told, particularly those involving disability. Our history is forever incomplete if we fail to highlight and respect the identities of Black and disabled heroes and trailblazers.

On February 28, I co-hosted the #BlackDisabilityHistory Twitter chat with Imani Barbarin and Neal Carter, along with support from Alice Wong of Disability Visibility Project. We decided to do this chat because it was long overdue; our voices and experiences deserved to be heard.

The response was astounding-Black disabled people shared their truths and realities of what it means to be multiply marginalized.

Being a Black disabled millennial who minored in African-American studies in college, I did not learn that many of the pioneers I respected were disabled like me until I became a disabled activist. It baffled me that their disabilities were downplayed or eliminated altogether; those disabilities are instrumental to their complete narratives and could provide a mirror for Black disabled people to see themselves.

Within my activism work, I have made it an objective to spotlight the progress made by Black disabled people during Black History Month. Since 2015, I have highlighted the accomplishments and work of Black disabled activists. The most poignant feature occurred last year, when I shined a light on the activists who were influential to the development of the Independent Living (IL) movement in Berkeley, California. The IL movement proclaims that disabled people are entitled to the same civil rights as nondisabled people, are the experts in stating their needs, and should be in control of how they live their lives.

What resulted was a four-part series that centered around Joyce Jackson, Johnnie Lacy, Black Panther Party member Brad Lomax, and Donald Galloway. Learning of their involvement and telling their stories was my way to right the wrongs of them being reduced to a footnote within both Black history and the history of the IL movement, where the activism of disabled people of color has not beengiven the same attention as that of disabled white people.

Every time I learn of a new Black disabled person who created a path that has influenced our lives, I think, "How can I make others care?" Black history is about embracing the richness, resilience, and tenacity of our people. If we do not care to make an effort to empower all of us by including every aspect of Blackness in our storytelling and collective pride, it will always be short of true inclusion.

This year, I wrote a piece the day before the chat, titled " Why Black Disability History Matters." I decided to take a different approach and ask my fellow Black disabled peers to share why our particular history is significant to recognize beyond the28 days of February.

Heather Watkins, a writer and disabled mom, had this to say about where our history fits and why it cannot be ignored:

Black Disability History matters to me a great deal because so many of our cultural icons have had disabilities, apparent and/or non-apparent as I've discovered. It more than likely factored in self-awareness, decision-making, and how they governed their lives. It's an important factor that is often downplayed or gets erased in the retelling of their stories, if/when their stories get told at all. Black disability history is part of Black history which is American history. It needs to be chronicled and respected in the same manner we archive forebears who've richly contributed to the tapestry of our history and held with the same gleam and esteem. I didn't learn about many disabled Black history-makers until I was well into adulthood and involved in advocacy. I imagine how it might've beneficially impacted my budding adolescent self-awareness knowing disability was part of their lived experience.

"Black disability history is part of Black history which is American history."
That line from Heather perfectly describes disability history's significance. We as Black disabled people have always been here. We have steadfastly proclaimed our rights and humanity to the communities that chronically overlook us, and yet we still rise to do the work needed to free us all. Black disability history matters because without us putting our voices and very bodies on the line, the political and societal strides many of us take for granted would not have occurred. Our communities are forever indebted to the achievements made and the fights won by past and present Black disabled figures.

It is critical for each of us to educate ourselves on Black disability history. This March, during Women's History Month, take the time to uplift the voices of Black disabled women and femmes who are leading the charge in their respective fields. I did this last year for my #BlackDisabledGirlMagic series, where I interviewed Black disabled activists like writer and journalist Keah Brown, activist Keri Gray, and fashion designer Kathy Woods.

Black disability history should be observed and celebrated year round. I charge everyone to learn and share one Black disabled figure in history so that our people are no longer a secret to anyone, especially to ourselves.

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The Overlooked History of Black Disabled People - Rewire News Group

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What do Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Mary Davidson have in common? They were all important Black historical figures who made incredible strides in our nation's ongoing struggle for human and civil rights, and they were all disabled. If you were surprised to learn that these women were disabled, you are not alone.

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Produced by Michelle and Barack Obama, this documentary shares the story of a group of Disabled students at Jened summer camp that helped spark the disability rights revolution. While BIPOC students are visible and occasionally share their perspectives, much of the documentary centers white experiences at the camp.

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CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION | Full Feature | Netflix

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A website containing various guest blog posts on topics regarding disability visibility.

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Posts about Racism written by Alice Wong

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Disability History in the US: Interview with Anna Caine and Tal Chafetz

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Disability History in the US: Interview with Anna Caine and Tal Chafetz

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A great resource for high school teachers wanting to facilitate a project on the history of disability in the United States. This podcast includes an interview with two 11th grade high school students who share their experiences conducting oral histories and research to create a museum exhibit on disability history.

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11th grade history US history students at Gann Academy spent an entire year interviewing people, collecting artifacts, conducting oral histories and research, and creating a museum exhibit on disability history. This disability history exhibit is on display this summer in Waltham, Massachusetts at the Charles River Museum of Industry titled, " Division, Unity, Hardship, and Progress: A Disability History of the United States." Special thanks to Alex Green and Yoni Kadden of Gann Academy for reaching out to me!

I got a chance to interview students Tal Chafetz and Anna Caine about their experiences with this project. Please note: some responses have been condensed for space.

For more about the exhibit: http://waltham.wickedlocal.com/news/20180612/update-disability-exhibit-now-on-view-at-charles-river-museum

Tell me a little about yourself!

Tal: Hello, my name is Tal Chafetz and I am 17 years old. I am a junior at Gann Academy in Waltham Massachusetts and I have been working on the creation of the Disability Museum this past year. My interests include singing, dancing, and working with children. I currently spend my free time working at a preschool and volunteering at a program calling "Gateways; access to Jewish education" on Sundays which helps children with special needs learn about their Jewish identities.

Anna: My name is Anna Caine, I'm 16, and I am in 11th grade at Gann Academy. I very interested in engineering, and I really enjoy video games and playing violin.

Before you took the course, what was your exposure and knowledge about disability history? What surprised you the most about this American history since taking the course?

Anna: Before taking this class, I had never taken a history course that even mentioned disability as a narrative within American history, and I hadn't really thought about it that much. It was really surprising to learn a whole new layer to history from the perspective of a different group of people.

Tal: My little brother, Ben, is on the autistic spectrum. The only knowledge that I really had exposure to, was to the information about autism. When I had started the process of working on this museum, I had learned how many disabilities I am truly surrounded by every day. Though I may not have thought so, being blind, being deaf or having a stutter are three natural features that had been considered major disabilities in the past. I was truly surprised by the idea that what I thought might have been normal now a day, used to be considered scary and completely unwanted.

Describe the project for this course on disability history that you and your fellow students participated in. How did the idea come about and what was the process like shaping it into what it is currently, an actual museum exhibit on disability history?

For this project, we had started the year in two ways. One way was by learning about a "school for the disabled" which was placed right around the corner from us, Tal: the Fernald school.

The second thing we had done was we were partnered up and given an object or a person to research. Each duo had gotten their ideas and became experts on these objects and people. I had been partnered up with my classmate Daniel and together, we received the task of interviewing Rich Robison. Rich Robison is a man who had been working at the Fernald school, and today is an extremely successful advocate for students with disability in school systems within Waltham. Rich has children and grandchildren with Down syndrome and therefore is extremely invested in his work, he is truly one of the most inspirational figures that we have met over the course of this experience. Recently, the experience has become a lot more tangible. We had been split into groups and received tasks to organize certain parts of the museum. This was the most difficult part of the process because we had to really do justice to all of the amazing work we had put in as well as for the people whose stories we are telling. I feel so proud to say that me and my classmates have accomplished this incredible task and we are so proud of this museum and what it has turned into.

Anna: Alex Green, our teacher, has been working with disability history for a long time, and the idea for the course at Gann actually started by coincidence when our vice principal, Frank Tipton, found the graveyard at the Fernald School in Waltham. He was curious about the unmarked graves so he tried to find out about them which led him to meet Alex, who had been researching the Fernald school. Eventually they came up with the idea of this class.

It would be extremely hard to pick a favorite thing in the exhibit, but I did make an interesting discovery while researching the Mears Earphone, an artifact from the early 1900s intended to help the hearing impaired. I found letters from the Mears Earphone Company on ebay, and the information in those letters (even small things like the name of the general manager printed on the stationary) led me to more new and interesting research.

What was the overall experience for you with this project? Is there anything you can share about the experiences of your fellow classmates?

Anna: I really loved the overall experience of this project and this class in general. The idea of going to class and building towards a tangible goal in my opinion is the best way to learn, rather than just being told a bunch of names and facts to memorize. When you're working on a project, it's about learning for a purpose, rather than just learning because they told you to...I feel very very lucky to have been able to take this class this year and get this once in a lifetime experience, and I am very proud of the work my class has done and the museum we created.

I think that there are a lot of valuable lessons to be learned from disability history, and especially that the story of disability history is extremely comparable to the stories of many other minorities, but this story is much less widely known and widely told. I think learning disability history at the junior or high school level can help open people's minds to stories they might have never thought about.

Tal: The overall experience of this was absolutely life changing. With the help of our incredible teachers Yoni Kadden and Alex Green, we were able to immerse ourselves fully into this project and feel connected in every way possible. I have been able to learn about disability, the good and bad, and get through this with the help of my amazing classmates, incredible teachers, and support systems that were available in my school and in this community. My classmates would definitely feel the same way, this museum has been one of the most impactful ways of learning because it gave us a reason to feel connected and immersed in the material and really find our own ways to show how important this story of disability is... I am grateful for all this project has brought to me, my classmates, and the community around me.

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Disability History in the US: Interview with Anna Caine and Tal Chafetz

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11th grade history US history students at Gann Academy spent an entire year interviewing people, collecting artifacts, conducting oral histories and research, and creating a museum exhibit on disability history. This disability history exhibit is on display this summer in Waltham, Massachusetts at the Charles River Museum of Industry titled, "Division, Unity, Hardship, and Progress: A...

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Section 504 Sit-In: Disability, Resistance and the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act

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Section 504 Sit-In: Disability, Resistance and the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act

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These two videos are a part of a larger exhibit about Section 504, the longest occupation of a federal building, and ultimatley the resistance of disabled folks who fought for the creation of the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA). Both videos center disabled voices in a way that is assessable to disabled people - subtitles, audio of what is being shown on screen, etc.

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San Francisco Examiner Archive. Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Skip ahead:

The Protest Grows

FRIDAY APRIL 1

Organizers contact everyone they know and urge them to call everyone they know to join the upcoming action.

SATURDAY APRIL 2

American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD) prepares a national sit-in for April 5. Berkeley Center for Independent Living organizers agree to keep plans quiet. Cesar Chavez, President of the Farm Workers of America, sends an early letter of support.

SUNDAY APRIL 3

More phone calls and long conversations at the Berkeley Center for Independent Living about the upcoming protest.

MONDAY APRIL 4

Deadline the ACCD sets for signing the Section 504 regulations, threatening nationwide protests.

Occupiers Take the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Offices

DAY 1 TUESDAY APRIL 5

Demonstrators at ten federal offices across the US demand that President Carter's Administration sign the 504 regulations without watering them down. Sit-ins begin in SF and D.C. San Francisco:A large group enters the HEW offices and over 100 are locked in for the night. Community organizers from Delancey Street the residential rehabilitation program for substance abusers, bring food; Salvation Army provides blankets and mattresses. Washington D.C.: 300 protesters heckle Secretary Joseph Califano to sign the 504 regulations unchanged. Many stay in the HEW office overnight.

DAY 2 WEDNESDAY APRIL 6

San Francisco: After sleeping on the Federal Building floor, over 100 people wake to their first full day of the sit-in. Washington D.C.: The occupiers leave the building - no food or access to medicine and unsympathetic guards made it impossible to stay. Other Cities: Protests fizzle out without community support.

DAY 3 THURSDAY APRIL 7

San Francisco: At least 130 people now at the sit-in. HEW officials turn off hot water, reduce phone lines to two pay phones, and limit all other phones to incoming calls. HEW prohibits occupiers leaving the building from re-entering.

DAY 4 FRIDAY APRIL 8

San Francisco: Occupiers learn that Los Angeles protest is over. Congressman George Miller visits the sit-in. Delancey Street and a few local businesses donate food. Eight people participate in the hunger strike. Black Panther Party sends letter of support. A small group protesters celebrate the last day of Passover inside the fourth floor elevator.

DAY 5 SATURDAY APRIL 9

San Francisco: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the occupiers are now 150 strong. 504 Coalition issues press release urging supporters to come to the sit-in for most up-to-date information. Hunger strikers remain in high spirits. Occupiers join committees to handle daily tasks inside and duties for keeping the protest going; a routine develops and each day counts.

DAY 6 SUNDAY APRIL 10

San Francisco: Easter service held at 10am followed by an egg hunt for occupiers' children in the Federal Building's courtyard. US congressman George Miller speaks to occupiers and urges them to remain. California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Director Ed Roberts, sends a telegram to President Carter. Pay phones are jammed with coins; occupiers can't communicate with anyone outside.

DAY 7 MONDAY APRIL 11

San Francisco: Protesters give daffodils to arriving HEW staff. Congressmen Phillip Burton and George Miller announce that a semi-official "hearing" will be held inside on April 15th. More than 120 protesters now in the building discuss concerns about the regulations being diluted. Buttercup Restaurant, Brick Hut lesbian cooperative in Berkeley, and Glide Memorial Church donate dinner. Neighborhood pharmacists help with medicines. Channel 7 journalist Evan White commits to telling the protest's story, reports on his travels downtown in a borrowed wheelchair.

DAY 8 TUESDAY APRIL 12

San Francisco: Organizers have one incoming phone line. Congressman Burton pressures Regional Secretary for HEW, Joseph Maldonado for three more lines so protesters can obtain food and medical supplies. Georgia Senator Julian Bond visits the protest and connects event to the 1960s civil rights movement. CA assemblyman Tom Bates sends a letter of support signed by forty-six members of the California Assembly to President Carter. City Council of Pacifica passes a resolution supporting the demonstration. Thirty Junior National Association of the Deaf students participate in a vigil outside the building.

DAY 9 WEDNESDAY APRIL 13

San Francisco: CA assemblyman Milton Marks asks Maldonado to let sit-in numbers numbers return to 150, allow in eight ASL interpreters, and restore the phone lines. SF protesters learn of Washington D.C. activists' vigil to support them. Committees monitor press coverage, raise money to support the occupation, and prepare for next day's hearing. Women's rap group builds bonds. Wheelchair races in hallways let off steam.

DAY 10 THURSDAY APRIL 14

San Francisco: Daily food deliveries from the Black Panthers, Glide Memorial Church, and others sustain the protesters.

DAY 11 FRIDAY APRIL 15

San Francisco: 10:00AM-4:00PM congressmen Miller and Burton hold hearings inside the occupied building by declaring room 406 a "satellite office of Congress." Individuals from diverse groups give testimony on 504 regulations. SF Chronicle reports that most of the original 150 protesters remain inside. Outside hundreds attend a public rally. Senator Alan Cranston sends telegram of support.

DAY 12 SATURDAY APRIL 16

San Francisco: After a long meeting, occupiers elect delegation of twenty-five to go to Washington D.C. to put pressure on Secretary Califano to sign 504 regulations. Concerned for their health, some occupiers leave to join supporters outside.

DAY 13 SUNDAY APRIL 17

San Francisco: Conditions get more difficult inside the Federal Building and some protesters report developing body lice and crabs. But food keeps coming and hopes remain high as protesters make plans for going to Washington. SF protest has raised $5,000 to send the delegation, including significant funds from International Association of Machinists (IAM).

DAY 14 MONDAY APRIL 18

San Francisco: Mayor Moscone has mobile showers and towels brought in but local HEW officials push back. Moscone gains White House permission; portable showers are installed.

DAY 15 TUESDAY APRIL 19

San Francisco: About seventy-five remaining occupiers vow to hold the fort while eighteen of them and seven attendants fly to Washington. Washington D.C.: Newly arrived San Francisco protesters travel in a rented windowless Hertz truck with a hydraulic tail lift to Califano's house to hold a candlelight vigil until dawn. Most stay at the Lutheran Place Memorial Church, sleeping on foam mattresses on the floor; eat food provided by local Washington IAM.

DAY 16 WEDNESDAY APRIL 20

San Francisco: Protesters learn that Ed Roberts plans to visit Washington D.C. to lend support to protest. Washington D.C.: With little sleep, San Francisco delegation meets Senators Alan Cranston and Harrison Williams in Congressman Phillip Burton's office. Protesters discover that few restrooms in the Capitol are accessible.

DAY 17 THURSDAY APRIL 21

San Francisco: Protesters hang on; committees still active; in downtime some play cards, musical instruments, eat home-cooked food from Black Panthers, talk late into the night. Washington D.C.: SF delegation spends day lobbying; gives up on meeting with Carter or Califano after repeatedly being rebuffed. Group of eight meets with Stuart Eisenstat, Carter's Chief Domestic Policy Adviser. Evening vigil held outside the White House.

DAY 18 FRIDAY APRIL 22

San Francisco: Four protesters return from D.C. and hold an evening press conference with demonstrators outside the SF Federal Building. CA assemblyman Milton Marks and around 100 supporters attend. Washington D.C.: Armed police block entrance to national HEW office as SF delegation tries to meet Califano. Senator Cranston and twenty-eight colleagues write or sign letters of support. Protesters remain hopeful.

DAY 19 SATURDAY APRIL 23

Washington D.C.: Day of rest; protesters deal with hot, sticky weather.

DAY 20 SUNDAY APRIL 24

Washington D.C.: SF delegates lobby outside Carter's First Baptist Church; President escapes through the back door. Protesters plan rally in front of the White House for next day.

DAY 21 MONDAY APRIL 25

Washington D.C.: Lutheran pastor, the Reverend John Steinbruck invites Carter and Califano to prayer breakfast with the protesters but gets no response.

DAY 22 TUESDAY APRIL 26

San Francisco: Over 100 protesters remain inside the Federal Building; dozens of Bay Area supporters continue demonstrating outside. Washington D.C.: SF delegates and over 100 demonstrators march in front of the White House and hold a rally. Parallel events take place in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Hartford, CT.

DAY 23 WEDNESDAY APRIL 27

Washington D.C.: SF delegation protests in front of a hotel where Califano is holding an event. With their press passes, occupier Michael Williams and journalist Evan White gain access and corner Califano with difficult questions. Most SF delegates fly home, six remain in Washington.

HEW Secretary Joseph Califano Signs the Section 504 Regulations

DAY 24 THURSDAY APRIL 28

Califano signs the Section 504 regulations without fanfare. News of success spreads fast; some protesters worry it might be a trick. San Francisco: Protesters are elated; vote to wait for Washington group to return so everyone can leave the building triumphantly together. Occupier Margaret (Dusty) Irvine ends twenty-one day hunger strike. Washington D.C.: Here too news spreads quickly and protesters worry that changes have been made. By end of day, attorneys confirm that Califano did sign the regulations unchanged as protesters had demanded from the beginning.

DAY 25 FRIDAY APRIL 29

San Francisco: Protesters clean up the HEW offices; they celebrate one last night in the building together; bonds are strong and not everyone wants to leave; they vow to carry on the disability rights struggle.

DAY 26 SATURDAY APRIL 30

San Francisco: Late morning the occupiers leave the building together; to cheers from many HEW employees and federal security staff, they join a large public rally on UN Plaza and toast their victory with champagne.

Audio Track
Listen to the Sound Cloud track

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San Francisco Examiner Archive. Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Skip ahead: FRIDAY APRIL 1 Organizers contact everyone they know and urge them to call everyone they know to join the upcoming action. SATURDAY APRIL 2 American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD) prepares a national sit-in for April 5.

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Overlooked No More: Brad Lomax, a Bridge Between Civil Rights Movements- The Black Panthers & the 504 Sit-In

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Overlooked No More: Brad Lomax, a Bridge Between Civil Rights Movements- The Black Panthers & the 504 Sit-In

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A story about the historical figure Brad Lomax, a member of the Black Panthers who was also a wheelchair user.

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Overlooked No More: Brad Lomax, a Bridge Between Civil Rights Movements (Published 2020)

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A member of the Black Panthers, he helped lead a historic, and successful, sit-in in San Francisco as part of a nationwide anti-discrimination campaign on behalf of people with disabilities.

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Black Disabled Ancestors: by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

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Black Disabled Ancestors: by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

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"Black disabled people have ancestors who left knowledge, art, music, culture, politics and a lot of pain for us to pick up, build on, and to tell the harsh truth." Book written by Leroy Moore, a Black disabled artist and advocate focusing on solidarity, disability as identity, and Black disabled history.

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Leroy F. Moore, Jr., an activist, writer, poet, rapper, feminist, and radio programmer, is the founder of the Krip-Hop Nation, cofounder of Sins Invalid, and a founding member of the National Black Disability Coalition. Moore is a leading activist on issues of wrongful incarceration and police brutality against disabled people of color. He writes, lectures, and performs about race and disability issues both in the United States and abroad.

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Black Disabled Ancestors: by Leroy F. Moore Jr. - Disability Social History Project

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Leroy F. Moore, Jr., an activist, writer, poet, rapper, feminist, and radio programmer, is the founder of the Krip-Hop Nation, cofounder of Sins Invalid, and a founding member of the National Black Disability Coalition. Moore is a leading activist on issues of wrongful incarceration and police brutality against disabled people of color.

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Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century 

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Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century 

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37 first-person essays written by disabled writers with a variety of intersecting identities. Insight into experiences of disabled people as told by disabled people.

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ONE OF THE PROGRESSIVE'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * ENTROPY'S BEST OF NONFICTION

"Disability rights activist Alice Wong brings tough conversations to the forefront of society with this anthology. It sheds light on the experience of life as an individual with disabilities, as told by none other than authors with these life experiences. It's an eye-opening collection that readers will revisit time and time again." -Chicago Tribune

"Shares perspectives that are too often missing from such decision-making about accessibility." "Implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) makes the case for acknowledging and accommodating society's overlooked population of disabled people." -The New York Times Book Review

"An exemplary collection. . . . This month's #RequiredReading." "A raw, emotional collection, an investment in the power of storytelling to foster vibrant connections, and an unapologetic rejection of 'internalized ableism'. . . . The 37 powerful stories in Disability Visibility reveal the depth of everyday courage and the extraordinary human capacity to find humor in the face of life's adversities." "Roughly 15 percent of people around the world have a disability, and yet their stories are often never told. Alice Wong's anthology, Disability Visibility, brings their narratives front and center with the goal of showcasing the wide range of modern disability experiences. . . . Ultra-impressive." -Shondaland, "10 Books Set to Become the New Feminist Classics""By its very nature, the disability community is incredibly intersectional and diverse, including people from all walks of life, backgrounds, and cultures. Disability Visibility reflects that diversity with its contributors, giving . . . a look at a wide range of experiences and types of disability."

"Alice Wong . . . has long been at the forefront of the disability justice movement." -Bitch Media, "17 Books Feminists Should Read in June"

"More resonant than ever. In this kaleidoscopic collection, Wong and her contributors provide not just a snapshot of what disability has meant in the past 20 years, but an urgent invitation to take that understanding forward. . . . A landmark resource for understanding disability." -Autostraddle

"Diverse and poignant. . . . I was deeply moved by more pieces than I could name." -Shir Kehila, Columbia Journal

"Every piece in Disability Visibility evokes . . . tenacity, some gut-wrenching and others inspiring. . . . The range of subjects is impressive: assistive technologies, carceral injustice, fashion, homophobia and heterosexism, medical care and medical abuse, organizing strategies, psychotherapy, racism, relationships, sex, and sexism." -The Progressive

"Celebrates and documents the lived experiences, power, and culture of the disabled community." -Morning Brew
"Wong's discerning selections, bolstered by the activism that shines through, will educate and inspire readers." -Kirkus Reviews "These essays are the heart, the bones, and the blood of Disability Rights." -Gaelynn Lea, musician and activist

"To Alice Wong, words like diversity and intersectionality aren't just buzzwords. They are marching orders. Everyone should take in the wisdom woven throughout this book." -W. Kamau Bell, host of United Shades of America

"A celebration and a source of deep education for many to bear witness (and feel seen by) the vastness of disabled stories, voices, and backgrounds." -Jennifer Baker, editor of Everyday People: The Color of Life

"As a Deaf Asian American, it wasn't until recent years that I started considering myself disabled. This is a very informed starting point for anyone who, like myself, would like to get a better understanding of disability as a massive and beautifully nuanced spectrum." -Christine Sun Kim, artist

Introduction by Alice Wong
PART 1: BEING

Unspeakable Conversations
Harriet McBryde Johnson

For Ki'tay D. Davidson, Who Loves Us
Talila A. Lewis

If You Can't Fast, Give
Maysoon Zayid

There's a Mathematical Equation That Proves I'm Ugly-Or So I Learned in My Seventh-Grade Art Class
Ariel Henley

The Erasure of Indigenous People in Chronic Illness
Jen Deerinwater

When You Are Waiting to Be Healed
June Eric-Udorie

The Isolation of Being Deaf in Prison
Jeremy Woody, as told to Christie Thompson

Common Cyborg
Jillian Weise

I'm Tired of Chasing a Cure
Liz Moore

PART 2: BECOMING

We Can't Go Back
Ricardo T. Thornton Sr.

Radical Visibility: A Disabled Queer Clothing Reform Movement Manifesto
Sky Cubacub

Guide Dogs Don't Lead Blind People. We Wander as One.
Haben Girma

Taking Charge of My Story as a Cancer Patient at the Hospital Where I Work
Diana Cejas

Canfei to Canji: The Freedom of Being Loud
Sandy Ho

Nurturing Black Disabled Joy
Keah Brown

Last but Not Least - Embracing Asexuality
Keshia Scott

Imposter Syndrome and Parenting with a Disability
Jessica Slice

How to Make a Paper Crane from Rage
Elsa Sjunneson

Selma Blair Became a Disabled Icon Overnight. Here's Why We Need More Stories Like Hers.
Zipporah Arielle

PART 3: DOING

Why My Novel Is Dedicated to My Disabled Friend Maddy
A. H. Reaume

The Antiabortion Bill You Aren't Hearing About
Rebecca Cokley

So. Not. Broken.
Alice Sheppard

How a Blind Astronomer Found a Way to Hear the Stars
Wanda Díaz-Merced

Incontinence Is a Public Health Issue-And We Need to Talk About It
Mari Ramsawakh

Falling/Burning: Hannah Gadsby, Nanette, and Being a Bipolar Creator
Shoshana Kessock

Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time
Ellen Samuels

Lost Cause
Reyma McCoy McDeid

On NYC's Paratransit, Fighting for Safety, Respect, and Human Dignity
Britney Wilson

Gaining Power through Communication Access
Lateef McLeod

PART 4: CONNECTING

The Fearless Benjamin Lay: Activist, Abolitionist, Dwarf Person
Eugene Grant

To Survive Climate Catastrophe, Look to Queer and Disabled Folks
Patty Berne, as told to and edited by Vanessa Raditz

Disability Solidarity: Completing the "Vision for Black Lives"
Harriet Tubman Collective

Time's Up for Me, Too
Karolyn Gehrig

Still Dreaming Wild Disability Justice Dreams at the End of the World
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna- Samarasinha

Love Means Never Having to Say . . . Anything
Jamison Hill

On the Ancestral Plane: Crip Hand- Me Downs and the Legacy of Our Movements
Stacey Milbern

The Beauty of Spaces Created for and by Disabled People
s.e. smith
About the Editor About the Contributors Further Reading

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"Disability rights activist Alice Wong brings tough conversations to the forefront of society with this anthology. It sheds light on the experience of life as an individual with disabilities, as...

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Disability Visibility anthology for young readers- an opportunity for disabled youth to see themselves reflected in first-person essays on disability. 17 essays

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Disability Visibility: Adapted for Youth (Full Intro) 

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Disability Visibility: Adapted for Youth (Full Intro) 

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I'm delighted to share my new anthology adapted for young readers, DISABILITY VISIBILITY: 17 First-Person Stories for Today, available now from Delacorte Press. This book has 17 edited pieces from my 2020 anthology plus a new introduction that you can read in its entirety below. For more, check out this review from Kirkus Reviews and this interview from We Need Diverse Books. Enjoy!
"To my younger self and all the disabled kids today who can't imagine their futures. The world is ours, and this is for all of us."
Introduction

Alice Wong

Storytelling itself is an activity, not an object. Stories are the closest we can come to shared experience. . . Like all stories, they are most fundamentally a chance to ride around inside another head and be reminded that being who we are and where we are, and doing what we're doing, is not the only possibility.

-Harriet McBryde Johnson, Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life (2006)

I've loved reading ever since I was young. Books were my friends, and libraries were safe spaces where I felt like I belonged. During gym in elementary school, I would sit on the sidelines and read a book. No one seemed to notice, and that was just fine by me. Writers such as Judy Blume, Laurence Yep, Madeleine L'Engle, Beatrix Potter, and Beverly Cleary and their characters made life fun and exciting even though that wasn't the case in real life.

Having had a physical disability from birth, I knew I was different from my classmates. It took me longer to get around when I walked; I fell and lost my balance easily, which made recess scary rather than a time for play. I had some friends, but I felt alone at the same time. There were many activities at school I couldn't participate in, but I had an imagination that unlocked universes and showed me alternate realities where I could exist in new, daring, and unknown ways.

Fast forward to 2021. I am a forty-seven-year-old disabled writer, editor, and activist and a big-time troublemaker! Being middle-aged sounds ancient, but I am a total kid because so many things give me LIFE and I find deep joy doing what I want to do. I don't think I've "made it" yet-I'm still figuring stuff out-but I can say for sure that my life got better. Two things helped me: telling my own story and finding my people.

As a young adult, I never heard many stories about or saw images of people like myself. I didn't have any adult role models who were similar to me. In 2014, I became an activist and created the Disability Visibility Project (DVP), a campaign to record oral histories in partnership with StoryCorps, a national oral history organization. I wanted to expand disability history and encourage disabled people to celebrate and preserve their stories in the lead-up to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2015.

What started as a one-year oral history project kept going and blew up into a movement. The DVP now has approximately 140 oral histories on record at StoryCorps, a small but mighty archive of the disability zeitgeist. And the project has expanded into an online community that creates, shares, and amplifies disability media and culture through a podcast, articles, Twitter chats, and more.

One reason I tell my own story and share the stories of other amazing disabled people is because I want the world to reflect us-we are diverse, brilliant, and unique. More important, we should tell our stories in our own words; we are the experts about our lives.

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century is my latest storytelling project in the form of an anthology. The version you are reading now has been adapted for young adults from one published by Vintage Books in 2020. Later, you may want to check out that edition, which features stories from thirty-seven disabled people. You can learn more about the book and find a free discussion guide and a plain-language summary on my website, disabilityvisibilityproject.com/book.

The purpose of Disability Visibility is to share a small snapshot of disability experience from this current time period. Each person's story is different, but they are all personal, powerful, and political. This anthology is not Disability 101 or a definitive "best of" list. These stories do not seek to explain the meaning of disability, and they are not focused on being "special" or "inspirational." Rather, they show disabled people simply in our own words, by our own accounts. Disability Visibility is also one part of my evolving story as a human being.

Since the stories cover a broad span of topics, the book is divided into four sections: Being, Becoming, Doing, and Connecting. You will find content notes at the beginning of stories that discuss issues that may be traumatic or distressing, and you can choose to engage with the material or not. Content notes are included as a form of access and self-protection, giving you information on what to expect before reading.

Whether you are disabled or not, some of the ideas and words may be new or uncomfortable for you, and that is the point! I hope they challenge you to think about disability, accessibility, and ableism in new ways and encourage you to learn more long after reading this book.

If you are a young disabled person, I want to share a few things with you as an old kid who has been around the inaccessible block a few times:

Things will get better. Life can be frustrating and weird right now, but you will figure things out eventually. Each person is on their own path and timeline. And if things are going great for you right now, all right, all right, all right!

You are enough. Don't let anyone ever make you feel less than or unworthy of love, access, attention, and care. You deserve everything. One of the hardest things I continue to struggle with is believing that I am worthy. Free advice: if you don't ask for what you want and believe that you are entitled to it, no one else will (unless you are a mediocre white man).

However you identify, whether you ever use the term "disabled" or not, you are not alone. There are communities waiting to connect with and embrace you. One of the best things that happened to me is finding a disability community on social media and in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is so much out there for you to explore and enjoy!

Disability Visibility is a springboard for you to reflect and question why things are the way they are and to take action in your everyday life. This is the book I wish I had as a teenager, and if it gives you joy and something to think about, that's all that matters. Each person has a story; it's up to you to discover yours and tell it if you want. The world is yours, and I cannot wait for you to find your power and community. To mix two of my fandoms, may the Force be with you, and live long and prosper.

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Disability Visibility anthology for young readers

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I'm delighted to share my new anthology adapted for young readers, DISABILITY VISIBILITY: 17 First-Person Stories for Today, available now from Delacorte Press. This book has 17 edited pieces from my 2020 anthology plus a new introduction that you can read in its entirety below. For more, check out this review from Kirkus Reviews and...

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Black Disabled Art History 101 - Leroy F. Moore Jr.

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Black Disabled Art History 101 - Leroy F. Moore Jr.

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Leroy Moore Jr.'s spoken word poem "Black Disabled Art History" tells of black disabled artists, musicians, and dancers. This poem is featured in Moore's book "The Black Kripple Delivers Poetry and Lyrics" and is a window into the content of Moore's other book "Black Disabled Art History 101"
More information about these books and this author available at http://kriphopnation.com/

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Section 504 Sit-In and the Black Panther Party

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Section 504 Sit-In and the Black Panther Party

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This short video discussess the role of Brad Lomax, a wheelchair user and member of the Black Panther party and his comrades in the Section 504 Sit-In's for the passing of the ADA.

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Brad Lomax - Celebrating Black History & People with Disabilities

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TEDx - Let's Talk About Intellectual Disabilities: Loretta Claiborne 

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TEDx - Let's Talk About Intellectual Disabilities: Loretta Claiborne 

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Motivational speaker and gifted Special Olympics athlete Loretta Claiborne tells the story of how she found fearlessness while growing up and living with an intellectual disability.

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Let's Talk About Intellectual Disabilities: Loretta Claiborne at TEDxMidAtlantic

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Review of "Black Disabled Art History 101" - Lateef McCloud

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Review of "Black Disabled Art History 101" - Lateef McCloud

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Lateef McLeod speaks to the importance of Leroy Moore Jr.'s book "Black Disabled Art History 101" and of his own experience dancing with one of the artists featured in the book at Sins Invalid, a disability justice performance.

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DIS_Kurs | Lateef McLeod: Black Disabled Art History 101

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Krip-hop artists and disability justice activists Leroy Moore, Keith Jones, Kevin Powel, DJ Quad, Toni Hickman discuss abelism in hip-hop and call for change. Entire talk is interpreted in ASL by interpreters Odie and Lisa.

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Ableism in Hip-Hop: Krip-Hop Artists Drop Knowledge & Lyrics (With ASL)

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One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project

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One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project

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This teaching resource includes new modifications for virtual instruction and elementary school classrooms, in addition to the original materials designed for middle and high school students.

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One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project | Washington State Governor’s Office of the Education Ombuds

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This teaching resource has been updated as of September 2020 and includes new modifications for virtual instruction and elementary school classrooms, in addition to the original materials designed for middle and high school students.

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Black Deaf Americans: History, Culture, and Deaf Education

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Black Deaf Americans: History, Culture, and Deaf Education

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An exhibit that from the University of Oregon that was shown during the month of February 2018.

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Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) has recently mounted an exhibit focusing on Black Deaf Americans to celebrate Black History Month.

Black Deaf people have one of the most unique cultures in the world. The Black Deaf Community is largely shaped by two cultures and communities: Deaf and African-American. Some Black Deaf individuals view themselves as members of both communities. Since both communities are viewed by the larger, predominately hearing and White society as comprising a minority community, Black Deaf persons often experience an even greater loss of recognition, racial discrimination and communication barriers coming from both communities.

Little has been written about the Black Deaf community. Even though segregated schools existed until the mid-1950s, no historical analysis of that experience, its people, or events has been written. Only a handful of memoirs by Black Deaf individuals have been published. Recent interest in Black Deaf sign language has produced a seminal work on the subject, The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL, but much more research needs to be pursued. This exhibit seeks to highlight the history, experiences, and accomplishments of Black Deaf Americans through six themes: segregated schools for Black Deaf students, memoirs by Black Deaf adults, incarceration of Black Deaf, Black Deaf sign language, Notable Black Deaf, and artwork of Black Deaf. Some of the archival material exhibited is extremely rare and difficult to find. Several publications on exhibit are considered rare books. Even some recent titles on exhibit are difficult to find.

Segregation

Between the 1870s and 1970s, Deaf schools and departments were segregated for Black and White students, and they remained so until after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. These facilities, such as the Virginia School for Colored Deaf and Blind Children built in 1909, were documented by a rare postcard featured in the exhibition, pictured below. The nature of ephemera is unfortunately germane to the history of Black Deaf segregation, since the school buildings were demolished in 2017.

Memoirs

Black Deaf authors have written first-hand accounts of their experiences as individuals and members of the Black Deaf community, the first being Dr. Ernest Hairston and Linwood Smith's Black and Deaf in America (1983).

Incarceration

Justice and legal professionals often lack Deaf cultural competency, which leads to disproportionate convictions, abuse, and isolation of Deaf Americans in the criminal justice system. This problem is magnified for Black Deaf Americans. This exhibit highlights accounts of institutional traumas experienced by Black Deaf Americans, such as John Doe No. 24 who, Black, Deaf, and Mute, was arrested as a teenager in 1945 and institutionalized in the Illinois mental health care system until his death in 1993.

Black ASL

The Black ASL Project carried out by Gallaudet University's Department of Linguistics and Department of ASL and Deaf Studies includes a team of researchers seeking to describe the linguistic varieties within ASL used by Black Americans. These differences are rich and may include general semantic differences carried over from spoken Black English, such as the sign for "bad" meaning "really good," but Black ASL also features a larger signing space and use of facial grammar (Sellers, 2012).

We invite you to view this exhibit during February 2018 highlighting one of America's most unique but underrepresented cultures.

References:

Sellers, F. S. (2012, September 17). Sign language that African Americans use is different from that of whites. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com

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New Exhibit | Black Deaf Americans: History, Culture, and Education

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Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) has recently mounted an exhibit focusing on Black Deaf Americans to celebrate Black History Month. Black Deaf people have one of the most unique cultures in the world. The Black Deaf Community is largely shaped by two cultures and communities: Deaf and African-American.

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(M)othering Labeled Children: Bilingualism and Disability in the Lives of Latinx Mothers (Bilingual Education & Bilingualism) by María Cioè-Peña 

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(M)othering Labeled Children: Bilingualism and Disability in the Lives of Latinx Mothers (Bilingual Education & Bilingualism) by María Cioè-Peña 

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This book focuses on the identity and experiences of Latinx mothers with children labeled disabled and bilingual. A strengths based approach to mothers sharing knowledge of their children and experiences with the education system.

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(M)othering Labeled Children book. Read reviews from world's largest community for readers.

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Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

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Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

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Autobiography of Haben Girma, a deafblind woman who shares her life story as a child of refugees and a disabled woman moving through the US.

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Born with deaf-blindness, Girma grew up with enough vision to know when someone was in front of her and enough hearing to know when someo...

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Stephanie Thomas: Disability Fashion Stylist

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Stephanie Thomas: Disability Fashion Stylist

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Stephanie Thomas is a policy maker, Disability fashion stylist, a
TEDx speaker, a congenital amputee and founder of Cur8able. Follow Stephanie on Instagram to learn about how her and Cur8able help with “Simplifying Shopping and De-Stressing Dressing™️” for people with disabilities, injuries, and chronic illnesses.

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Lolo's Youtube channel is full of 8-15 minute videos exploring topics such as money and disability, history of disability justice, mental health, and so much more.

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lolo disabled disability styling positivity grwm buzzfeed all def digital youtuber dating wheelchair woman black handicapped sitting pretty fashion reviews h...

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Welcome to Sitting Pretty it's your girl Lolo, here to share my life as a physically disabled person. I talk about everything from dating, disability fashion...

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Tedx - Fashion Styling for People with Disabilities: Stephanie Thomas

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Tedx - Fashion Styling for People with Disabilities: Stephanie Thomas

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Stephanie Thomas, buisness woman and fashion stylist for people with dsabilities, talks about how she uses fashion and content creation to change negative perceptions of people with disabilities.

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Fashion Styling for People with Disabilities | Stephanie Thomas | TEDxYYC

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Lolo is an actress and disability lifestyle influencer who was diagnosed with ALS at 14. She is also the founder of Sitting Pretty Podcast. Follow Lolo on Instagram to learn more about her life!

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Keah Brown is an author, actress, screenwriter, and journalist who was born with cerebral palsy. She is also known as the creator of the hashtag #DisabledAndCute, which first went viral in February 2017. Follow Keah on Instagram to learn more about her life.

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Andrea Dalzell is a Registered Nurse, Healthcare Advocate, Disability Rights Influencer, and most importantly, a Survivor.  She was diagnosed with transverse myelitis when she was five and was using a wheelchair full-time by age 12.  Follow Andrea on Instagram to learn about her life!

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Tobi Green-Adenowo is a self-described Disabled Intersectional Queen/Changemaker. She lives with Osteogeneis Imperfecta, and is a #WheelchairDancer. Follow Tobi on Instagram to learn more about her life!

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Tatiana Lee is an award-winning actress, international model, and Hollywood influencer born with Spina Bifida. She is the accessibility lead at AppleTV+, and describes herself as obsessed with Disability Inclusive Content and Lover of Beauty, Fashion, & Tech. Follow Tatiana on Instagram to learn more about her life!

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Footloose - 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

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Footloose - 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

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Tatiana Lee and Katherine Crawford (Kat) talk about living with physical disabilities, dating, and their lives in this sweet short film centering disability and friendship.

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Footloose - 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

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Clara is from the United Kingdom and is a fashion model and activist. She has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) a form of Hypermobility Syndrome (HMS). Follow her fashion and lifestyle blog to learn more about how she “rolls through life” as described by her.

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Accessible Hollywood is a "Movement Promoting Inclusion In Beauty, Fashion, Pop Culture & The Arts". Follow Accessible Hollywood on Facebook to learn more!

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DJCC is a collective of disabled and/or neurodivergent queer people of color operating out of East Oakland/Chochenyo Ohlone land. Their organizing efforts center the lives of QTBIPOC. Follow them on Facebook!

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With all our hearts, we thank you

We are so grateful and overwhelmed by the beautiful ways our communities have shown up for DJCC and for Stacey. If you attended any part of the Memorial Caravan, Virtual Zoom Memorial, , we thank you for your time and care! So many people were a part of making the work happen. We'd like to name those individuals and orgs specifically:

Andrea LaVant...
Alice Wong
Bianca Laureno
Community Ready Corp
Dasom Nah
Dolores Tejada
Katie Tertocha
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Ryan Easterly
Vanessa Rochelle Lewis
Yomi Wrong

So many people did so much it was a miracle The collective community lifted Stacey up in a beautiful way!

If you have worked with Stacey and would like us to know how we can hold the work within DJCC, please let us know via email at:

disabilityjusticecultureclub@gmail.com

We are also accepting donations in Stacey's memory, for our mutual aid effort and for the continued work of DJCC.

NEW VENMO ACCOUNT!

@DisabilityJusticeCultureClub

(Please only use this Venmo account from now on and thanks for your patience through the multiple changes.)

Or feel free to donate through Flipcause:
https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/ODY1MTg=

The work of DJCC is not over! Stay tuned and stay connected with us. We are always welcoming more community members and collaborations. Stacey will always be a part of DJCC and we want to continue to build and spread love in community.

All power to the people
All love to our community

DJCC (Jay, Dana and Patrice)

(Photos by Brooke Anderson )

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With all our hearts, we thank you We are so grateful and overwhelmed by the beautiful ways our communities have shown up for DJCC and for Stacey. If you attended any part of the Memorial Caravan, Virtual Zoom Memorial, , we thank you for your time and care!

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Sins Invalid is a queer, POC-led disability justice based performance project. They are "An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility". Follow them on Instagram!

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Beyond Awareness: Disability Awareness that Matters

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Beyond Awareness: Disability Awareness that Matters

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This podcast is a great start for teachers of all grade levels and parents to learn how to to talk about disability with children through a disability justice framework.

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Beyond Awareness: Disability Awareness That Matters

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Is it appropriate to talk about disability? Is there a way to respectfully talk about disability? What words do I use when talking about disability? How do I teach kids about disability? Why do I feel awkward when I talk about disability? Are my disability awareness efforts outdated and...

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This podcast is a great listen for all teachers wishing to learn more about disability rights, social justice, and intersectionality. It is hosted by Asian American disabled activist, Alice Wong, who features conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people.

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This is life from a disabled lens. Disability Visibility is a podcast hosted by San Francisco night owl Alice Wong featuring conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people. If you're interested in disability rights, social justice, and intersectionality, this show is for you. It's time to hear more disabled people in podcasting and radio. Named one of the 15 best podcasts by women that you're not listening to by Refinery 29 in 2021.

The podcast ended with episode 100 in April 2021 with possible audio stories coming in the future so do not unsubscribe! You can download the Disability Visibility Podcast Resource Guide, a list of all episodes with links in a PDF.

Disability Visibility is a production of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture.

Alice Wong, Writer, Audio Producer, Host

Geraldine Ah-Sue, Audio Producer

Cheryl Green, Audio Producer and Text Transcription

Sarika D. Mehta, Audio Producer

Lateef McLeod, Introduction

Mike Mort, Artwork

Wheelchair Sports Camp, Theme Song
EPISODES Ep 100: Podcasting with Geraldine Ah-Sue, Cheryl Green, and Sarika Mehta Ep 99: Online Activism with Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan Ep 98: Disabled Students with Alena Morales Ep 97: Disabled Refugees with Mustafa Rfat Ep 95: Black Doctors with Disabilities Ep 94: Healthcare Rationing with Britney Wilson Ep 93: Indigenous Disabled Creators with Johnnie Jae Ep 92: Disabled Afro-Latina Artists with Jen White-Johnson Ep 91: Disabled Engineers with Emily Ackerman Ep 90: Disabled Immigrants with Conchita Hernandez Legorreta Ep 89: Museums with Amanda Cachia Ep 88: Policy with Liz Weintraub Ep 87: Climate Action with Kera Sherwood-O'Regan Ep 86: Transportation with Maddy Ruvolo Ep 85: Fat Liberation with Max Airborne and Caleb Luna Ep 84: Anthologies with Kelly Jensen Ep 83: Disabled Dancers with India Harville Ep 82a: Americans with Disabilities Act with Conchita Hernandez Legorreta Ep 82: Americans with Disabilities Act with Alice Wong Ep 81: Bioethics with Joe Stramondo Ep 80: Fashion with Stephanie Thomas Ep 79: Disabled Candidates with Amanda Siebe Ep 78: Hate Crimes with Sachin Pavithran Ep 77: Mental Health Advocacy with Kathy Flaherty Ep 76: Film Festivals with Alex Locust and Karen Nakamura Ep 75: Coronavirus and Disaster Planning with Germán Luis Parodi and Valerie Novack Ep 74a: Coronavirus and Spirituality with Elliot Kukla Ep 74: Coronavirus and Caregiving with Heather Watkins and Dawn Gibson Ep 72: Disabled Curators with Anna Berry Ep 71: Games with André J. Daughtry and Cherry Thompson Ep 70: Black Deaf Filmmakers with Jade Bryan Ep 69: Theatre with Jason Dorwart and Samuel Valdez Ep 68: Accessibility with Shannon Finnegan Ep 67: Disabled Actors with Liz Carr Ep 66: Cyborgs with Ashley Shew and Jillian Weise Ep 65: Black Mental Health with Imade Nibokun Ep 64: Disabled Teachers with Travis Chi Wing Lau and Dayniah Manderson Ep 63: Climate Change with Layel Camargo & Elena Aurora and Alex Ghenis Ep 62: Black Disabled Women in Media with Kym Oliver and Jay Abdullahi Ep 61: Poetry with Khairani Barokka Ep 60: Travel with Bani Amor and Srin Madipalli Ep 59: Comics with Ashanti Fortson and Leroy Moore Ep 58: Twitter Chats with Dawn Gibson and Alex Haagaard Ep 57: Disabled Writers with Nina G Ep 56: Parenting with Eliza Hull and Heather Watkins Ep 55: Self Advocacy with Finn Gardiner and Noor Pervez Ep 54: Disabled Scientists with Gabi Serrato Marks and Lisette E. Torres Ep 53: Disabled Editors with Elsa Sjunneson-Henry and Dominik Parisien Ep 52: Podcasting with Bri M. and Thomas Reid Ep 51: Disabled Artists with Jeff Thomas Ep 50: Disabled Lawyers with Hamza Jaka and Britney Wilson Ep 49: Young Adult Literature with Marieke Nijkamp Ep 48: Care Work with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Ep 47: Design with Liz Jackson Ep 46: Disability Studies with Subini Annamma and Sami Schalk Ep 45: Mental Health and People of Color with Dior Vargas Ep 44: Disabled Writers with Carly Findlay Ep 43: Disabled "Fakers" with Doron Dorfman Ep 42: Employment with Rooshey Hasnain and Kate Caldwell Ep 41: Deaf in Prison with Claudia Center and TL Lewis Ep 40: Disabled Writers with Keah Brown Ep 39: Sex Education with Julia Bascom and Robin Wilson-Beattie Ep 38: Food Accessibility with Shona Louise Ep 37: Political Participation with Reyma McCoy McDeid and Sarah Funes Ep 36: Disabled Entrepreneurs with Tinu Abayomi-Paul and Mary, Hannah & Emma Layden Ep 35: Mentoring with Yolanda Vargas and Judy Heumann Ep 34: Intersectionality with Sandy Ho and Jean-Luc Pierite Ep 33: Disabled Musicians with Gaelynn Lea Ep 32: Disabled Refugees with Mansha Mirza Ep 31: Disabled Inventors with Jane Hartman Adamé Ep 30: Film Criticism with Kristen Lopez and Angelo Muredda Ep 29: Robotics with Kavita Krishnaswamy Ep 28: Disabled People in STEM with Liz Henry, Jennison Asuncion and Josh Miele Ep 27: Chronic Pain with Alecia Deon and Sarah Blahovec Ep 26: Future of Independent Living with Allie Cannington and Eli Gelardin Ep 25: Disabled Actors with Shannon Devido and Ryan J. Haddad Ep 24: Disability Justice and Community Organizing with Sarah Jama Ep 23: Paratransit with Denise DiNoto and Jess Moye Ep 22: Public Transit with Alejandra Ospina and Maria Sotnikova Ep 21: Disabled Comedians with Maysoon Zayid and Danielle Perez Ep 20: Asian American Women and Mental Health with Emily Wu Truong and Jessica Gimeno Ep 19: Storytelling with Cuquis Robledo and Emily Ladau Ep 18: Accessibility and the ADA with Lia Seth and Dara Baldwin Ep 17: Invisible Disabilities with Tiffany Peterson and Linda Williams Ep 16: Disabled Filmmakers with Jen Brea and Jim LeBrecht Ep 15: Star Trek: Discovery with Day Al-Mohamed and Andrew Pulrang Ep 14: Emergency Preparedness with Alecia Deon and Angela Wrigglesworth Ep 13: Autonomy and Disabled People with Kim Sauder Ep 12: Advocacy, Intersectionality and Mental Health with Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán Ep 11: Crip Bodies and Crip Aging with Patty Berne and Leroy Moore Ep 10: Deaf and Disabled Women on YouTube with Rikki Poynter and Annie Segarra Ep 9: Medicaid and Community Living with Dominick Evans and Andraéa LaVant Ep 8: Disabled People in Public Service with Maria Town and Walei Sabry Ep 7: Violence and Disabled People with Mahdia Lynn and Dustin Gibson Ep 6: Labor, Care Work, and Disabled Queer Femmes with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Stacey Milbern Ep 5: "Orphan Black," Reproductive Justice, and Disabled Women with Maelee Johnson and Rebecca Cokley Ep 4: Disabled People in Media and Journalism with s.e. smith and Vilissa Thompson Ep 3: Assistive Technology with Lateef McLeod and Jessie Lorenz Ep 2: Immigration and Disability with Alicia Contreras and Michelle Garcia Ep 1: Activism and the Disability Community with Gregg Beratan and Andrew Pulrang

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This is life from a disabled lens. Disability Visibility is a podcast hosted by San Francisco night owl Alice Wong featuring conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people. If you're interested in disability rights, social justice, and intersectionality, this show is for you. It's time to hear more disabled people in...

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As a podcast that centers and celebrates the lived experiences of disabled people of Color, the Power not Pity podcast is an important resource for teachers of all grade levels to share with their students. Through the power of storytelling, the podcast aims to dismantle ableism.

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POWER NOT PITY | A Podcast for Disabled People of Color Everywhere

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Episode 1: Is God Inaccessible feat. Zaynab Shahar ​ Episode 2: When Tiny Tim Meets the Magical Negro feat. Kristen Lopez Episode 3: What If? feat. Rivers Solomon Episode 4: Finding that Rhythm...

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The Pedagogy of Pathologization Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-prison Nexus by Subini Ancy Annamma

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The Pedagogy of Pathologization Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-prison Nexus by Subini Ancy Annamma

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Subini Annamma shares the experiences of multiply marginalized disabled Brown and black girls who in the US carceral system. She connects schooling and the ways the girls are positioned in public education directly to juvenile incarceration, through their lived experiences.

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'The Pedagogy of Pathologization　uncovers stories behind the statistics which place Black girls labeled with disabilities among students experiencing the highest rates of pushout in schools nationwide. In a compelling account that is at once loving, eloquent, insightful, scholarly, and profoundly affecting, the author brings to life the voices and experiences of the young women she partners with in this study of policing across institutions that combines into a seamless web of criminalization and exclusion for Black disabled girls. She also illuminates girls' resilience and resistance in the face of the absurd and tragic abandonment and punishment they face for surviving multiple challenges - and the ways in which educators and concerned adults can intervene in solidarity and love. An essential contribution to conversations about education, policing and mass incarceration.'

-Andrea J. Ritchie, Researcher in Residence on Race, Gender, Sexuality and Criminalization, Barnard Center for Research on Women, author of　Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color.

'Pedagogy of Pathologization　sheds new light on the school-to-prison pipeline by focusing on the experiences of the most marginalized students -dis/abled girls of color. Based on her work in juvenile incarceration education sites, Subini Ancy Annamma uses an intersectional lens to vividly reveal how racism, ableism, and carceral logics work together to criminalize and punish these children and calls us to reimagine the classroom as a place of liberation. A must read for everyone seeking to understand and dismantle the carceral state.'

-Dorothy Roberts, author of　Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty.

'The Pedagogy of Pathologization animates theories of intersectionality, critical race theory, and disability studies via the lived experiences of these young girls who are subject to a litany of violent practices abetted by the school-to-prison pipeline. Not only does Annamma document practices of resiliency exhibited by these girls, but also imagines what structural interventions are needed to resist the pathological criminalization of young people in our society. I can see this book becoming a classic because it is one of the first books to engage with this unique confluence of theories, loci, and subjects.'

-Nirmala Erevelles, Professor Social and Cultural Studies in Education at the University of Alabama, USA

'Annamma passionately brings to life the hyper-marginalized realities of incarcerated girls of color who have been categorized as disabled. Using Discrit analysis, the author vividly centers the young voices ---illustrating their efforts to grapple with and resist their multiple oppressions whether emanating from home, school, or the criminal justice system. Annamma highlights their moving insights about their situations and caring natures that need to be nurtured. For these young people to transcend potentially bleak futures requires personal and financial investment from all of us on the local, state, and national levels.'

-Adrien Katherine Wing, Associate Dean & Bessie Dutton Murray Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law, USA

'The Pedagogy of Pathologization　is an amazing original work.　 With Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) as her framework, Professor Annamma has provided us with an explanation of how society pathologizes female Students of Color.　 She takes us to that place where we understand the multiple forms of marginality these young women experience in the everyday.　 In this multiple marginal place, she reminds me of how W.E.B. DuBois introduced me to "double consciousness," "two-ness," and the "veil."　 Annamma has written a remarkable, compelling, and insightful book.'

-Daniel G. Solórzano, Professor of Social Science & Comparative Education, UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, USA

'This book is sometimes a mirror reflecting back what we've wrought by infusing education with a culture of punishment; and sometimes a maze, layering prisons on top of schools, racism on top of sexism on top of ableism. More than anything, though, Subini Annamma offers us a flashlight, carefully picking out ways to repair and move forward.'

-Ian F. Haney López, Earl Warren Professor of Public Law, UC Berkeley and Director, Racial Politics Project, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society

'Annamma is one of the most important voices among a new generation of critical scholars who are challenging conventional wisdom and exposing the vicious inequities that shape the everyday world of contemporary schooling. The study advances our understanding of 'intersectionality' as a concept and as a lived reality. Written with flair, sensitivity and passion, this book explores the intimate workings of the school-prison pipeline from the inside; it is essential reading for anyone concerned with justice and education.'

-David Gillborn, Director of Research, School of Education and Director, Centre for Research in Race & Education (CRRE), University of Birmingham, UK
'Finally, a book that I can point well-known Black academic scholars like Michelle Alexander, Monique Morris, Mark Anthony Neal, and more, to learn about the school-to-prison pipeline from Black and disabled girls of color who are consistently erased from our books, studies, and conversations on this topic. Just like when bell hooks and other Black women scholars took on Black and non-Black male academic scholars about how the absence of Black women in their work and writings helped to continue to erase Black women's experiences, writings, political movement, art and yes, academic writings in and outside academia, with this book,　The Pedagogy of Pathologization, Annamma steps into this harsh but needed tradition of not only talking back to Black, women, and disability academic scholars but to bring in her Black and disabled community inside of academic walls as she writes what has been left out- race, gender, and disability inside the school-to-prison pipeline.'-Leroy F. Moore Jr., Author of Black Disabled Art History 101; Founding Member of the National Black Disabled Coalition
'The Pedagogy of Pathologization by Subini Ancy Annamma is a revelation. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the lives of girls of color, special education, the school-to-prison pipeline, and critical race and disability studies. Dr. Annamma connects the real stories, journeys, and expertise of girls coded as 'violent' or 'difficult' by educators with a call for a pedagogy of resistance instead of pathologization and criminalization. The Pedagogy of Pathologization offers readers a glimpse into the lives of multiply-marginalized disabled girls of color and centers them in a way that is all too rare in the education and research world.'

-Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project®

'For some time, it has been clear that we not only disproportionately punish the children with the greatest needs, we also are most likely to punish them because of their needs. This now includes a tendency to criminalize children for offenses that were previously not regarded as criminal offenses. In this important new book Subini Ancy Annamma shows us how this process is occurring among girls of color, particular those with disabilities. In this powerful analysis, readers will learn how some of our most vulnerable children are being victimized by punitive discipline practices. Hopefully, this book will serve as a wake up call that we can and must do better in meeting the needs of these children.'
'Critical studies of dis/ability, or DisCrit, is one of the most exciting innovations in education and allied disciplines. Subini Annamma deftly captures forms of subordination and superordination in an analysis that weaves together social relations, like race and gender, within the carceral state. It is an argument that is both profound and profuse about the urgency of intervening in the educational system's multiple disabling of girls of color. It would be impossible to ignore the problem any longer after reading this book.'-Zeus Leonardo, Professor of Education and The Critical Theory Designated Emphasis, University of California, Berkeley, USA and Author of Race Frameworks: A Multidimensional Theory of Racism and Education
-Pedro A. Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education, UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, USA

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The Pedagogy of Pathologization: Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-prison Nexus

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WINNER OF THE 2019 AESA CRITICS' CHOICE BOOK AWARD WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL WOMEN'S STUDIES ASSOCIATION ALISON PIEPMEIER BOOK PRIZE Linking powerful first-person narratives with structural analysis, The Pedagogy of Pathologization explores the construction of criminal identities in schools via the intersections of race, disability, and gender.

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 Carceral Studies Conversations, Dr. Subini Annamma

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 Carceral Studies Conversations, Dr. Subini Annamma

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In this episode of the Carceral Studies Consortium, Dr. Subini Annamma discusses “the school-prison nexus, the way youth in schools are targeted, labeled, and criminalized, how this systemic process perpetuates ableism, sexism and racism, and the effects of this targeting." A resource for all educators.

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Dr. Subini Annamma, Stanford by Carceral Studies Conversations

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On this episode, Dr. Subini Annamma discusses the school-prison nexus, the way youth in schools are targeted, labeled, and criminalized, how this systemic process perpetuates ableism, sexism and racism, and the effects of this targeting. Annamma was a special education teacher in both public schools and youth prisons. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. Her research critically examines the ways students are criminalized and resist that criminalization through the mutually constitutive nature of racism and ableism, how they interlock with other marginalizing oppressions, and how these intersections impact youth education trajectories in urban schools and youth prisons.

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Black Girls With Disabilities Are Disproportionately Criminalized 

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Black Girls With Disabilities Are Disproportionately Criminalized 

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"This op-ed talks about how Black girls are targeted at school because of their disabilities, along with their race and gender."

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When school suddenly went virtual in the first weeks of the pandemic, one survey found that 4 out of 10 teenagers did not attend a single online class. So why was Grace*, a 15-year-old Black girl in Michigan, incarcerated for not completing her homework and getting up late for online school, which a judge said violated her probation? As ProPublica reported, Grace spent over two months incarcerated, despite an order eliminating juvenile incarceration unless the child "is a substantial and immediate safety risk to others." After protests, a petition, congressional action, and a refusal by one judge to release her, Grace was freed. As shocking as Grace's case was, it was, unfortunately, not unique. According to data from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights Data, Black girls are seven times more likely to be suspended from school than white girls and four times more likely to be arrested at school. Grace's story is part of a larger pattern of criminalizing Black girls for minor misbehavior at school.

In September 2019, Kaia, a six-year-old Black girl, was arrested and sent in a police car to a juvenile detention center. The cause: a tantrum in school, where she kicked teachers. In February 2019, an 11-year-old Black girl, Malayla*, said she had her braids pulled out of her head by a teacher. (The teacher denied doing so). Each of these stories caused some level of outrage.

The truth is we can't separate the punishments that Black girls face for their race and gender from their disabilities. Every part of their identity is relevant. Not completing her homework and not getting up for school can be tied to Grace's ADHD, which can result in both inattention and sleep challenges. Kaia's grandmother reported the six year old was acting out in class due to a lack of sleep because of sleep apnea, which impacts the behavior of young children. Malayla, who, according to her mother, sprayed perfume after the teacher asked her to stop, struggled with frustration issues and has an "individualized education program (IEP)." In each instance, Black girls were harshly punished for behaviors related to their disabilities.

At first glance, these may seem like one-off instances of punitive teachers and aggressive cops. But when put into context, it becomes clear that their stories are the result of an education system that over-criminalizes Black girls with disabilities like Grace, Kaia, and Malayla. These young girls are suspended at even higher rates than their non-disabled peers. In 2012, the Department of Education found Black girls made up 12% of girls suspended, while Black girls with disabilities accounted for 19% of girls with disabilities who were suspended. Without a doubt, special education, disability, and ableism must be recognized for the role they play in criminalizing Black girls.

Who we decide to criminalize matters too. Adults focused on putting Grace in a juvenile facility when she did not do her homework, but she's a disabled teenager struggling to keep up with school during a pandemic. Kaia's struggles with sleep were criminalized while the officer reportedly ignored department policy, which required him to seek approval before arresting anyone under 12. We can see that adults often fail to follow the necessary policies, rules, or laws, and yet it is the Black girls with disabilities who are ultimately punished. Special education labels and laws do not offer blanket protection.

Black girls are adultified and expected to act older, and their behaviors are imagined as more threatening. Moreover, the very policies designed to protect white disabled students often do little to protect Black girls with disabilities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Dr. Subini Ancy Annamma, and Vilissa Thompson

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Black Girls Shouldn't Be Criminalized for Having a Disability

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When school suddenly went virtual in the first weeks of the pandemic, one survey found that 4 out of 10 teenagers did not attend a single online class. So why was Grace*, a 15-year-old Black girl in Michigan, incarcerated for not completing her homework and getting up late for online school, which a judge said violated her probation?

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A graduate of Eastern Univerity with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in French from the Sorbonne, Imani Barbarin writes from the perspective of a black woman with Cerebral Palsy. She specializes in blogging, science fiction and memoir. Follow her on TikTok!

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Crutches&Spice ♿️ : (@crutches_and_spice) Official TikTok | Watch Crutches&Spice ♿️ :'s Newest TikTok Videos

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Crutches&Spice ♿️ : (@crutches_and_spice) on TikTok | 24.2M Likes. 415.2K Fans. sean@collectivespeakers.com writer | comms | My Thoughts | she/her ✊🏾💕💜💙♿️

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Each episodes of the Radiolab-G podcast addresses the concept of intelligence, including the fraught history (and present-day use) of IQ tests and the dark history of eugenics and how it manifests today. This resource is helpful for teachers of all grade levels.

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Radiolab | Radiolab Presents: G | WNYC Studios

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We Should Claim Our Disabled Ancestors With Pride- NYT Guest Essay

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We Should Claim Our Disabled Ancestors With Pride- NYT Guest Essay

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A short opinion guest essay about one's ideas on how to celebrate ancestors with disabilities and not neglect them.

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Opinion | We Should Claim Our Disabled Ancestors With Pride

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I'm searching the basement of my grandparents' cavernous Long Island house, looking for my lost cousin in the boxes of old photo albums stored there. I am 7 years old. "Cousin," I call, wishing I knew his name. "Cousin?" The details are vague.

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Chella Man is an Asian American actor, model, artist, YouTuber, and LGBTQ activist. He is known for sharing his experiences as a transgender, deaf, genderqueer, Asian, and Jewish person of color. Follow him on TikTok!

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Chella Man (@chellamanart) TikTok | Watch Chella Man's Newest TikTok Videos

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Chella Man (@chellamanart) on TikTok | 1.2M Likes. 105.6K Fans. Deaf, trans, Jewish, Chinese artist.

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Mr. Ndopu is an award winning, internationally acclaimed activist and humanitarian. Diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy at age two and given only five years to live, he has gone on to become a beacon of hope and possibility for people with disabilities around the world. Mr. Ndopu currently serves as Special Advisor to RTW Investments, a leading investor in scientific and medical innovation. Follow him on Twitter!

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Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha  on Twitter

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Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha  on Twitter

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Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (she/they) is a queer disabled nonbinary femme writer, educator and disability/transformative justice worker of Burgher/Tamil Sri Lankan and Irish/Roma ascent. Follow them on Twitter!

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Tweets by thellpsx

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This podcast episode explores the real-life events of Helen Keller. It challenges the myth of a young Deafblind girl rescued by her teacher, Annie Sullivan, to reveal a far more complicated story. A resource for all teachers wanting to teach the story of Helen Keller.

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JAD ABUMRAD: Here I am, here I am.

[singing to a jokey improvised tune]

JAD: Lulu Miller, she's a killer. [now confused]

JAD: Do you not hear me, Lulu? I hear you typing.

[clacking stops]

LULU MILLER: Oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm just-hold on. [laughs]

JAD: [laughs] I was like, I can hear your deep breathing and typing. And I was like ...

LULU: [laughs] Oh my God, I'm sorry.

LULU: Was I, like, mouth breathing?

JAD: No, it was fine. I just-it wasn't mouthy, so much as I could hear you very close by.

LULU: Okay. Well, now that I've figured out how to operate my headphones, should I just jump in?

LULU: This is Radiolab. And the journey I want to take you on today? First of all, quick warning, it does involve a fair amount of explicit language. There's some swears, so maybe not the right one for kids. And it all really kicks off ...

LULU: [singsong] Elsa can you hear me?

LULU: With a woman named Elsa Sjunneson.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I'm doing well but it's like, this is an insane couple of weeks.

LULU: Elsa is a busy woman. She is a fencer, a swing dancer, a teacher, an activist.

LULU: Do you identify as a sci-fi writer?

ELSA SJUNNESON: I identify as a speculative fiction writer.

LULU: Speculative fiction writer. Okay, so what does that mean for a day?

ELSA SJUNNESON: I get up in the morning and I feed my cat and I make tea. and I sit down at my desk. And then I will kind of [deep tones descend] periscope down for the afternoon to work in my own fantasy world.

[music: slow subtle start, drama brewing]

LULU: She's written stuff for Marvel, published books.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I'm currently working on a novella that is about a blind assassin that involves service dragons.

[drama and excitement of the music stirs, ramps up sharply]

LULU: Oh hell, yes! Okay, so take me back ...

LULU: And anyway, about a year ago ...

LULU: ... and any memories about, like, where you were, what you were doing.

LULU: Elsa got in touch with me to tell me about something that had just happened to her.

ELSA SJUNNESON: So I was in my kitchen in my house that I was living in in Seattle, and I was making shrimp. And because I have ADHD, I was looking at Twitter while also cooking. Not exactly advisable. And I saw this tweet.

[music: fast paced orchestra builds intrigue.]

LULU: A tweet that led her ...

[ ARCHIVE CLIP, TikTok video: [Voice trembling with emotion] I just wanted to say Helen Keller is not fucking real.]

LULU: And then to a whole world of videos.

ELSA SJUNNESON: People on TikTok saying Helen Keller was a fraud.

[orchestral music stops]

JAD: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

JAD: What does that mean? What does that mean? So-are you-well, she was a real lady.

LULU: She was definitely a real lady, but the TikTokers were questioning that story we all know about her. You know, the story that she was both deaf and blind.

LULU: Totally cut off from the world. Until this lady, the quote-unquote "miracle worker," Anne Sullivan, showed up, and then using a technique called finger spelling, taught her language culminating in this dramatic moment by a water pump where Helen Keller finally understood the word "water," and then went on to write a dozen books, tons of articles and travel the world. And the people in these TikTok videos were like ...

[Music reprises. Dramatic, orchestral.]

[Music mellows. the feeling of intrigue remains]

[Crescendo as orchestral music concludes]

LULU: So back in her kitchen in Seattle, Elsa is watching all these videos just so angry.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Honestly yeah, it was rage.

LULU: So she fires off this tweet.

ELSA SJUNNESON: If you think that Deafblind people can't write books you can bite me because I have one coming out in October.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I was born partially deaf and partially blind.

LULU: ... herself is Deafblind.

LULU: She has Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids and glasses and reads using a magnifier. That's how she's able to tweet and talk with us today.

LULU: And so her tweet promptly goes viral.

LULU: So then Elsa's kind of watching, like, thousands of likes and reshares. She's suddenly realizing she has thrust herself into the limelight as Helen Keller's bodyguard and defender.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Oh God. Oh no. Just ...

LULU: ... the last thing that she wants to be.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I want nothing to do with this person.

JAD: She felt not good about Helen Keller?

JAD: Wait. So wait. Why would-why would you not have good ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: I spent most of my life feeling constricted by Helen Keller's ghost.

[music: gentle and exploratory. shuffling drums and resonant mallets.]

LULU: Elsa said that the ghost of Helen Keller has messed with her life in such tangible, real ways that it's affected how her life played out. And she's come to see that it's not just her life but all of our lives, our brains that are haunted by Helen Keller in a pretty surprising and insidious way.

[music fades out with echo]

LULU: So allow me to just take you back where the haunting all began for Elsa.

LULU: Okay, so we're going to the mid-'90's Seattle. Nirvana's on the air. Elsa, little Elsa is on the-she's on the floor in her third grade classroom.

LULU: Sitting next to her classmates.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I had giant coke bottle glasses. Like, the 1990s were not kind to low-vision children.

LULU: And her teacher pulls out a picture book about Helen Keller.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I distinctly remember seeing the illustration that sort of everybody sees, which is where she's standing there with her hand underneath the faucet at the pump, signing the word "water" into Annie Sullivan's hand. And, like, I just sort of remember being like, "Well, I know I can't see and I can't really hear that well but, like, this isn't me."

LULU: She said she knew, of course, that she had some trouble seeing.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I ran into things a lot [laughs].

LULU: And some trouble hearing, which became particularly apparent during verbal spelling tests.

ELSA SJUNNESON: The words that I was hearing my classmates say weren't the words that I was supposed to be writing down.

LULU: Oh, so like, they'd say, "Fly," and you'd spell "Thigh" or something.

[music: light, ethereal tones floating in space]

LULU: But whenever someone would compare her to Helen Keller, which she said happened a lot ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: It was always, "But I'm not like that." And I think that's because I was always told, like, "But you're not really Blind. But you're not really Deaf." Like ...

LULU: Elsa says her family had always told her that there was nothing really different about her. You know, "Your glasses are just a little thicker than other kids."

ELSA SJUNNESON: The hearing aids were just, you know, to help me a little bit.

[music stops]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I consistently would try things that were probably not a good idea.

LULU: Things like downhill skiing, horseback riding.

LULU: Oh, I'm looking at the screen. You've got an awesome sword.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Yeah. This is an early 20th-century German dress sword.

[sound of metal on metal]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I have been fencing since I was 9.

JAD: How does-how does that work? Wouldn't it be scary if you can't really see the swords and things?

ELSA SJUNNESON: Fencing is actually not about seeing a sword. You're dealing with the fact that you actually can feel tension in somebody else's blade.

LULU: Yeah. So anyway, Elsa as a kid was doing all this really rad stuff including, you know, the everyday adventures that any kid has in childhood, like climbing trees.

[music: classical guitar plucks here and there, slow, nostalgic]

ELSA SJUNNESON: There was this one tree in Ravenna Park in Seattle. [crickets, rustling leaves, bird chirps] It's enormous. Because of how big this tree was, a lot of light didn't filter through, so it was kind of a dark, hide-y place.

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I remember being able to sort of use one spot to kind of lift myself up.

LULU: She knew this tree really well, and knew every branch.

ELSA SJUNNESON: There was sort of a sloping tree bit.

LULU: And she would just go higher ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I remember it was a lot of sliding.

ELSA SJUNNESON: More like whole body contact with the tree.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Eventually, I could get all the way up to the top of the tree.

LULU: How did you feel there?

ELSA SJUNNESON: I felt safe there. It felt like an escape. So one day I was up in the tree, and then the sky opened.

[A rumble. The music swells, reminiscent of rain drops hitting a hard surface]

LULU: There was a huge rainstorm.

ELSA SJUNNESON: The tree had changed. The environment of the tree had changed.

[ominous shift in the music. deep groaning tones]

ELSA SJUNNESON: What if I slipped and now I can't figure out how to grab onto a different spot? And it was kind of like, "Well, how do I get down safely?"

LULU: And suddenly she got lost.

ELSA SJUNNESON: But the texture of the tree had changed. And everything about how I act with my space is about texture.

LULU: She did feel like she knew the world, but then you add rain, and then she's suddenly lost in this tree she knows so well.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I literally couldn't get out of the tree. There were things that I definitely didn't know the limits of until they sort of, smacked me in the face.

[Music builds to a single high-pitched string tone. Then cuts out]

LULU: She said her childhood was scattered with moments like these, moments no one else could really relate to, moments where she wished there was someone who got it. And she said this sense of frustration and loneliness with those frustrations really came to a head when her family moved to New York City ...

[bustling subway turnstiles, footsteps]

[bucket drumming. An increasingly cacophonous mix of pedestrians, trains, and a garbled PA announcement]

ELSA SJUNNESON: You know, in Seattle, my family drove me to school. But in New York, I was getting up every morning at 6:45 and getting on the subway.

[bucket drumming grows louder. Then stops.]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I would just stare at the ground.

[The soundscape blurs as a deep drone. Footsteps.]

ELSA SJUNNESON: Because otherwise I would trip and fall.

LULU: And so one morning, it's taking forever for her to get to school.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Like, with stairs I would stop at each step and shuffle my feet out and then I would take a step down.

LULU: And she arrives late to her classroom.

ELSA SJUNNESON: My English teacher stopped me at the door and she was like...

[music abruptly stops]

ELSA SJUNNESON: ...[mocking] "Elsa, I'd like to talk to you for a second about your classmate's essay. He wrote his essay about you and how he admires you, and I would like him to read it out loud in front of the class this morning."

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I'm just like, "Um, what?" [laughs]

LULU: She says, "Okay." Goes and takes her seat.

ELSA SJUNNESON: And he stands up in front of our class and reads his essay. And the first line of the essay is, "I admire Elsa because she's like Helen Keller."

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I just wanted to, like, sink several thousand feet below the surface of the Earth.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I mean, I think-I think I would have been embarrassed. Like, why are you making a big deal of me doing things that everybody else does? Like, everybody else goes on the subway, everybody else goes up and down the stairs at school. Why do you admire me for doing them?

LULU: Did you again have the, like, "And I'm nothing like her." Like, was there also that part of it? He's wrong?

ELSA SJUNNESON: I think it was even more like, "Oh, maybe I am a little bit like her."

[music: piano notes descend repetitively, off-balance.]

ELSA SJUNNESON: Like, I think it might have been the first time I started to realize that there could be something.

LULU: And for Elsa that thought was ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: Terrifying.

[music: deep foreboding bells layer in]

LULU: Because when she thought about what became of Helen Keller as an adult ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: She lives with her teacher and her teacher's husband. Was I just supposed to live with my parents and my grandparents? Like, what was I supposed to do?

[music: somber strings layer in]

LULU: The images Elsa had of Helen Keller's adult life painted a kind of nightmare for her. There was Helen Keller wearing pearls and smiling.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Holding a flower.

LULU: There she was, holding a book. There she was ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: Holding Anne Sullivan's hand. Sitting on Anne Sulivan's lap. As a grown up!

LULU: Slowly growing grayer and grayer.

ELSA SJUNNESON: It seems through the photos ...

LULU: Her smile getting wider and wider.

[Music grows in intensity]

ELSA SJUNNESON: She just becomes more and more of this very, like, staid artifact. Would you want to be compared to somebody whose entire monolithic mythology is about how she had to be taught how to conform?

[music fades out]

LULU: But at the same time, Elsa said that Helen Keller was basically the only role model that she could find for how to be Deafblind. And so she figured to finally free herself from this ghost, from the possibility of ending up with a life like hers is she would run in exactly the opposite direction-doing things that did not conform.

ELSA SJUNNESON: You know, in high school, my PE was stage combat and Lindy Hop, which uses a lot of aerials.

LULU: Things she figured Helen Keller would never do.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I marched. I learned how to be on the front line during the Iraq war protests. Even though I like swords.

LULU: Oh my God, you cannot get away from the nerdery in your story. [laughs]

ELSA SJUNNESON: [laughs] I don't believe governments should be blowing each other up.

LULU: She got deep into activism, anti-war stuff, giving speeches in her high school classes about how the government was failing folks with AIDS, secretly handing out condoms on the campus of a Catholic university.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Like, "I'm sorry, you have a bunch of horny undergrads. You cannot actually control them."

LULU: Speaking of which ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: Um, I have a "Mad-Eye" Moody routine that I wrote for a Harry Potter burlesque show.

LULU: In her 20s, she started performing burlesque.

LULU: Wait what was the routine?

ELSA SJUNNESON: It's to the Florence and the Machine song, "Girl With One Eye."

LULU: Hold on. I don't know if I know this song, so I'm just gonna play it really quick to get a quick sense, so I can get in the zone.

["Girl with one Eye" plays. A yearning indie rock guitar strums.]

SONG: [Soulfully] "I took a knife and cut out her eye"... [fades down]

LULU: Oh! Okay, cool. All right, so I'm there. Okay, so like ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: I come out on stage in a gray-silver wig and my actual master's robes. They're black, and then they have purple sparkly doctoral stripes, which I bedazzled the hell out of.

SONG: "...Girl with one eye."

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I take off the master's robes and I'm wearing an evening gown underneath. I pour myself a glass of champagne, I take off the rest of my clothes, and the end of the act is not actually taking off my bra or my underwear, the end of the act is when I take out my prosthetic eye, dropping the plastic shell into a glass of champagne and then drinking the champagne.

[music builds, cymbals crashing]

LULU: Oh my God! Did people just ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: They lost it.

[song swells and stops]

LULU: All right. I'm gonna just leave you there with that for a moment, and when we come back ...

JAD: Okay. That's quite an image.

LULU: [laughs] Yeah. Just take that in. When we come back, just at this moment where Elsa believes she has finally stamped out the ghost of Helen Keller from her life, the real Helen Keller comes a-knockin'.

JAD: Ooh. The real Helen Keller.
***
LULU: Okay, so boop! Back from break.

JAD: And yeah, I guess, take us forward, Lulu.

LULU: All right. So picking back up with Elsa, she's now living in New Jersey, she's married. She's been married for how long, Elsa?

ELSA SJUNNESON: We've been married for seven years.

LULU: She's teaching college writing classes by day.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Humanities 101 and 102.

LULU: Dancing swing and tango by night. You know, living her anti-Helen Keller dream life. When one morning in the fall of 2019, Helen Keller reappears in her life in the strangest way.

ELSA SJUNNESON: My routine was that every morning I would walk into the student center with my guide dog and pick up a coffee or a tea at the school cafe.

LULU: And there was one of those little bookshelves with free books on it that you can grab underneath the bar while you're ordering your coffee.

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I remember very clearly my guide dog was, [chuckles fondly] like, nosing at the shelf.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I was waiting for my chai latte and I'm like, "What are you doing? Can you please stop trying to eat books?"

LULU: And then according to her, he noses this one book off the shelf.

LULU: And when she brings it up closer to her eyes, she realizes it's The Miracle Worker! [music: gentle, twinkling metallic swell]

LULU: Yeah. Of course, the famous play based on Helen Keller's life. Not written by her, but based on her life.

LULU: But that's what she's ...

LULU: So-so yeah, so the dog noses this book off the shelf, and Elsa looks at it.

ELSA SJUNNESON: The back cover reads: "The wild animal. Deaf, blind and mute, 12-year-old Helen Keller was like a wild animal, scared out of her wits, but still murderously strong. She clawed and struggled against all who tried to help her." I was like, what is this? This is horrifying!

LULU: And she's like "Ugh!" This description is so extreme.

ELSA SJUNNESON: It was like looking at a train crash. I couldn't put it down.

LULU: And so she didn't. She takes it with her because she basically wants to go hate read it.

LULU: So once she's done with her classes, she goes to a bar.

ELSA SJUNNESON: So it was me and a copy of The Miracle Worker and a guide dog sleeping on my feet.

LULU: She's got a drink by her side, and she's, like, hunched over this book with her thick glasses and the magnifier up to her eyes.

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I just started, like, reading the script.

[music: soft, cascading classic movie strings]

LULU: And so she reads through these over-the-top scenes of first, Helen's parents discovering their little baby has gotten sick and gone deaf and blind.

LULU: And then little Helen growing up into just this wild animal.

JAD: So I remember this from the movie, yeah.

LULU: Totally. She charges at her friend with scissors.

LULU: And she overturns her little sister's crib. And when Anne Sullivan arrives, she's ...

LULU: ... totally resistant.

ELSA SJUNNESON: And kicking things over and breaking plates and throwing food, and trying to run away from Annie, and trying to unlock the door.

LULU: Elsa says the stage directions for how the actress was supposed to play Helen had her literally acting ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: Like a dog.

LULU: This goes on for pages and pages and pages, until finally ...

LULU: The climatic scene at the water pump.

LULU: And then guess what?

[music: classic movie strings, building sincerity and drama]

[movie music crescendos and stops abruptly]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I was, like, taking pictures of the script and sending it to my crib partner being like, "What the F is this? I never did this. No Deafblind person I know has ever done this."

LULU: And as she's sitting there, she's thinking ...

[music: slow pulsing chimes]

ELSA SJUNNESON: This just doesn't seem right to me.

LULU: And suddenly it hits her that she's never actually read anything that Helen Keller herself has written.

[music: shimmering develops into a soft, forward-moving beat.]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I kind of was like, "Well, if I'm pissed about this book, I probably need to really go back and reframe how I feel about her."

LULU: So what did you do? Like, what-how did you research her?

LULU: So fast forward a few months ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: That was such a weird fall.

[music builds]

LULU: Elsa's marriage had been going through a rough patch that fall. So by early winter ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: I was like, "Well, okay. I'm moving to Seattle." And like two months later, there was a pandemic and I was in a 250-square-foot cottage with a dog and my mother.

LULU: And looking around at how her adult life was suddenly unfolding, she was like ...

[music: wispy strings come in, gentle tension]

ELSA SJUNNESON: This is exactly what I was afraid of.

LULU: And so not exactly sure the path forward, one day ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: I ended up just sort of-I remember I picked up Helen Keller's autobiography, finally. Like ...

[music starts to soar]

LULU: Ready to learn more about who she was, according to her.

LULU: These are Helen's words, which are gonna be read by a voice actress for the rest of the piece.

LULU: And a couple things struck Elsa almost immediately.

LULU: First of all, the idea of Helen Keller being totally cut off from the world before Anne showed up? Not true.

[music cuts out]

ELSA SJUNNESON: She had her own signs before Annie Sullivan showed up.

LULU: Yeah. So she had a sign for "Mom," and she had a sign for "Dad." The sign for her dad was just to put, like, imaginary glasses onto her face. And the sign for her favorite aunt was bonnet strings. Like, she would tie imaginary bonnet strings if she wanted her aunt.

LULU: And she had a sign for ice cream!

ELSA SJUNNESON: Yeah. I want ice cream. So I shiver.

LULU: Shiver her shoulders like this?

LULU: [laughs] That's so good.

LULU: As Elsa reads it, Helen was reaching out all along, trying to connect. And, you know, the wild animal thing, the Helen Keller of her own words was a girl who wandered the world, apologizing to dogs when she tripped over their tails. And, like, the scissor thing? She was just cutting her friend's hair.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Like, she wasn't a monster. She was, like, out there being a child.

LULU: And as Elsa keeps reading, she starts noticing these odd similarities.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Her first short story that she writes is actually science fiction.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Yeah. It's about fairies. Like, it's fantasy.

LULU: And Elsa, very early in reading this autobiography, stumbles across this very eerie scene.

ELSA SJUNNESON: A moment when she was climbing a tree.

LULU: Which I'm gonna read you a part of. Okay? Okay. She is describing this one particular tree, a cherry tree, not far from her house. All right. "The tree was so easy to climb that with my teacher's assistance, I was able to scramble to a seat in the branches."

[music: gentle airey tones]

[music concludes]

JAD: Whoa! It's like a pre-echo.

ELSA SJUNNESON: It was basically a mirror image to my own experience of climbing trees.

LULU: And this is really her through-the-rabbit-hole moment ...

[music: spirited orchestral waltz]

LULU: ... where she just starts wanting to find out everything she can about Helen Keller's life. So she gets these scholarly biographies, she reads letters and essays that Helen Keller published. And pretty quickly starts to realize the real Helen Keller led a very different life than Elsa could have ever imagined.

LULU: So we're now in early 1900s. Helen gets into Radcliffe College, which is like the womens' college at Harvard. And as she's there, she kind of gets in with these young academic progressives. She talks about these evenings where they're popping popcorn and drinking cider and talking about ideas and philosophers.

LULU: And so Elsa's reading all this, and she's like, "Wait a second!"

ELSA SJUNNESON: This is where my dislike of her does start to break down.

[music: dramatic solo violin waltz]

LULU: She gets so into socialism that she starts corresponding with socialist party leaders and writing all of these socialist texts. She hangs a big red flag in her office.

ELSA SJUNNESON: As a self-identified socialist, it made me pretty happy. [laughs]

LULU: And she starts writing about disability in all these super radical ways, saying that society is what causes disability and therefore society must change. And even though her dad was a former slaveowner, she is a huge public supporter of the NAACP, donates money.

[music concludes]

And wait, what was I just gonna tell you? What was I just gonna tell you? Brain? Brain?

LULU: Oh, yeah. At a certain point, the FBI starts keeping this big case file on her. Like, we looked through her case file. I mean, they were tracking letters she was writing to jailed dissidents.

[music resumes]

LULU: And then she helps to form the ACLU. And right around this time, Andrew Carnegie-famous industrialist-offers to pay her this fat pension. And she writes him back.

LULU: Totally turning down the offer.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I really, really admired the fact that, at a time when that was not popular, she said what she believed anyway.

LULU: And then she makes this weird movie that's called Deliverance that she stars in. And the day it comes out, the actors go on strike and so she boycotts her own premiere. [laughs]

[music trills out]

LULU: And she even gets a taste for the bright lights of the stage.

[music: "Star of Happiness" instrumental. Soft, romantic piano.]

LULU: In her early 40s, she begins performing on vaudeville. The song playing behind us is a song that was written just for her act, which partially involved her and Anne Sullivan telling the story about how she learned language-the kind of mythic, sanitized version you know.

[music fades out]

LULU: But then, toward the end of the act, Helen Keller would step forward and take questions from the audience. I'll just read you a transcript of a couple of them. Okay?

LULU: "What is your age?" "Between 16 and 60."

LULU: [mimics old-timey vocal intonation] "What do you think is the most important question before the country today?"

LULU: [continues to ham it up] "How to get a drink."

LULU: "Can you see any way out of our troubles?" [jokey voice] "Have you thought of divorce?" [laughs]

LULU: So she's like, kinda funny. And then-okay, and then it kind of dips into political things. So question: "Do you believe that spiritualism is the cure for the world's troubles?" Keller: "No, I think the world's troubles are caused chiefly by wrong economic conditions, and the only cure for them is in social reorganization."

LULU: And there was one more pretty significant detail about Helen's life that Elsa came across in a book by historian Kim Nielsen.

KIM NIELSEN: Keller fell in love.

LULU: This is Nielsen, who found unpublished journal entries and essays that helped her piece together this handsome figure that strode into Helen's life when she was in her 30s.

[music: longing electric guitar, mellow and soft, with a little bit of rock and roll]

KIM NIELSEN: And he was a young man who knew how to finger spell, so they could communicate directly, right? There were not a lot of-what-dating eligible men who knew how to finger spell.

LULU: So he is one of the few people who doesn't have to go through Anne Sullivan.

ELSA SJUNNESON: That just fills me with so much glee that she had that. [laughs]

LULU: And just think about that. Like, think about how hot it would be after a lifetime of being excluded from people talking to be in this way that excluded everybody else.

LULU: Like, imagine sitting at, like, a conference table at some formal event and then just like ...

[Bluesy electric guitar melody cries out]

LULU: ... saying whatever you want in your silent language that uses touch.

[music: mellow bluesy melody cries out again, ends on a long note]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I was so sad that I hadn't read this earlier. I felt this ache because I could see myself in the pages of this book, and I was seeing-I saw more as I read more of it, but just, I felt a profound loss that I hadn't been able to access this before.

LULU: Why would knowing all that about her when you were a little girl have helped? Or what would that have given you?

ELSA SJUNNESON: It would have given me an actual role model.

LULU: So I know we need to stop for today, but let's just imagine this is a stop in a Radiolab episode. What's coming up after the break?

ELSA SJUNNESON: What's coming after the break is how Helen Keller is not all bright and shiny. Once I started doing research, I discovered that there was a dark side to Helen Keller that I was gonna have to deal with too.

LULU: Helen Keller is the topic of today's Radiolab. So picking back up ...

LULU: We left off when Elsa, a Deafblind woman, was just starting to really fall in love with Helen Keller, have all this kind of admiration and connection with her. But then she stumbles across something that Helen Keller wrote in 1915.

LULU: So at this point, Helen is in her mid-30s. And the backdrop is that there is this very famous medical case going on.

ELSA SJUNNESON: The Bollinger Baby case, which happened in Chicago. Basically, an infant was born with severe physical disabilities, and the doctor allowed the baby to die, and basically convinced the parents that that was the best choice because that child couldn't possibly live a good life.

LULU: And it became a huge national controversy.

ELSA SJUNNESON: People were calling the hospital. Like, people were involved.

LULU: So Helen Keller enters the fray. And she is now a super famous person, and everyone's kind of wondering what she's gonna say.

ELSA SJUNNESON: So Helen Keller weighs in like a month after the baby died. We have a letter that she wrote for The New Republic, and I'm going to read you part of her letter.

ELSA SJUNNESON: "It seems to me that the simplest, wisest thing to do ..."

LULU: This public letter goes on to suggest in this very flowery, erudite language ...

LULU: That when a baby is born with disabilities, a jury of doctors should be called in, and if the baby doesn't measure up to their standards ...

LULU: They should vote to let that baby die.

[music: gentle airey tones]

ELSA SJUNNESON: "They would act only in the cases of true idiocy, where there could be no hope of mental development." [voice breaks]

LULU: Were you just thirsty there? What was happening with your voice?

ELSA SJUNNESON: Uh, no. I was angry. Like, did you really have to write that letter? Like, why-why?

LULU: Elsa was just at a complete loss, wondering how is this same Helen Keller who was just years before saying society has to do better for disabled people, now publically-and in private writing around the same time-making a case for eugenics?

[music concludes]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I was horrified. I actually had one of those moments when your blood kind of runs cold. [laughs]

LULU: And it was shortly after reading that that the whole TikTok conspiracy theory bubbled up into her world.

LULU: And so she found herself newly resistant to defend Helen Keller.

LULU: But also wanting to call out the TikTokers for saying things that were not true. And so she came to us authentically lost, wanting to use reporting to figure out both how to feel about Helen Keller in her own heart, but also to just legitimately understand how Helen Keller came to want to remove disability from the world.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Well I just-I want to understand why.

[music: Orchestral pizzicato and piano. Cyclical. Suggests discovery.]

ELSA SJUNNESON: So I'm going to go find some people and see if I can get any of them to talk to me on the record.

LULU: So Elsa and I set out on a months'-long journey.

[phone ringing]

GEORGINA KLEEGE: Hi, I'm Georgina Kleege.

HABEN GIRMA: My name's Haben Girma.

JAIPREET VIRDI: I'm Jaipreet Virdi.

KATIE BOOTH: Katie Booth.

KIM NIELSEN: Kim Neilsen.

LYDIA X. Z. BROWN: Lydia X. Z. Brown.

LULU: Come with us on our adventure!

LULU: We talked to people who have spent years with Helen Keller's words.

JAIPREET VIRDI: Helen Keller was never a hero of mine. Even as a child, it was like, "Cool story. Good for her."

LULU: People who swim through her archives.

KIM NIELSEN: I'm a historian at the University of Toledo.

SUE PILKILTON: Sue Pilkilton. Executive director of the Helen Keller birthplace.

LULU: People who wander the rooms in Helen Keller's childhood home.

SUE PILKILTON: Located in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

LULU: How long have you been working there?

LYDIA X. Z. BROWN: Just say it. She advocated eugenics. That's fucked up.

LULU: We talked to people who hate her.

SUE PILKILTON: We don't focus on that.

LULU: Who really love her.

SUE PILKILTON: We try to focus on the positive.

LULU: And those in between who are just trying to understand why ...

[Music shifts, more probing]

LULU: ... Helen Keller, arguably the most famous disabled person in the history of the world, advocated for eugenics.

LYDIA X. Z. BROWN: Am I allowed to just scream into the void right now?

[music stops with echo]

HABEN GIRMA: It's not the full story.

LULU: Somewhere along the way, Elsa and I had this conversation with Haben Girma.

HABEN GIRMA: I'm a human rights lawyer, speaker and author. So I am known as the first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School.

LULU: Elsa had known Haben online for a while, but this was the first time they'd ever talked directly.

HABEN GIRMA: To know what's being said, to know what Elsa is saying, I have a typist who's typing what Elsa says. I'm reading it in braille and then responding by voice.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Great. All right.

LULU: And Haben told us that, after the Bollinger case, later in Helen's life ...

HABEN GIRMA: She did change her mind and come out against eugenics.

ELSA SJUNNESON: Did she, though?

[Clacking of Haben's typist in background]

ELSA SJUNNESON: I still haven't found hard proof of that, other than comments that I've seen where people have said that she changed her mind. And I want to see more.

HABEN GIRMA: Understandable.

LULU: So we dug and dug and dug and dug, and eventually we did find two different documents that both come about 20 years later, so when Helen Keller's in her late 50s. And the first one was that she wrote a letter to the former editor of the New York Times saying America needed to change its eugenicist immigration policies so that disabled people could escape the Nazis and find safe harbor in the US.

LULU: And then that same year, 1938, there was another huge case involving a baby. And this time it was a little girl named Helaine Colan, who in order to live, the doctors were gonna have to remove her eyes. And her parents weren't sure what to do. And this time, when Helen Keller weighed in, she said ...

JAD: Wow. Okay. So your sense from those two documents is that she did change her mind?

LULU: Well, that was like-that was kinda my sense, but then Elsa ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: So it definitely sounds like she changed her mind, but we also see her with more empathy toward Blind kids than we do toward physically disabled kids or Deaf kids or toward people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

LULU: Yeah. Like it's only worth it ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: It's only worth it if they're smart.

LULU: She said that this is one of the ways that Helen Keller haunts all of us today, because those beliefs that certain lives are worth less than others are still with us in our laws, our policies, and that could have been a moment where an influential, beloved celebrity challenged the thinking enough to set society off on a different course.

HABEN GIRMA: I don't blame Helen Keller. It's complicated.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I see you being very protective of Helen. And I know that in our community, there are people who don't like her. Have you ever been asked if you're being too soft on her?

HABEN GIRMA: [laughs] No, I don't think so. Do you think I'm too soft on Helen?

ELSA SJUNNESON: I don't-I don't know. I mean, I think eugenics is a pretty hard line for me.

HABEN GIRMA: So Helen supported eugenics, then realized it was wrong and advocated against it. Are you saying you've never made a mistake in your life? You've never supported the wrong thing and then realized, "Wait a minute, that's terrible. I'm not supporting that anymore?"

ELSA SJUNNESON: No, I'm not. I'm saying I wish she hadn't, which I think is a little different.

LULU: Haben says she shares Elsa's disappointment.

HABEN GIRMA: She supported eugenics, which is horrible and terrible. But one thing I do have to point out is this was back in around 1915. A different world.

LULU: But she couldn't not consider the time during which Helen wrote some of these things. As Haben pointed out, this was the height of the eugenics movement. Universities were teaching pro-eugenics courses. More and more states were passing sterilization laws. This was just the backdrop to Helen's life. And it was also in the foreground.

HABEN GIRMA: She was in deeply ableist circles. If you're in certain circles and you hear things over and over again, you start to believe it.

LULU: And the person with maybe the biggest influence on her in this regard was her very, very close friend ...

[Analog telephone bell ringing]

ELSA SJUNNESON: Yeah, who most non-disabled people know of as the man who invented the telephone, but Deaf people know him as the man who tried to erase us.

JAIPREET VIRDI: Bell denounced this idea of interdeaf marriages because he believed it would create a deaf variety of the human race.

LULU: That's Jaipreet Virdi.

JAIPREET VIRDI: Historian of medicine, technology and disability.

KATIE BOOTH: He's advocating for fewer Deaf children to be born.

LULU: Writer Katie Booth.

KATIE BOOTH: And he is not listening to the pushback where people are saying, "What? Like, so what if we have Deaf babies? What's wrong with Deaf babies?"

LULU: The two of them explained just how intimate a part of Helen's life Bell was.

JAIPREET VIRDI: Alexander Graham Bell had a tremendous influence on Helen Keller.

LULU: They first met when she was just six years old, when he helped her get in touch with Anne Sullivan. And then they stayed really close. He became almost like a grandpa to her.

KATIE BOOTH: He was a mentor to her. She dedicated The Story of My Life to him.

LULU: But all the while, he's coaching her on these ideas, sometimes literally finger spelling them into her palm, that people born deaf are inferior in some way unless they could learn to speak using their mouths.

JAIPREET VIRDI: For Bell, speech was the ultimate marker for assimilation. Bell really suppressed sign language acquisition for a lot of Deaf people.

LULU: And Helen didn't really challenge him on that. She tried for years to succeed by his standard of speaking with her oral voice.

KATIE BOOTH: She did. She wanted to learn to speak. Other people did not want her to.

LULU: And there's also evidence of her ignoring requests from Deaf organizations to collaborate.

JAIPREET VIRDI: The Deaf community in 20th century did feel abandoned by Helen Keller.

JAD: Oh, wow. I did not know that.

LULU: Yeah, I didn't either. And the more we kept learning about her life, the more we saw the ways that her beliefs about disability would circle back onto her.

LULU: So do you remember Helen's boyfriend, Peter?

LULU: Things got so serious that they got engaged.

LULU: And they went and took out their marriage license.

LULU: And then, when Helen's family heard the news, everything exploded. They questioned Peter's intentions and they chased him off-at one point with a gun.

LULU: Yeah. And Helen, after resisting a little bit, never really pushed back.

LULU: Yeah. And writer Katie Booth made sense of why she didn't fight harder to be with him by pointing us to something Helen wrote a few years later.

KATIE BOOTH: She writes about it in Midstream, her book.

LULU: A piece of writing that Elsa had never seen before.

[music slowly fades in: Gentle harp, ethereal, aching, floating in fog.]

ELSA SJUNNESON: Hearing that just punches me in the chest. It is like a direct hit to the chest. I don't know any other way of putting it. Because she clearly had been told that no one would want her.

LULU: And this was actually the first moment that Elsa said, "And I get that." Because she was like, "Because I, in some deep, hard place in me, feel that too."

ELSA SJUNNESON: Being a burden is the thing that I struggle with the most. It started for me as just being scared that I was gonna be too much for people. But as I learned more about the world-and I think as Helen Keller learned more about the world-I learned more about the ways that I was viewed as a burden. And maybe it's not said about you directly, but people talk about disabled people being burdens on society all the time. Social security is a burden. Medicare is a burden. And those things stack up in your mind.

LULU: Elsa said this moment in our reporting journey was a huge turning point for her because she finally realized just how badly Helen Keller thought about herself. And once she could see that, it became clear to Elsa how that view of herself drove one of the biggest decisions in her life.

[music transitions to 'The Star of Happiness' soft, romantic piano]

LULU: A decision that may be the key to why we were all left with a mythic, sanitized version of the Helen Keller story.

LULU: And to explain, for our final stop on this journey, we are gonna head back to Helen's vaudeville stage show that she did. [noise from a crowd] She's become kind of a legend on the stage. Her shows are selling out. She was making so much money that her family would rib her about it. And by many accounts, she was loving it.

[distant applause]

LULU: She loved the huge audiences, the travel, the other performers, who included jugglers and frog-eaters and stand-up comedians and singers.

LULU: And then quite abruptly she quits.

[Music and applause cut out]

LULU: Even though vaudeville begs her to say, she takes a job with the AFB.

KIM NIELSEN: The American Foundation for the Blind. And they ask Keller to work for them.

LULU: Kim Nielsen says that it's an organization that's done incredible work raising money for people who are Blind, but Helen Keller's role in many ways, was to be a spokesperson for them, and to tell her story of overcoming disability.

[music: lilting harp]

LULU: This is her actual oral voice.

LULU: And that version of her made dollar bills roll in.

KIM NIELSEN: She became a really effective political lobbyist and fundraiser.

LULU: But what wasn't a great fundraising technique was her talking about her socialist beliefs.

SUSAN CRUTCHFIELD: She was the darling of the American masses as long as she played her part correctly and, you know, didn't bring too many of her politics into her public engagements.

LULU: And in that way, Susan Crutchfield, a disability researcher, said that Helen Keller had to muzzle herself.

SUSAN CRUTCHFIELD: And she always had to have that persona that would appeal to the folks who would donate money to the cause.

[Harp music becomes more prominent]

SUE PILKILTON: Oh, here's the pump. You gotta have a photo of that.

LULU: She even allowed for others to take over her childhood home in Alabama.

SUE PILKILTON: Can you imagine? Now this is the pump where Helen learned her first word: "Water."

LULU: And turn it into a sort of museum of the miracle story.

SUE PILKILTON: This pump speaks many languages.

LULU: Where they lead tour groups to the water pump, and perform The Miracle Worker every summer, and pump out this sanitized version of her story.

SUE PILKILTON: You know, our story here is about her young life and the things that she accomplished. So, you know, that's about all we can say.

[music concludes: uneasy pang]

LULU: What Kim Nielsen and Sue Crutchfield helped us realize was that, in this weird way, Helen Keller herself created the Helen Keller myth. The day that she walked away from vaudeville was the day that she began hiding away all the colorful, complicated sides of herself: the radical political views and the romance and the wisecracks, and left us with a lie.

SUE PILKILTON: We have the miniature statues of Helen Keller. We have a great magnet that has one of her sayings on it. That's a big seller for us. And of course we have a DVD, The Miracle Worker, the original black and white version.

JAD: Why would she tell-why would she do that when she had such a funner, more interesting life?

LULU: Well, we can't ever really know for sure, but Sue Crutchfield found a pretty good clue.

SUSAN CRUTCHFIELD: This is from a letter that she wrote to her mother in the '20s where Helen said, "The truth is, mother ..."

SUSAN CRUTCHFIELD: "She" meaning Anne was not happy in vaudeville. And then Helen goes on to say, "I ..."

SUSAN CRUTCHFIELD: But Anne Sullivan's health at that point in 1924 is just declining.

SUSAN CRUTCHFIELD: And they had to arrive at some kind of compromise.

LULU: And the compromise they came to was Helen Keller walking away.

JAD: That doesn't feel like a compromise, that feels like a-wow. You feel like Helen Keller, at this point, should just have her career. I mean ...

LULU: Yeah. [laughs] I think when I first heard about this decision I was thinking about how close Helen and Anne had become in their later years. I mean, Helen writes all these beautiful things about the value and power of friendship. And so when I was talking to Elsa about it ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: When you have a disability, casting off the people who are the most supportive of you and who help take care of you is a really dangerous thing to do. It's even more dangerous in the time period that Helen Keller lived in. And I think that's what happened with Helen, is that she couldn't bear to lose this person.

ELSA SJUNNESON: And so she did feel obliged, even though it wasn't right for her. And I think that that was the choice that Helen had to make over and over again in her life. She didn't get married. And that was something that I think, reading between the lines, she wanted. And that was taken away from her. And vaudeville it sounds like was another thing that she didn't get to do because of the same people.

LULU: So where I'm la-de-da-ing on friendship, you see a kind of gnarly and unappealing obligation.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I think that Helen Keller really had to sacrifice a lot of her happiness for the people that she said she loved.

LULU: Which was something Elsa knew a little bit about too.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I had been thinking about leaving my marriage for a long time. And I couldn't do it. I kept thinking, "But what about the insurance?" I had all these "but what abouts" because I felt like I was too vulnerable to leave the safety net.

LULU: So she kept not doing it until one morning, after a string of bad months.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I'd been really, really frustrated with feeling like I was a burden all the time on my partner.

[music: gentle, long notes]

LULU: Elsa decides to just ignore the voice telling her she wouldn't be able to make it on her own.

ELSA SJUNNESON: It is four o'clock in the morning, and my alarm goes off. And my guide dog, Astra, is wagging his tail at me. He's like, "We're ready to go!" And I pick up my suitcase and I walk down the stairs. [a double-bass gently plays] And I ordered my Uber, and I can feel my heart pounding in my chest because I'm leaving.

LULU: She gets to the airport.

ELSA SJUNNESON: And I check my bag, and I walk with my dog through security. I hate TSA with the fiery passion of someone who has no sight in one eye and can't hear very well. And I remember that they had to pat me and the dog down. And I'm fumbling my ID. Like, I can't find things. They're talking at me, I can't hear them. And I can feel all of the fears in my body about whether or not people will be able to support me or whether I'll be able to support myself. And ...

LULU: She keeps walking through the blurry airport onto the plane, trying to push down that voice, the one that Helen Keller had too.

ELSA SJUNNESON: It does sneak in. It does show up in certain places. It's really hard.

LULU: She bumped into it as she began to build her new life in Seattle. It could come up when she was job hunting or when she was inviting a new love interest over to her apartment for a home-cooked meal. She said that voice can ...

ELSA SJUNNESON: Lurk in the kitchen with me and tell me that, like, I'm not good at cooking. And ...

LULU: And every time that voice comes up, she has to choose to ignore it.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I'm still working through it. It's a daily practice. It takes time to undo it.

[music: upbeat shuffling percussion and resonant mallets]

LULU: All right, so where does things stand with Helen Keller now that you can see her clearly? Like, did this work? Do you feel like you've reconciled or that you're able to move past her? Or do you feel like you're just tethered, or-I don't know.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I really wish that I could get a Oujia board and make her go away.

ELSA SJUNNESON: But I don't think I can. I think that that's one of the curses of being a Deafblind woman is that I do have this ghost hanging over my shoulder. And she is a complicated ghost. She is not gonna let go of her unfinished business.

ELSA SJUNNESON: I don't think that there's ever going to be a clean or easy way to exorcize.

LULU: Hey, what are you-before-I mean, it's been a year since we first sat down together. I mean, what are you working on now, just in your own writing?

ELSA SJUNNESON: I've been working on a project for a while. It's early stages right now, but it is a horror story based on The Miracle Worker.

LULU: [laughs] No way! Why horror?

ELSA SJUNNESON: When people thrust their perception of how you should be onto you, that is horror.

[music becomes more suspenseful]

LULU: So is this just kind of like, if you can't beat 'em, haunt 'em? Like, are you just haunting her back?

ELSA SJUNNESON: [laughs] Maybe.

LULU: Is anyone gonna get murdered?

ELSA SJUNNESON: Oh, probably. [laughs]

[snippet of Ludacris rapping: "Move bitch, get out the way, get out the..."]

[music shifts suddenly, jazzy and smooth: "Ohh.... ya don't know somebody until they're gone."]

[music shift again, touch of suspense]

ELSA SJUNNESON: If you're coming to me with the source material that's saying that somebody's murderously strong, and you want to make that person conform to your reality, someone's gonna die.

[music shifts again: jazz clarinet with dissonant tones and growls]

LULU: That'll do it. This episode was reported by Elsa Sjunneson and me. It was produced by Sindu Gnanasambandan and Rachael Cusick with help from Sarah Qari, Tanya Chawla and Carolyn McCusker, with sound and music from Jeremy Bloom and mixing help from Arianne Wack. LULU: A very special thanks to the talented Pamela Saba, who was the voice of Helen Keller. Thanks also to Julia Bascone, Desiree Coaches, Peter Kunz, Alexander Ritchie, Andrew Leland, Sara Luderman, Nate Jones, Nate Peerbaum, Will Healy, the pianist who resurrected Helen Keller's long lost vaudeville show tune from sheet music. Thanks also to the accessibility team: Eboni Gaytan, April Jackson, Annie Dieckman, Shannon Finnegan and braille transcriber, Sharon von See. Speaking of braille, alongside the transcripts we post for every episode, we have a braille transcript for this episode. It's right up on the episode page, so let folks know about it if they might be interested. We're always trying to become more accessible, so if you have thoughts on how to improve, please let us know.

LULU: A few books to shout out for this one. First and foremost, Kim Nielson's The Radical Lives of Helen Keller. It's a fascinating read, and we relied on it heavily to make this episode. Next up, Georgina Kleege's Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller. Elsa Sjunneson has a new memoir out called Being Seen: Beautiful, Troubling, Full of Snark. And finally, Katie Booth's The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness. We had a much longer conversation with Katie Booth about her personal connection to this topic. It became quite an emotional and stirring conversation. Flipped my brain around about a lot of stuff. And we are putting that up on The Lab, our members-only feed. So if you are a member, you can find that there. And if you are curious about becoming a member, go check out Radiolab.com/thelab . Wow, that was a lot of credits. If you made it all the way through, thanks for hanging out. We'll be back next week.
-30- New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of programming is the audio record.

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The Helen Keller Exorcism | Radiolab | WNYC Studios

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JAD ABUMRAD: Here I am, here I am. [singing to a jokey improvised tune] JAD: Lulu Miller, she's a killer. [now confused] JAD: Do you not hear me, Lulu? I hear you typing. [clacking stops] LULU MILLER: Oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm just-hold on.

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Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

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Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

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Care work focuses on the possibilities of disability justice through a collection of essays. It is a celebration of the leadership of Black, brown, disabled, sick, queer, and trans people's contributions to building community and resistance.

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Dreaming Disability Justice

Finalist, Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction

In their new, long-awaited collection of essays, Lambda Literary Award-winning writer and longtime disability justice activist and performance artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores the politics and realities of disability justice, a movement that centres the lives and leadership of sick and disabled queer, trans, Black, and brown people, with knowledge and gifts for all. Leah writes passionately and personally about creating spaces by and for sick and disabled queer people of colour, and creative "collective access" -- access not as a chore but as a collective responsibility and pleasure -- in our communities and political movements. Bringing their survival skills and knowledge from years of cultural and activist work, Piepzna-Samarasinha explores everything from the economics of queer femme emotional labour, to suicide in queer and trans communities, to the nitty-gritty of touring as a sick and disabled queer artist of colour.

Care Work is a mapping of access as radical love, a celebration of the work that sick and disabled queer/people of colour are doing to find each other and to build power and community, and a toolkit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient, sustainable communities of liberation where no one is left behind. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms.

Leah knows that the world we deserve is a world shaped by the honest, messy, skillful genius of disabled queer femmes of color. Reading this book allows you to live inside the gorgeous, uncomfortable, emergent, compassionate world that disabled femmes of color have been making all along. Leah cares for us all with this work, but not in the apologetic, default, mommy mode you may be trained to expect. This care is the survivor-sourced, survivor-accountable, saltysweet truthtelling we need to (guess what?) SURVIVE. -Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of M Archive and Spill, co-editor of Revolutionary Mothering

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha has written a brave and brilliant book that captures the messy gestation and wildly liberating vision of disability justice. With passionate integrity, she tells the collective story of a movement that transforms the idea of care into a force capable of unraveling all the braided injustices of our lives. -Aurora Levins Morales, author of Medicine Stories and Kindling: Writings On the Body

Page after page, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha documents the necessity, power, and sheer brilliance of disability justice. Be prepared for her words, stories, and political thinking to shake up what you know about care and access, revolutionary dreaming, and present-day resilience. -Eli Clare, author of Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure and Exile

We have mad crip dreams. In those dreams there exists a decolonized, liberated future in which none of our bodies and lives are disposable. With Care Work, Leah LakshmiPiepzna-Samarasinha reminds us that turning these dreams into radical practices have already been done, are happening right now within disability justice movements, and will continue to build a future where we are all free. This book is a touchstone for our journey. -Qwo-Li Driskill, author of Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory

An instant classic, Care Work is equal parts on-the-ground dispatch from the disability justice movement and practical field guide to liberatory access. Rather than something to be begrudgingly tacked on, accessibility, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha shows us, might be joyous and collective. - Smithsonian Magazine

As a Black disabled activist, cultural worker, and collector of art, books and music by people of color with disabilities for more than twenty years, I'm excited and thirsty for Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's Care Work. As one of the original thinkers of Disability Justice, I'm overjoyed that artists and activists like Leah are writing books like this one that helps water the roots of Disability Justice. This book is coming from the bed, the streets and on stages that Leah has spoke, taught, performed and struggled on -- thats why it's so accessible and brings lived knowledge into our outdated, stiff institutions and activist movements. In this era of hyper capitalism, toxic hypermasculinity, and White supremacy, we desperately need Care Work. -Leroy F Moore Jr. , co-founder of Sins Invalid, co-founder of National Black Disability Coalition

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice is a collection profoundly necessary at this moment . .. the essays share a fundamental hypothesis: to achieve social justice, ableism must be destroyed. Personal narratives and accounts of organizing are voiced from Black and brown and queer disabled people, radically reimagining the ways our society is structured, uplifting visions and models for care webs that create collective access. - Broadly (Best Books of the Year)

Leah writes brilliantly about sick/disabled/mad/neurodivergent genius, collective care work, and all-too-familiar patterns of abuse and trauma that happen even/especially in radical spaces/marginalized people's communities. Care Work is a necessary intervention for those in queer/trans people-of-color spaces and white disability spaces alike, but more importantly, it's an offering of love to all of us living at multiple margins, between spaces of recognition and erasure, who desperately need what Leah has to say. This book is an invitation to dream and to build and to love, as slowly and imperfectly and unevenly as we need to. -Lydia X. Z. Brown, co-editor of All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism

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Finalist, Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian NonfictionIn their new, long-awaited collection of essays, Lambda Literary Award-winning writer and longtime disability justice activist and performance artist Leah ...

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Skin Tooth and Bone- A Disability Justice Primer

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Skin Tooth and Bone- A Disability Justice Primer

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The Recently released Second Edition of Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People is a Disability Justice Primer based in the work of Patty Berne and Sins Invalid. The Disability Justice Primer offers concrete suggestions for moving beyond the socialization of ableism, such as mobilizing against police violence, how to commit to mixed ability organizing, and access suggestions for events.

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The Recently released Second Edition of Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People is a Disability Justice Primer based in the work of Patty Berne and Sins Invalid. The Disability Justice Primer offers concrete suggestions for moving beyond the socialization of ableism, such as mobilizing against police violence, how to commit to mixed ability organizing, and access suggestions for events. Skin, Tooth, and Bone offers analysis, history and context for the growing Disability Justice Movement. The Second Edition includes the addition of a section on Audism and Deafhood written and edited by members of the D/deaf community, and a Call to Action from Survivors of Environmental Injury, as well as disability justice timelines, an extensive glossary, and a resource list for learning more. Visit our store to purchase a downloadable interactive PDF or hard copy that you can hold in your hands!

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Skin, Tooth, and Bone: A Disability Justice Primer - Sins Invalid

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This primer offers analysis, history and context for the growing Disability Justice Movement, along with concrete suggestions for actions you can take.

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Disproportionate Identification of Students of Color in Special Education Research & Data

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Disproportionate Identification of Students of Color in Special Education Research & Data

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A review of data and research performed in 2016 designed to create equitable access for individuals with learning disabilities.

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RESEARCH

In Dec. 2016, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) finalized guidance and regulations to address racial and ethnic disparities in special education eligibility, placement, and school discipline and the commonly accepted fact that “…children of color with disabilities are overrepresented within the special education population” (King, 2016).

LDA advocates for policies and practices that will ensure each child is considered an individual with a unique set of circumstances and believes that racial, ethnic, language and economic factors should not create barriers to receiving the services and supports provided by the IDEA.

An LDA work group is in the final stages of publishing a new core principle document related to the disproportionate identification of students of color as having learning and other disabilities. As part of our continued conversation related to making equity accessible, this issue of LDA Today includes highlights from this work and related research.

Disproportionate Identification of Students of Color in Special Education

Debate over disproportionality has long focused on the over-representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education. The LDA work group shares that “disproportionate identification is complex, context dependent and the result of a number of factors”.

For example, studies often present data at the district level rather than the student level and may vary in how they adjust, or do not adjust, for family income or other student characteristics. The Brookings Report, “Race, poverty, and interpreting overrepresentation in special education” (Gordon, 2017), highlights that while district level data can help us understand how student experience is different by race, it does not really help us understand whether or not Black students have access to special education in a comparable fashion to white students.

This is starting to change. Research studies which control for student-level characteristics such as achievement, socioeconomic status and disability category are now being reviewed and published. “The conventional wisdom that blacks are over identified for special education may finally be losing ground among academics, but continues to influence public opinion and be reflected in federal law and policy” (Gordon, 2017). LDA is one group working to help our federal and state laws and policies change so special education can better serve all students.

In many situations, students of color are less likely than their white peers to be identified and to receive special education services, despite demonstrating similar levels of academic performance and behavior, even when attending the same schools.

Disproportionality

Disproportionality is the term often used to describe situations when a group’s representation in a particular disability category exceeds expectations. LDA’s work group explains that LDA’s position is that disproportionality in identification involves both under and over-identification of students of color. A number of researchers (Figlio, et. al., 2019; Fish, 2019; Shifrer, 2018; Shifrer, et. al., 2011) find that in many situations, students of color are less likely than their white peers to be appropriately identified and to receive high quality special education services, despite demonstrating similar levels of academic performance and behavior, even when attending the same schools. Black students may be placed in special education at a higher rate than their peers but there is evidence that they are more likely to be identified as intellectually disabled or behaviorally disordered rather than having a learning disability such as dyslexia or other conditions such as speech or language impairment or ADHD.

One story: One grandmother’s story of her grandchildren’s identification journey

Neurobiology

“The disproportionality literature consistently notes that children’s outcomes are causally affected by out-of-school factors such as poor nutrition, stress, and exposure to environmental toxins, and that exposure to these influences unduly affects poor children and children of color” (Gordon, 2017).  Prenatal and childhood healthcare, good nutrition, high-quality preschool education, and early intervention help improve outcomes for children (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard, 2016). Unfortunately, as the LDA work group points out, access to the very things that have been proven to contribute to healthy brain development continues to be inequitable. As noted in the report from The Brookings Institution:

Black children were three times as likely to live in poor families as white children in 2015. 12 percent of white and Asian children lived in poor families, compared with 36 percent of black children, 30 percent of Hispanic children, 33 percent of American Indian children, and 19 percent of others.

Food insecurity affects 23 percent of black-headed households and 19 percent of Hispanic-headed households, compared with 9 percent of households headed by whites.

Black children are over twice as likely to have elevated blood lead levels as whites, and low-income children over three times as likely as others.

The poor are more likely to live near hazardous waste sites.

Related: “America’s Toxic Schools”, an interview with University of Utah professor Sara Grineski

LDA’s Healthy Children Project is one way LDA works to address these inequities in our communities and schools. We believe that the number of individuals affected by learning disabilities can be reduced with effective, comprehensive prevention plans and we work to advocate for equitable access to high-quality healthcare, nutrition, and education for all children.

Referral

Cooc (2017) found that, when teachers compared white students and students of color with similar academic and behavioral profiles, teachers were less likely to consider the difficulties experienced by students of color as potentially the result of a disability. Teachers are often the referral source when children are evaluated for eligibility for special education services. The LDA work group emphasizes the importance of a diverse and well trained teaching staff in order to best serve the needs of all learners.  Unfortunately, as Kristina Scott, Ed. D. will explore further in the Education segment of this issue of LDA Today, our nation’s teaching workforce does not match the changing demographics in the United States.

Students of color (defined as students who are not Caucasian) make up over 52% of the public-school aged population, while only 20% of our current teaching workforce identify as teachers of color (McFarland et al. 2008). Research has shown that this is a concern and can play out in fairness in disciplinary actions, expectations of students, academic achievement levels, and drop out rates.

Dr. Scott’s article, “The Importance of Teacher Diversity”, will appear in the next segment of this issue of LDA Today.

What questions do you have about making equity accessible for individuals with learning disabilities? Do you have a resource to share related to research, education, advocacy or public policy related to equity and accessibility for individuals with learning disabilities? We’d love to hear from you: editor@ldaamerica.org.

This issue of LDA Today continued our conversations around building connections. The next segment of this issue will focus on making equity accessible and social justice in education.

We hope you are able to REAPP many benefits from this information and please know that we are glad you are here. Thank you for building connections with us!

Amy Barto, M.Ed., LDA Today Editor

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Disproportionate Identification of Students of Color in Special Education – Learning Disabilities Association of America

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In Dec. 2016, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) finalized guidance and regulations to address racial and ethnic disparities in special education eligibility, placement, and school discipline and the commonly accepted fact that “…children of color with disabilities are overrepresented…

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Segregation and Racial Gaps in Special Education

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Segregation and Racial Gaps in Special Education

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This study focuses on one potential driver of racial gaps in adulthood: special education identification.

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Racial segregation in U.S. schools has been illegal since the 1950s, but school enrollments remain stubbornly separate. About 70 percent of all Black students attend schools where more than half of students are non-white. By contrast, just 13 percent of white students attend predominately non-white schools. Such disparate enrollments mirror longstanding differences across racial groups in educational and economic outcomes, including Black-white gaps in educational achievement, wages, and economic mobility.

In this study, we focus on one potential driver of racial gaps in adulthood: special education identification. Research has consistently found that minority students are identified with disabilities at higher rates than white students, based on straightforward comparisons of classification rates across racial groups. Such comparisons are how federal special education law defines and regulates "disproportionality" in the share of students identified with a disability within schools and districts, which triggers increased monitoring and intervention by states.

But recent research has shown that the story becomes more complex when minority students are compared not to all white students, but to white students of similar socioeconomic status. These studies find that minority students are less likely than otherwise similar white students to be identified for special education. This finding raises the possibility that Black and Hispanic students may be less likely to receive the specialized services they need. Is "disproportionality," as it is typically understood and measured, the real problem? What role does school segregation play in special education rates?

We explore these questions by examining the birth records and eventual special education status of every child born in Florida between 1992 and 2002. The birth records capture both infant and maternal health, as well as demographics and economic circumstances, allowing us to compare students born into similar circumstances whose observable characteristics differ only by race and the racial compositions of their local schools.

Our results show that, by 4th grade, the disability rate among Black students is 13 percent lower than it would have been if they were identified at the same rate as white students born into similar economic and health circumstances. For Hispanics, the overall identification rate is 8 percent lower than what we would predict for similarly situated white students.

These gaps play out differently based on the racial composition of schools. Black and Hispanic students are placed in special education more often than their peers when they are in majority-white schools. But in predominately minority schools, when surrounded by other non-white students, Black and Hispanic students are less likely to be placed in special education. In 4th grade, a Black student attending school where more than 90 percent of students are minorities is roughly 9 percentage points less likely to be identified as disabled than an observationally identical Black student in a school with fewer than 10 percent minorities.

Our estimates suggest that minority students in heavily-minority school groups are underrepresented in special education relative to their underlying incidence of disability. While public debate has fixated on the harmful effects of too many Black and Hispanic students being identified as having special needs, our results echo the recent research suggesting that, in fact, too few minority students are being provided the educational services they need to thrive. Given ongoing public focus on equity and disproportionality, and the longstanding goal of closing gaps in educational achievement between white and non-white students, such widespread underrepresentation has substantial implications.
Mapping Special Education Rates to Newborn Characteristics
Roughly 6.4 million public-school students in the United States receive special education services annually, at an estimated cost of nearly $40 billion. Special education provides a vehicle for accommodations and, in many cases, treatment for students with learning disabilities. These services are established by each student's "individualized education plan," which outlines the services and accommodations to which the student is legally entitled under the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

The law requires the provision of a "free appropriate public education" to students with special needs. This phrase, and the wider law, is the lynchpin for special education services in the U.S. Nonetheless, states vary considerably in how they direct special education funding, the services provided, and how students are evaluated. In Florida, as in most states, identification for special education is jointly determined by parents and educators. The decentralized and subjective nature of this process means that there is likely a substantial amount of variability in identification relative to the underlying incidence of disability. Parents who are more active in their children's schooling could be more likely to advocate for special education services, for example, and teachers may differ in their propensity to identify disabilities.

Since 1997, the law has required states to address disproportionality in classification rates, which is defined based on ratios of identification rates for different racial groups in a school or district. For example, if 15 percent of Black students in a district are identified as disabled compared to 10 percent of white students, the law would measure disproportionality for Black students as 1.5. The law requires states to take action if districts show "significant disproportionality," which traditionally states themselves have defined. A 2016 update to the regulations implementing the law, which was delayed by the Trump administration but ultimately took effect last year, is intended to create a more uniform process for states to monitor, identify, and remedy disproportionality.

We focus our study on Florida based on a unique merger of student enrollment and classification information from the state department of education and birth records from the state bureau of vital statistics. The linked records include all children born from 1992 to 2002 who were enrolled in any Florida public school at any time from 1995-96 through 2012-13. We restrict our analysis to students observed in both kindergarten and 4th grade, leaving us with 869,000 students.

The birth-certificate data include a wealth of information about both child and maternal health status at birth and during the pregnancy. This includes a newborn's gender, race, birth weight, gestational age, Apgar scores assessing responsiveness at one and five minutes after birth, congenital anomalies, and abnormal conditions, as well as complications during delivery and the mother's prior births and pregnancy-related health diagnoses. The data also include demographic and economic characteristics, including the mother's marital status, educational attainment, race, and immigration status, as well as the language spoken at home and the zip code of residence when the child was born. For child's race, we exclude the small numbers of Asian/Pacific Islanders and Native Americans and examine only the gaps between white, Black, and Hispanic children. It is important to note that we must restrict our analyses to native-born children; this limitation is particularly consequential when estimating identification gaps for Hispanics, as we necessarily exclude a large portion of the Hispanic population who are immigrants.

The enrollment and classification data show whether students were identified as needing special education services. In addition to examining overall identification rates, we disaggregate students' diagnoses into six broad categories: intellectual disabilities; developmental delays and autism spectrum disorder; speech and language impairments; specific learning disabilities; physical disabilities; and other disabilities, which includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. We consider identification in both kindergarten and 4th grade, because they span most of elementary school and potentially capture different disability conditions.

In kindergarten, Black and Hispanic students have lower disability rates than white students (see Figure 1). But by 4th grade, white and Black students are roughly at parity, with Hispanic disability rates remaining slightly lower. When looking at different types of disabilities, we see that minorities are less likely than white students to be identified for speech and language impairment, but more likely to be identified with a specific learning disability, such as dyslexia. Other conditions do not substantially vary across races in kindergarten, but by 4th grade Black students have substantially higher intellectual and "other" disability rates than both whites and Hispanics.

Our data also reveal important differences between students by race at birth. For example, relative to white and Hispanic students, the average birthweight of Black students is 6-7 percent lower. In a separate analysis of this data, we found that children with lower birthweights are more likely to be diagnosed with disabilities throughout elementary school. A birthweight deficit of this size implies an increase of 0.8 percentage points in disability rates, providing an initial indication that disparities in health endowments across race and ethnicity may play an important role in special education gaps.
Explaining Special Education Gaps
In this analysis, our primary interest lies in assessing the extent to which racial differences in classification for special education can be "explained" by differences in students' economic, social, and health characteristics at birth. We start by analyzing the relationship between these characteristics and classification rates for white students only. We then use those results to calculate predicted special education placement rates for Black and Hispanic students in light of their demographic and health characteristics. Finally, we compare the predicted and actual identification rates for Black and Hispanic students. These "unexplained" classification gaps tell us how much higher or lower we would expect the classification rate for minority students to be if they were identified at a rate similar to white students with the same characteristics.

Our analysis reveals that Black students are underrepresented in special education relative to observably similar white students. Hispanic students are similarly underrepresented in kindergarten, but this identification gap narrows by 4th grade.

For Black students, 9 percent of kindergarteners are classified, compared to 11.6 percent of white students. If Black students were classified at the same rate as white students with the same observable characteristics, 12.5 percent would be identified as needing special education-an unexplained gap of 38 percent (see Figure 2). In 4th grade, the overall classification rates of Black and white students are similar, at 15.7 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively. But if Black students were classified at the same rate as comparable white students, 18.1 percent would be classified. That implies that Black 4th graders are underrepresented by 15 percent, given their observable characteristics.

At the same time, we do find evidence that Black students are substantially overrepresented among students classified as having intellectual disabilities, defined as being significantly below average in general mental functioning. In 4th grade, 13.4 percent of Black students are identified as having an intellectual disability, compared to a predicted rate of 7.4 percent for white students with the same observable characteristics. It is possible that unobserved differences between Black and white children may explain the overrepresentation in this category, but such differences would have to be both large and fundamentally different from Hispanic-white differences.

For Hispanic students, 7.5 percent of kindergartners are identified for special education compared to 11.6 percent of white students. If Hispanics were classified at the same rate as white students with the same observable characteristics, 10.6 percent would be identified as needing special education-a gap of 40 percent. That gap shrinks to 8 percent in 4th grade, when 13.7 percent of Hispanics are classified, compared to a predicted identification rate of 14.8 percent. In looking at various types of disabilities, we find Hispanics are underrepresented among students with speech and language impairments and overrepresented as having a learning disability. Unlike Black students, there is essentially no Hispanic-white gap in intellectual disability rates, despite Hispanics being relatively disadvantaged along many of the same dimensions as Black children. Overall, there is little indication of consistent underrepresentation or overrepresentation of Hispanic students relative to white students conditional on health and economic endowments.
Results by School Racial Composition
We next assess whether observationally identical students of different races are more or less likely to be classified and receive special education services based on which school they attend. This is a difficult question to answer, because parents of children with special needs may actively choose particular schools based on their performance or resources for special education. We therefore conduct our analysis two different ways. In our main analysis, we use data on the racial composition of the school the child actually attends in kindergarten. As an alternative, we calculate school racial composition based on local enrollment data for the zip code of the student's residence at birth. Most parents are not aware of a child's disabilities before they are born, so this "school" measure is less likely to be influenced by any strategic choices parents make in response to a child's disability. Our results are unaffected by this choice. That is, it does not matter for the findings whether or not we account for any potential strategic choices that determine school racial composition.

We then examine how disproportionalities in special education identification vary across schools with different racial compositions, focusing on 4th grade. Overall, Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be classified for special education programs in schools where there are few minorities and less likely to be classified in schools with large numbers of minority students. The unexplained gaps between rates for minority students and those for similar white students are largest at the most segregated schools. By contrast, classification rates for white students are far less sensitive to school racial composition.

This trend is starkest for Black students, with the largest unexplained gaps in classification rates at schools with the most segregated populations. In schools with fewer than 10 percent minority students, a Black student is 3.8 percentage points more likely to be identified as disabled than an observationally equivalent white student (see Figure 3). This value steadily decreases as the minority share of a school grows, so that a Black student in a school with more than 90 percent minority students is 5.3 percentage points less likely to be identified than an observationally equivalent white student. We find that for every 10-point increase in the minority share, underrepresentation among Black students increases by approximately 0.9 percentage points.

For Hispanics, we find similar, but smaller, gaps showing that Hispanic students are more likely to be identified for special education in predominately white schools and less likely in schools attended mostly by students of color. Students in schools with fewer than 10 percent minority peers are overrepresented by 2.0 percentage points-roughly half the analogous figure for Black students-while those in schools that are 90 percent or more minority are underrepresented by 2.0 percentage points.
Implications
Our results do not necessarily imply a causal relationship between racial segregation and disability identification. The racial composition of a school could be a proxy for a number of other factors, such as family economic conditions, resource constraints, or school switching. To isolate the influence of racial composition on classification gaps we investigate these other potential factors and, for Black students, rule them out.

We first consider the role of local economic conditions, by looking at the share of students eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch. When controlling for this factor, unexplained gaps in special education classification largely disappear for Hispanics but not for Black students.

Second, we consider the potential influence of resource constraints, by looking at the identification of gifted students. Giftedness classification is similarly subjective, and services for students deemed eligible also represent an additional expense. But we find that Black, Hispanic, and white students are all more likely to be identified as gifted, relative to predictions based on their economic and health conditions at birth, if they attend a school with a large share of minority students. This pattern suggests that resource constraints are not the principal driver of disability gaps.

Finally, and as explained above, we compare our main estimates, which are based on the racial composition of the schools students actually attend, to estimates based on the racial composition of schools near where students were born. The fact that these two sets of estimates are largely the same suggests that parents' moving in response to disability diagnoses does not contribute to our results.

Our analysis points to the importance of group dynamics in special education classification decisions. For example, if a school's student population is relatively healthy, then the threshold impairment level for what defines a "disability" may fall, inducing diagnoses among children who would not be identified as disabled in schools with less healthy peers. In our data, we do see evidence that Black students have worse newborn health characteristics than both Hispanic and white students. In addition, we see that students who attend schools with predominately Black and Hispanic students have much worse newborn health characteristics than students who attend less racially segregated schools. But this explanation cannot on its own account for the fact that, unlike Black and Hispanic students, white students are slightly more likely to be placed in special education in schools with more minority students.

An alternative-and potentially complementary-explanation is that the relative distinctness of students' race might play a role in identification. For example, Black and Hispanic students may "stand out" in schools with mostly white students, making their perceived disabilities more readily noticed in comparison to identical students in schools with large minority populations. Such a phenomenon would lead to Black and Hispanic students being overrepresented at schools where they are in the minority and underrepresented at schools where they are in the majority. This is consistent with our findings.

Ultimately, we acknowledge that we are unable to account for all determinants of disability identification in American schools. Our findings nonetheless have important implications for how disproportionality is defined and monitored under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Fundamentally, the law considers racial disproportionality to be an outcome in and of itself that requires remediation-hence the focus on raw racial differences in most prior studies and the concerns among policymakers and advocacy organizations about over-diagnosis of Black and Hispanic students.

Our analysis adds to recent evidence that underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic students in special education is the more pressing challenge in many settings. It also reveals how racial segregation influences classification decisions. Strengthening disproportionality monitoring and rules is generally understood as a strategy to promote equitable treatment for minority students. But a more nuanced accounting of disproportionality deserves strong consideration. A formula that fails to account for health and other baseline differences among students may unintentionally encourage schools and districts to reduce access to special education services for the minority students who need them.

Todd E. Elder is MSU Foundation Professor at Michigan State University. David N. Figlio is Orrington Lunt Professor and Dean of the Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Scott A. Imberman is professor at Michigan State University and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Claudia L. Persico is assistant professor at American University and research affiliate with the IZA Institute of Labor Economics and Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. This article is adapted from a study published in the Journal of Labor Economics.

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Segregation and Racial Gaps in Special Education

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Racial segregation in U.S. schools has been illegal since the 1950s, but school enrollments remain stubbornly separate. About 70 percent of all Black students attend schools where more than half of students are non-white. By contrast, just 13 percent of white students attend predominately non-white schools.

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Misunderstood and Mistreated:  Students of Color in Special Education

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Misunderstood and Mistreated:  Students of Color in Special Education

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Research suggests that students of color are too often not identified accurately for special education and that the programs they are placed in are frequently poor in

quality. This trend can contribute to a less than optimal  learning environment that lowers their chances for future success. The author of this piece identifies factors that may contribute to this problem as well as potential solutions.

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Confronting Special Education’s Race Problem

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Confronting Special Education’s Race Problem

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Students of color are disproportionately misidentified with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders, often altering the course of their lives. A UM-Dearborn professor is trying to help teachers be part of the solution.

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Confronting special education's race problem

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Shaffer says classroom interactions like this could ultimately lead a teacher to recommend special education testing, putting the student a risk for misidentification. And it could be the same for a host of other innocuous behaviors. A young student showing up to preschool struggling to use scissors could be taken as evidence of a learning delay.

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Significant Disproportionality in Special Education: Current Trends and Actions for Impact

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Significant Disproportionality in Special Education: Current Trends and Actions for Impact

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The National Center for Learning Disabilities shares some unequitable trends within special education along with actions for impact.

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To Be BIPOC, Disabled and Fighting for Justice

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To Be BIPOC, Disabled and Fighting for Justice

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"Disabled people of color and advocates say a lot more work needs to be done to advance the cause of disability justice."

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In July, the Americans with Disabilities Act () celebrated its 30th anniversary since becoming law on July 26, 1990. The ADA made it illegal to discriminate against anyone who is disabled, and much like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which it was modeled after, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which says that the disabled cannot be denied federal funding, the ADA was a result of a long- and hard-fought battle.

"It gave us our rights," acknowledged National Center for Law and Economic Justice civil rights attorney and disability advocate Britney Wilson, who is the same age as the ADA.

While many applaud the law that protects anyone who has "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment," disabled people of color and advocates say a lot more work needs to be done to advance the cause of disability justice.

Photo: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

"It's a floor, not a ceiling. The law essentially says, okay, you're here and I recognize it," Wilson said. "But the problem with most laws is that even if they technically apply to everyone in the same way, you often still have to have a certain level of access or power in order to take advantage of them." Wilson, who was born with cerebral palsy and grew up in Brooklyn, explained that she ended up in civil rights law because of a sense that understanding the law would help her better navigate her own life as a Black disabled woman and a desire and the need to advocate for people who do not have the resources to do so for themselves. This bigger tent is the beginning of what advocates call disability justice, not to be confused with disability rights.

"One of the major things that shaped me most as a kid was watching my mom fight with the Board of Education about my busing to school, because it was either late or just didn't show up," Wilson recalled. Around age seven, she started speaking up for non-verbal kids on the bus, whose wheelchairs, for instance, weren't properly secured. "That showed me how people with disabilities were viewed and disregarded, and it was also my first real advocacy experience," Wilson said.

Since 1990, people with disabilities and advocates have slowly, but urgently, moved the conversation forward and the media has slowly responded in kind. Thanks to the umbrella of justice that Black Lives Matter (BLM) fights for, Black people with disabilities have been ramping up their calls for justice. Anyone who watched the 2020 Democratic National Convention on August 20 saw a video that included Vilissa Thompson-a BLM activist and creator of Ramp Your Voice and #DisabilitiesTooWhite-representing the disabled community in a space traditionally reserved for white cis men. The fact that Thompson was featured was of huge importance to Wilson, who hopes that in addition to the larger conversations around society and disabled people, that more diverse voices will be enfolded.

Justice for All (Really)

Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

"Disability justice is where I see more deaf and disabled (Black, Indigenous and people of color) folks, whereas a lot of the larger disability rights people are very white," said 41-year-old Jen Deerinwater, founder of Crushing Colonialism and a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

"Just because we share one form of oppression does not mean that we don't still have privilege within those spaces," said Deerinwater. "Cis men are more centered; white people or more centered. We have every gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age and types of disabilities and illnesses, which means that a one-size-fits-all does not work when you talk about the needs of disabled people."

Basically, the disability community is huge (it encompasses the mental and physical) and as a result of its size, privilege, power and race are amplified. "You can't say that you're for the disabled community if you are pro-cop, because almost half the people killed in this country by police have a disability and about half of those people have a mental illness," Deerinwater said. "You can't say you stand with disabled people, or with Native people or with people of color when you're trying to elect politicians who support law enforcement or the prison-industrial complex."

Deerinwater, a staunch BIPOC activist for Native and disability justice, who identifies as bisexual and two-spirit, has contended with chronic joint and skeletal pain, in addition to a host of other health issues since she was a teenager. Having grown up in rural Oklahoma, Deerinwater witnessed the pervasive poverty permeating Indian country and the underfunding of healthcare that the community receives for abled bodies residents, the disabled notwithstanding. From scarcity in housing to employment to healthcare, Deerinwater said Indigenous communities have specific needs that are inevitably compounded for people who are disabled.

"The American Indian and Alaskan Native community in this country have the highest rates of disability of any ethnic or racial group, per capita, and that per capita piece is important," said Deerinwater. "We also have a lot of pollution on our lands because of fossil fuels and other developments, or mining projects and we have very high rates of diabetes, asthma and hypertension."

These were the kinds of facts Deerinwater carried with her during the week of August 16 at the Congressional Native American Caucus, the rural and disability council meetings and the environment and climate crisis council meeting, in hometown of Washington, DC, in mid-August, only to end up disappointed by the minuscule attention given to Indigenous and disabled issues. It's this kind of erasure that gnaws at Deerinwater, who also sees disability justice as getting ahead of the problems that can actually create disabilities and illnesses where they didn't exist, such as from pollution and police violence.

"Think about when mace starts flying or people are shot and lose body parts," said Deerinwater. "This creates trauma. People can get PTSD or have their existing PTSD made worse. And yes, disabled people do tend to be heavily targeted." To Deerinwater's point about the ways in which law enforcement's deadly practices create disabilities, 29-year-old Kenosha, Wisconsin-resident Jacob Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down after being shot seven times in the back at point-blank range by police on August 23.

As part of the Movement for Black Lives' platform includes replacing law enforcement with experienced health professionals who could better serve someone having an emotional or mental health crisis, Wilson agreed with Deerinwater that a disproportionate number of police encounters with the disabled usually end fatally.

"The official estimates are somewhere between a third and a half of people of color or Black people who are killed by police are actually disabled people of color," said Wilson, who notes that many people estimate the numbers to be higher. "Also, we often talk about policing and race in the context of a mental health crisis, but it's also a risk to people of color who are disabled and who have physical disabilities because our movements are sometimes incorrectly interpreted as being suspicious. For example, I've heard stories about sign language being misinterpreted for gang signs."

Wilson points to the case of 23-year-old Elijah McClain from Aurora, Colorado and chronic asthma sufferer, who was not only placed in a chokehold by police after someone called the law on him for looking suspicious, but was then injected, by the paramedics, with a powerful sedative called ketamine that ultimately killed him. "There you have an example of the actions of the health system, combining with the actions of the criminal justice and police system, resulting in the death of a Black person," Wilson said." That's racism and ableism."

Another 30 Years

Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

"Society is slowly examining our relationship with a hierarchy that places white Christian, able-bodied, hetero males as superior," said Jeanine D. Costley, who teaches diversity, race oppression and privilege at NYU and at Medgar Evers College's School of Social Work. "One of the most important things we can do is to develop an awareness regarding ableism and become an advocate. We should ask ourselves: Are we consistently ensuring that all individuals can utilize transportation, education, access to stores, are there interpreters available, are there ramps that assist all bodies to enter, is there Braille available, are there seating arrangements that accommodate all people?"

What's more, said Costley, is that "individuals living with disabilities are twice as likely to live below the poverty line" and living in poverty is likely to increase instances of disability. Costley's statement echoed what Deerinwater said about one's environment creating disabilities, whether it's from bad air or bad police, and the intersection of housing insecurity, BIPOC experiences and disabilities. The fact is that the majority of people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year are disproportionately "struggling with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability," according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

"The enduring overrepresentation of Black persons in the United States' homeless population has serious implications on medical and mental health disparities, as well as mortality rates," said Costley. "The extreme stress, anxiety, isolation, and sleep loss that come with homelessness, worsen mental and physical health problems, demonstrating the vicious cycle between homelessness and illness."

While advocates know that the slow progress to disability justice is a result of a slow-moving culture, they're not as optimistic that the next 30 years will be very different from the first 30, unless folks in power turn their attention to access over equity. Wilson said that the ADA established rights, which many saw as granting equality, but not accessibility. That means if five children all had the same-sized box to stand on to see over a fence, but some needed two boxes or even help to get onto the box in the first place, and still couldn't see over, then the system isn't just and the fence may need to come down altogether.

"The equality framework means we get to go to the same schools. But when we go to the same schools, there are often still questions about whether we have the same access, the same opportunities at those schools," Wilson said. "Critical Race Theory scholars, for example, have long argued that we would all benefit if we started thinking, not necessarily in terms of equality or in treating everybody the same, but about what we need as a society, in terms of accommodation, in terms of accessibility that is, in terms of what people actually need to thrive, even if that means different people get different things." It is only when the nation begins to focus on justice alongside rights, on access over equality, will disability advocates feel that they have won.
N. Jamiyla Chisholm is a regular contributing writer to Colorlines and Barnard College's senior associate director of creative content.

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To Be BIPOC, Disabled and Fighting for Justice

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In July, the Americans with Disabilities Act () celebrated its 30th anniversary since becoming law on July 26, 1990. The ADA made it illegal to discriminate against anyone who is disabled, and much like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which it was modeled after, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which says that the disabled cannot be denied federal funding, the ADA was a result of a long- and hard-fought battle.

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Dyslexia, A Very Different Journey for BIPOC Students

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Dyslexia, A Very Different Journey for BIPOC Students

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The authors of this piece share their perspectives on the unique ways that learning disabilities can impact students and families of color and what communities can do to ensure that all children have the opportunity to thrive in school.

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Dyslexia, A Very Different Journey for BIPOC Students

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. This is close to our hearts at Shadow Project. We hear from parents every day who see their kids struggling with reading due to disabilities, and we know that in Oregon just 22% of 3rd graders with disabilities are proficient in reading.

But here's what we want to know more about: What is dyslexia like for children of color and their families?

"Get Real with Clarice: Dyslexia Explained" is a recent webinar that gave us some insights on this question. We followed up with presenter Clarice Jackson after the webinar, as well as Lisa Lyon of Decoding Dyslexia Oregon, which hosted the webinar.

Jackson is the founder of Decoding Dyslexia Nebraska and Voice Advocacy Center, and also speaks from her experiences as a Black woman parenting a daughter with dyslexia and ADHD. Lyon is Decoding Dyslexia's founder and Community Outreach Director. Lyon, who is white, has a son with dyslexia. They shared their perspectives on the unique ways that learning disabilities can impact students and families of color and what communities can do to ensure that all children have the opportunity to thrive in school.

Dyslexia is a learning disability that makes reading or learning to read difficult. It is neurological in nature, and people with dyslexia can learn to read when taught in the right way. Both Jackson and Lyon say that structured literacy is the most effective way to teach kids with dyslexia. It's also highly effective for students without learning disabilities.

But structured literacy alone will not address the education barriers facing students of color.
Systemic Racism Compounds Barriers
Jackson emphasizes that for BIPOC students with dyslexia, the journey is very different from that of white students.

BIPOC students are placed into special education at higher rates than their white peers, says Jackson. Black students are more likely to be identified with a Specific Learning Disability like dyslexia than students from other races, according to Jackson and the US Department of Education. Furthermore, says Jackson, parents of BIPOC students may have limited resources, time, knowledge, and support to advocate for their children.

Then, there is the fact that BIPOC students, and especially Black students with disabilities, are disproportionately disciplined in school.

Students who struggle with reading may enact their frustration in class. But instead of being given more support, kids are often punished. In fact, 65% of Black students with disabilities receive exclusionary discipline such as suspension or detention, versus only 26% of white students with disabilities.

"For students of color who are already up against systemic racism in schools, struggling to read can contribute to disengagement with academics and emotional damage," says Lyon. Adds Jackson, teachers need to recognize students' anger and frustration as symptoms of their learning challenge, and not "disorderly conduct."

Part of Jackson's work includes providing teachers, themselves under resourced, with tools to support dyslexic students.

"It's important to make sure teachers have the tools to understand by giving them the signs of what dyslexia looks like," says Jackson. She leads a dyslexia simulation with teachers and support staff to walk through what it's like to have ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia. This helps staff understand students' lived experience.

" Welcome to Having My Child In Your Classroom "

Jackson recommends that parents write teachers a "welcome to having my child in your classroom packet," which includes "their story, signs and symptoms of dyslexia, accommodations needed, and tools for dyslexic students." This opens up communication between parents, child and teacher, and prompts the teacher to connect with the child as a whole human being. It can help teachers see a student's behavior as a result of frustration with learning, and respond with support rather than discipline.

Putting this packet together can be difficult for all parents. For BIPOC parents, systemic barriers and lack of resources can make the process even more difficult. Also, notes Jackson, "Sometimes dyslexia is hereditary, and for parents writing can be uncomfortable."

Lyon explains another barrier, noting that "families of color do not want to have their child recognized as having dyslexia because of the stigma and generational trauma attached to special education."

Voice Advocacy Center helps parents write a student-story packet and advocate for their children. Jackson's organization does this work for parents and students nationwide through virtual and remote channels.

Jackson suggests other organizations can support parents advocacy by recruiting volunteer advocates to help parents write their child's story. She suggests advocates make sure the letter is coming from the parent and "gets into the hands of anyone having any level of connectivity with this child, whoever needs this information." Locally, FACT Oregon helps families create a Person-Centered Profile similar to Jackson's recommended packet.
Changing the Narrative
Jackson urges parents to make sure this packet is added to their child's cumulative file, and to insist on reviewing the entire file. She stresses that "it is very important that parents understand how their child is being characterized by the teachers and the system" particularly when it is based on educators' under-informed or unintentionally-biased perceptions of students.

By including a student's story and needs in their file, parents can "change the narrative" around their child's classroom behavior and learning.
More Resources
The Shadow Project thanks Clarice Jackson and Lisa Lyon for sharing this information and highlighting ways to support students of color, and their families, with dyslexia. We also thank Ross Faulkenburg, President of Decoding Dyslexia Oregon, for his contributions to this blog post.

Here are free materials from Jackson's recent webinar on supporting literacy for students with dyslexia:

Florida Center for Reading Research
https://www.fcrr.org/

University of Florida Literacy Institute.
https://education.ufl.edu/ufli/

Dyslexia Training Institute
https://www.Dyslexiatraininginstitute.org/

National Center for Improving Literacy
https://improvingliteracy.org/

Phonological milestones:
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/development-phonological-skills

Update: After publishing this blog post, The Shadow Project read Dr. Shawn Robinson's blog post Unpacking Systematic Barriers for Black Boys with a Learning Disability in Special Education.

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Dyslexia, A Very Different Journey for BIPOC Students - The Shadow Project

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October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. This is close to our hearts at Shadow Project. We hear from parents every day who see their kids struggling with reading due to disabilities, and we know that in Oregon just 22% of 3rd graders with disabilities are proficient in reading.

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Aparna R is a self-described writer (essays, SFF/YA WIPs), disability activist, health informatics grad student, bookworm, spoonie. She tweets about books, disability, & healthcare. Follow her on Twitter!

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Tweets by aparna_r_writer

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DREAM: Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring

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DREAM: Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring

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DREAM (Disability Rights, Education Activism, and Mentoring) is a national organization for and by college students with disabilities.  Their work is supported by their sponsoring organization, the National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD), which is based at the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD).

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DREAM - Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring Sponsored by AHEAD

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DREAM (Disability Rights, Education Activism, and Mentoring) is a national organization for and by college students with disabilities. Our work is supported by our sponsoring organization, the National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD), which is based at the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD).

DREAM is open to higher education students of all types, including graduate students, part-time students, and those who are auditing higher education courses. It is open to students of all ages with any kind of disability, culturally Deaf students, and nondisabled students who are our allies and peers. We explicitly include people who have traditionally been marginalized or under-represented in the disability or higher education communities.

We strongly advocate for disability culture, community, and pride, and hope to serve as an online virtual disability cultural center for students who want to connect with other students.

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DREAM (Disability Rights, Education Activism, and Mentoring) is a national organization for and by college students with disabilities. Our work is supported by our sponsoring organization, the National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD), which is based at the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD).

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In this podcasts, teachers of all grade levels can learn more about rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Leaders in the field will share their knowledge, experience and successful strategies that increase the participation of persons with disabilities in communities and businesses.

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ADALive! – Produced by the Southeast ADA Center, a member of the ADA National Network and a project of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University

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ADA Live! is a free monthly show broadcast nationally on the Internet. Learn about your rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Leaders in the field will share their knowledge, experience and successful strategies that increase the participation of persons with…

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A book list compiled by the members of the 2020 Inclusive Schools Week Taskforce that includes titles with links, author names, and suggested grade level for each book connected to disability.

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Community Advisory Committee for Special Education includes a book list with descriptions of each book.

Recommended Reading List

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A booklist of inclusive stories from SFUSD librarians with descriptions of each book.

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Booklist from SFUSD librarians with middle readers focused on disability and disabled characters.

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Hoopla Virtual Bookshelf: Time For Inclusion is Now (Fiction & Nonfiction)

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Publishing is becoming more and more diverse, which is truly a wonderful thing. We can write whole recommendation lists on almost every topic now, but one theme that is still a little underrepresented (in our daily lives and on our shelves) are characters with a disability or chronic illness.

Many readers are actively trying to diversify their shelves, which is fantastic! If you are one of those readers who are looking for books with diverse representation and are still on the hunt for books dealing with disability and chronic pain, then this is a good starting point! We've collected 16 fictional reads to compile them into a list for you.

We have tried to keep this list as diverse as possible, but if you know of a book dealing with a disability or illness, please leave us a comment below!

Love From A to Z by SK Ali
Representation: Multiple Sclerosis

A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes-because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together. An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb's teacher, who won't stop reminding the class how "bad" Muslims are.

But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn't bad. She's angry. When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt's house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break. Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, "nicer" version of herself in a place where no one knows her. Then her path crosses with Adam's.

Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam's stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.

Pages I Never Wrote by Marco Donati
Representation: Dyspraxia

Luke has good friends, a passion for books, and dyspraxia, a disorder that, ironically, makes him unable to write. He also has a hatred for anyone who tries to help him. Yet when he fails his first term at university due to his learning difficulties, he's forced to get support. That's how Nate, an excitable last-year student, becomes his self-proclaimed personal tutor and starts writing down essays for him, as a distraction from his own quarter-life crisis. But Luke's writing ambitions are not just academic. He dreams of penning a novel, although that's never been a real possibility. Until now.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Representation: Chronic Pain

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost-but not quite-dying, she's come up with seven directives to help her "Get a Life", and she's already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family's mansion. The next items? Enjoy a drunken night out, ride a motorcycle, go camping, have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex, travel the world with nothing but hand luggage, and... do something bad.

But it's not easy being bad, even when you've written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.

Every Little Piece of My Heart by Non Pratt
Representation: Lupus

When Sophie receives a parcel from her best friend, Freya, she expects it to contain the reason why Freya left town so suddenly, without goodbyes and without explanation. Instead, she finds a letter addressed to Win, a girl Freya barely knew - or did she? As more letters arrive for more people on the periphery of Freya's life, Sophie and Win begin to piece together who Freya was and why she left. Sometimes it's not about who's gone, but about who they leave behind

The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachel Allen
Representation: Juvenile Arthritis

Skyler, Ellie, Scarlett and Amelia Grace are forced to spend the summer at the lake house where their moms became best friends.

One can't wait. One would rather gnaw off her own arm than hang out with a bunch of strangers just so their moms can drink too much wine and sing Journey two o'clock in the morning. Two are sisters. Three are currently feuding with their mothers.

One almost sets her crush on fire with a flaming marshmallow. Two steal the boat for a midnight joyride that goes horribly, awkwardly wrong. All of them are hiding something. One falls in love with a boy she thought she despised. Two fall in love with each other. None of them are the same at the end of the summer.

A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Representation: Cerebral Palsy

Fall in love, break the curse. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard
Representation: Deaf character

Steffi doesn't talk, but she has so much to say. Rhys can't hear, but he can listen. Their love isn't a lightning strike, it's the rumbling roll of thunder.

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom
Representation: Blind character

The Rules: Don't deceive me. Ever. Especially using my blindness. Especially in public. Don't help me unless I ask. Otherwise you're just getting in my way or bothering me. Don't be weird. Seriously, other than having my eyes closed all the time, I'm just like you only smarter.

Parker Grant doesn't need 20/20 vision to see right through you. That's why she created the Rules: Don't treat her any differently just because she's blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. Just ask Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart.

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
Representation: Rheumatoid arthritis and Gaucher disease

Isabel has one rule: no dating. It's easier. It's safer. It's better...for the other person. She's got issues. She's got secrets. She's got rheumatoid arthritis. But then she meets another sick kid. He's got a chronic illness Isabel's never heard of, something she can't even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father who's a doctor.

He's gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her. Isabel has one rule: no dating. It's complicated. It's dangerous. It's never felt better...to consider breaking that rule for him.

A List of Cages by Robin Roe
Representation: ADHD and Dyslexia

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian-the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Representation: Autism

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

The Memory Book by Lara Avery
Representation: Niemann-Pick disease type C

Sammie was always a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as humanly possible. Nothing will stand in her way-not even a rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly start to steal her memories and then her health. What she needs is a new plan.

So the Memory Book is born: Sammie's notes to her future self, a document of moments great and small. It's where she'll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime crush, Stuart-a brilliant young writer who is home for the summer. And where she'll admit how much she's missed her childhood best friend, Cooper, and even take some of the blame for the fight that ended their friendship.

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
Representation: Prosopagnosia

Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed "America's Fattest Teen." But no one's taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom's death, she's been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby's ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he's got swagger, but he's also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can't recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He's the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything, but he can't understand what's going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don't get too close to anyone.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Representation: Character in a wheelchair

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . . Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life-steady boyfriend, close family-who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life-big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel-and now he's pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy-but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

All Of My Friends Are Rich by Michael Sarais
Representation: Bi-Polar Depression

Orphan Leo Cotton has finally built a family, but the advent of bipolar depression wakes him from this dreamlife to reveal dark truths about the man he'd married. One year later, Leo is lost. Embarrassed by a dead-end job that barely pays the bills, he can't help but notice that those around him are all enjoying success. When his closest friend, Sara, asks him to be her best man, Leo reaches the last straw: how can he possibly afford these lavish festivities on his wages? A Grindr chance encounter reveals that a shortcut to riches does exist . . . but in the end, this reckless route may cost him the loved-ones he aims to impress and welcome terrible danger . . .

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Representation: Character born without arms and Tourette's

Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she'll have to answer the question over and over again.

Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It's hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven's about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

Do you have any recommendations? Tell us in the comments below for us to check out as well as other readers!

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16 Fiction Books With Disability Representation | The Nerd Daily

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Publishing is becoming more and more diverse, which is truly a wonderful thing. We can write whole recommendation lists on almost every topic now, but one theme that is still a little underrepresented (in our daily lives and on our shelves) are characters with a disability or chronic illness.

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Books awarded annual Schneider Family Book Awards.
The awards recognize authors and illustrators for books aimed at each of three age groups: young children, middle grades and teen. To qualify, stories must “portray the emotional, mental or physical disability as part of a full life, not as something to be pitied.”

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Tales about a girl with autism and a boy who's nonverbal are among the books being honored for portraying the disability experience as part of a prestigious award given alongside the famed Newbery and Caldecott Medals.

The American Library Association said this week that it has named three winners and four honorees for its annual Schneider Family Book Awards.

The awards recognize authors and illustrators for books aimed at each of three age groups: young children, middle grades and teen. To qualify, stories must "portray the emotional, mental or physical disability as part of a full life, not as something to be pitied."

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The winner in the young children's category is "I Talk Like a River," which tells the story of a boy who stutters. Two books received the young children's honor title - "All the Way to the Top: How One Girl's Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything," about a girl who uses a wheelchair and joins in crawling up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to advocate for disability rights, and "Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin," about violinist Itzhak Perlman who succeeded despite his disabilities.

In the middle grade grouping for ages 9 to 13, "Show Me a Sign" won for its story about a young girl who's deaf who feels comfortable in her community where many others are also deaf until a scientist starts looking into why. Honor books in this category include "Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!" - about a girl with autism who wants to be on a baseball team and has a Major League pitcher as a pen pal - and "When Stars are Scattered" which features a pair of brothers - one of whom is nonverbal - growing up in a refugee camp.

The award in the teen category was given to "This is My Brain in Love," a story of a high school romance that tackles mental illness, race and other issues.

Winners of the Schneider Family Book Awards, which were announced during the American Library Association's virtual ALA Midwinter Meeting, will receive $5,000 and a framed plaque.

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Children's Books Honored For Disability Narratives

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Tales about a girl with autism and a boy who's nonverbal are among the books being honored for portraying the disability experience as part of a prestigious award given alongside the famed Newbery and Caldecott Medals. The American Library Association said this week that it has named three winners and four honorees for its annual Schneider Family Book Awards.

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Intersectionality & Disability - Keri Gray

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Intersectionality & Disability - Keri Gray

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In this powerful two-minute clip, Kari Gray speaks to the importance of intersectionality within activisism. #DisabilityDemandsJustice

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Intersectionality & disability, ft Keri Gray, the Keri Gray Group #DisabilityDemandsJustice

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Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles - American Sign Language

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Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles - American Sign Language

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Middle school students explain the thirteen guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement in American Sign Language (ASL) - D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice
*Subtitles available

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A description of how the video was produced, submitted by Tarja Lewis (ELA teacher) and Lia Bengtson (Social Studies teacher).

The middle school students at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School on Gallaudet University's campus in Washington, D.C. participated in the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Our school serves deaf and hard of hearing students throughout the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area in an American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual environment. We (the English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies teachers) worked together to align our BLM Week of Action lessons and also worked with our students to translate and film the 13 Guiding Principles of the BLM movement into ASL.

It is important to note that American Sign Language (ASL) and English are two separate languages, which means that each language has its own grammar structure and syntax. Therefore, we had to first translate the 13 Guiding Principles from English to ASL. We had a discussion between the two of us and our colleague, Ms. Bettie Waddy-Smith, who is the Spoken English Specialist, on whether to include a voice over or not to the video. Ultimately, we agreed to NOT add the voice track as we wanted to keep the spotlight on the students' signing. We thought this would encourage people to really pay attention to our students in the video and to allow the audience to experience the video "in a deaf way," where they have to rely on reading the captions to understand the context of the video. We also wanted our students' hard work in perfecting their signs to shine and be the sole focus of the viewer.

After translation, we pulled students out and worked one on one with them to ensure they were both comfortable with signing their part, as well as understand their assigned principle. The students worked hard, were focused and motivated to do well. For some, this was a big step, as they are new signers or this is their first experience being in front of the camera for a wider audience. We were very impressed by how dedicated our students were with this project and are so proud of them.

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Middle School Students Explain 13 Guiding Principles in American Sign Language - D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice

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Middle school students at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, a D.C. school serving deaf and hard of hearing students from birth through grade 8, created a video outlining the 13 Principles of the Black Lives Matter movement in their own words.

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We Move Together: Disability Justice and Trans Liberation

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We Move Together: Disability Justice and Trans Liberation

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Culture Strike and Sins Invalid co-host a panel of speakers exploring the intersection of disability justice and trans liberation at the Citizen Engagement Lab (CEL).

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We Move Together: Disability Justice and Trans Liberation

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Moving at the Speed of Trust: Disability Justice and Transformative Justice

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Moving at the Speed of Trust: Disability Justice and Transformative Justice

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Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Elliott Fukui, both writers, thinkers and disability rights advocates create a space to discuss intersections of disability justice an transformative justice as well as alternatives to policing and psychiatric instituions.

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Moving at the Speed of Trust: Disability Justice and Transformative Justice

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Disability and Neurodiversity in Art - Making Art and Society Richer and More Equitable

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Disability and Neurodiversity in Art - Making Art and Society Richer and More Equitable

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Laura Flanders interviews two performance artists, Alice Sheppard, a disabled dancer/choreographer and Jess Thom, a performer and comedian with Tourettes and the founder of Touretteshero. In their conversations with Laura, they question our attitudes towards disability and explore how art can challenge our notions of the normative.

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Roundtable Discussion: Abolition and Disability Justice (2020)

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Roundtable Discussion: Abolition and Disability Justice (2020)

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Disability justice scholars, practitioners, and organizers discuss what "we keep each other safe" means for Disabled and Neurodivergent folks within abolitionist visions.

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Roundtable Discussion: Abolition and Disability Justice

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Nakia Smith discusses the historical origins of BASL, tells a little of her own experience growing up using BASL and shows examples of some signs that are different than ASL signs.

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How To Sign In BASL (Black American Sign Language) | Strong Black Lead

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"Ableism and anti-Blackness are mutually inclusive and mutually dependent."

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Disability Justice Is an Essential Part of Abolishing Police and Prisons

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Disability Justice Is an Essential Part of Abolishing Police and Prisons

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Ableism forms and informs violence, oppression, and incarceration, yet it continues to be ignored by social justice movements.

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Disability Justice Is an Essential Part of Abolishing Police and Prisons

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Ableism forms and informs violence, oppression, and incarceration, yet it continues to be ignored by social justice movements

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Disability Solidarity: Completing The 'Vision For Black Lives'

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Disability Solidarity: Completing The 'Vision For Black Lives'

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This piece critiques the Movement for Black Lives policy platform that outlines the Movement's ideas of what is required to build a more just world for "all black people" due to its lack of inclusion of disability, ableism, audism or the unspeakable violence and Black death found at the intersection of ableism and anti-Black racism.

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Any Conversation About Disability Justice Must Wrestle with Black Trauma

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Any Conversation About Disability Justice Must Wrestle with Black Trauma

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This article pushes readers to identify and consider that post traumatic stress disorder is a disability or disability adjacent and is extremely prevalent in the Black community.

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The Defense of Black Lives Must Include Disability Justice

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The Defense of Black Lives Must Include Disability Justice

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"As the movement for racial justice in America widens, It’s crucial that we recognize the shortcomings of our society when it comes to supporting me and other disabled members of the Black community."

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In the fight for racial justice and true liberation, if one of us is not free, none of us are. From fighting for justice in the LGBTQ+ community to fighting for women's rights, it is important to fight for everyone if we are going to build a truly just and equitable America. One group that is often forgotten though, is Black people with disabilities. But on the 30-year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we have decided to take center stage. It's Disability Pride Month and we are proud to be fighting for justice-for all Black people.

I live at a crucial intersection: I am a Black disabled woman. I have advocated for disability rights/justice throughout my entire career. And still, it remains clear to me that there is much more work to be done to advance and promote equity and accessibility for people with disabilities-particularly for those of us who exist at BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and disabled intersections. Like the 1 in 4 Black adults who have a disability, I can't silo my experience, as these identifiers do not exist independently of each other.

As the movement for racial justice in America widens, It's crucial that we recognize the shortcomings of our society when it comes to supporting me and other disabled members of the Black community. Our systems have left out necessary infrastructure and resources to survive; the median adjusted family income for disabled workers has been left at about half of the income of others and, like too many Black communities, voting rights is another frontier where we have seen little improvement over the years when it comes to serving members of the community with disabilities.

But in this moment, most concerning are the dual epidemics of COVID-19 and police violence in Black communities.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which we have all seen disproportionately devastate the Black community, Black people with disabilities are literally being without any assistance. This comes after years of people with disabilities combating attacks from the Trump administration against those of us who are most marginalized. As a full-time wheelchair user who requires daily care from personal care attendants, I have lived through the fight for fair access to healthcare, as have so many millions like me across the country. This has looked like pushing for state and federal intervention as well as media attention for my battles. It has meant being forced to weigh living in a nursing home or living at an institution when I didn't have a healthcare plan to pay for it.

And these challenges have been my reality in supposedly "good" times. Now, in places like Arizona, one of the states hit hardest by the pandemic, and where I live, we are seeing medical rationing set to devastate disabled people. Living at the intersection, this kind of discrimination is my and many of my friends' worst nightmare, with some of my community here in the state fearing they'll fall down the list or be stripped of their lifesaving devices in the event they are not deemed worthy by the state.

To make matters worse, it is well documented that our nation's police are not trained when it comes to necessary de-escalation and working with people with disabilities. Failures here have led to unnecessary bloodshed and traumatizing episodes. The stats are startling as half of the people killed by police across races have a disability.

Right now, it is critical that we fight for the rights of all, leaving no one behind, as we crusade in the name of Black lives. To honor the 30th anniversary of the ADA, this past weekend, the Crip Camp impact team and Color Of Change held a special two-hour virtual celebration to discuss historic wins and the path forward. This conversation is just the beginning. As Disability Pride month comes to a close, I hope you'll continue the conversation started in your own city.
Andraéa LaVant is founder and president of LaVant Consulting, Inc. (LCI), a social impact communications firm. She currently serves as the impact producer for Netflix's feature-length documentary, Crip Camp, where she is charged with leading the campaign's efforts to promote understanding of disability as a social justice issue and build across lines of difference.

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The Defense of Black Lives Must Include Disability Justice

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In the fight for racial justice and true liberation, if one of us is not free, none of us are. From fighting for justice in the LGBTQ+ community to fighting for women's rights, it is important to fight for everyone if we are going to build a truly just and equitable America.

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Ideas for International Day of Disabled Persons

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Ideas for International Day of Disabled Persons

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Resources centering disabled BIPOC (many of whom are also queer and/or trans and/or otherwise marginalized).

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Ideas for International Day of Disabled Persons

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An academic book that places scholars of CRT (Critical Race Theory) with Disability studies, focusing on the ways racism and ableism intertwine throughout society to create the lived experiences and oppression of disabled people of color.

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"This volume extends an important discourse that critically renders visible the power dynamics that operate at the site of the production of disability among raced populations."

- Teachers College Record

" DisCrit invites all of us to be more alert to, and aware of, how we exist in relationship to the many others working in educational environments."

- H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences

"An excellent resource for practitioners (e.g., teachers, educational leaders) currently in education or related fields (e.g., social work, counseling), as well as graduate-level readers. Highly recommended."

- Choice

"The editors and contributors of DisCrit have changed the game in education. By naming and challenging the politics of ability in education, they have forged new and welcomed ground for the community of critical scholars committed to the larger project of justice in education. This is a must-read for those who witness the realities of urban school systems and are brave enough to do something about it."
- David Stovall, Educational Policy Studies and African-American Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

" DisCrit: Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education offers those who sincerely seek to better understand the complexity of the intersection of race/ethnicity, dis/ability, social class, and gender a stimulating read that sheds new light on the root of some of our long-standing societal and educational inequities."
- Wanda J. Blanchett, distinguished professor and dean, Rutgers University, Graduate School of Education

"With a stunning set of authors, this book provokes outrage and possibility at the rich intersection of critical race, class, and disability studies, refracting back on educational policy and practices, inequities and exclusions but marking also spaces for solidarities. This volume is a must-read for preservice and long-term educators, as the fault lines of race, (dis)ability, and class meet in the belly of educational reform movements and educational justice struggles."
- Michelle Fine, distinguished professor of Critical Psychology and Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY

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DisCrit-Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education

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"This volume extends an important discourse that critically renders visible the power dynamics that operate at the site of the production of disability among raced populations." - Teachers College Record " DisCrit invites all of us to be more alert to, and aware of, how we exist in relationship to the many others working in educational environments."

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Crip Justice educates and mobilizes around the intersections of disability and policing.  They aim to create systems that care for people with disabilities that do not isolate them from their communities and that are based on respect for their autonomy. They strive for a world in which people with disabilities are free from the violence of policing and incarceration in all of its forms.

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Abolition is not limited to ending spaces and practices of incarceration and policing. Fundamentally, abolition is also about reimagining new ways of life such that a world in which prisons, policing and other carceral systems as solutions to social problems becomes unthinkable. Abolitionism is also not just about creating new responses to crises but creating a new world in which we thrive such that less crises happen in the first place.

The call "we keep us safe" reminds us that solutions should empower all people, including Disabled and Neurodivergent people, to exercise our self-determination with care and understanding. We all deserve the resources, support, training and education we need to love and protect ourselves and one another.

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Abolition is not limited to ending spaces and practices of incarceration and policing. Fundamentally, abolition is also about reimagining new ways of life such that a world in which prisons, policing and other carceral systems as solutions to social problems becomes unthinkable.

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A Bollywood film about a dyslexic student's experiences in the Indian education system. Audio in Hindi, subtitles in English available.

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Directors Discuss Pixar Short Films Centering Autistic Charcters

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Directors Discuss Pixar Short Films Centering Autistic Charcters

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BIPOC & Autistic children are main characters in both "Float" and "Loop". These films were produced with help from an Autism advocacy group and a non-speaking Autistic voice actor, Madison Bandy. Float is available to watch through this link : https://www.irancartoon.com/site/video/float-full-sparkshort-pixar

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“Float” Director Bobby Rubio and “Loop” Director Erica Milsom React to Fan Comments | Pixar

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Since 2011, ETI has implemented our direct service programs with blind children, youth with visual impairments, their families, and general members of the community in Lebanon. Our programs focus on the transforming mindsets and misconceptions about disabilities and they aim to empower youth with disabilities, promote awareness about their potentials and abilities, and advance authentic inclusion.

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Youth Empowerment — Empowerment Through Integration

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Since 2011, ETI has implemented our direct service programs with blind children, youth with visual impairments, their families, and general members of the community in Lebanon. Our programs focus on the transforming mindsets and misconceptions about disabilities and they aim to:

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Mia Mingus is a writer, educator and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice. She is a queer physically disabled korean transracial and transnational adoptee raised in the Caribbean. Mia Mingus is a writer, educator and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice. She is a queer physically disabled korean transracial and transnational adoptee raised in the Caribbean.

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Aaron Phillip on Her Book - This Kid Can Fly

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Aaron Phillip on Her Book - This Kid Can Fly

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Many resources about this book are available on the internet that misgender Aaron, who identifies today as a gender nonconforming trans woman and uses she/her pronouns.

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Have you ever felt your spirit soar just watching someone on screen? Aaron Philip's infectious laugh, can-do attitude, talent and faith radiate and lift everyone he touches. Check out this video of him speaking to the folks at Tumblr for a bit of his magic.

Fourteen-year-old Aaron has already won fans around the world with Aaronverse, his Tumblr blog, that chronicles his life creating art, coping and thriving with cerebral palsy and achieving his dreams.

Now, he will move and motivate even more with his inspiring memoir, This Kid Can Fly: It's About Ability (NOT Disability) (Balzer+Bray), that debuted on February 16. Written with award-winner Tonya Bolden and featuring photos and Aaron's illustrations, it takes you through his amazing life from his homeland of Antigua to New York City. An open and heartfelt look at his struggles and successes, this debut title is a winner that will empower kids and adults to take flight too.

We're blessed to talk to both Tonya and Aaron about This Kid Can Fly. Here Tonya shares what it was like working with Aaron:

Collaborating with Aaron was a remarkable experience. I learned so much about what people with disabilities have to contend with-sometimes EVERY SINGLE DAY! It's my hope that Aaron's book will make us all more considerate and compassionate.
Why was his story one that needed to be told?
Aaron's story needed to be told because, as far as I know, a story like his isn't out there. How many black boys have an opportunity to give people a front-row seat into their lives. How many people hear stories about brave black boys. How many young people with disabilities have we heard from? We so need to hear from young people first-hand if we are going to implement sound policies that affect them.

Aaron's story also needed to be told because his father, a black man, is his primary caregiver. There are millions of black men who go above and beyond for their families, but they are rarely written about. Mostly we get the stereotype of the Dad who cuts and runs when the going gets tough.
What would you like people to know about Aaron?
I would like people to know that Aaron is more than conqueror. We worked on the book while he was interviewing for high school. We worked on the book when he was getting over a cold. We worked on it before he received his new wheelchair and other equipment that helps reduce physical discomfort and pain. There were times we had to break from a session because he was exhausted, but he never complained, never once wimped out. I also want people to know that Aaron has a heart of gold and is the soul of patience.

Thank you, Tonya. We are proud to celebrate Aaron Phillip as our honoree for Day 27. Here he talks about his wonderful new book. You're incredible, Aaron. We look forward to seeing many more:
You have a super new book out and a wonderful Tumblr blog called Aaronverse. What inspired you to write your memoir and your blog?
As you know, I have cerebral palsy, a physical disability that requires someone to help me with everyday things like bathing, getting dressed, going to the bathroom, and getting my books and computer out of my backpack when I'm in school. My book and Tumblr blog can help people understand more about what I go through and what families like mine go through. In my case, we're immigrants who struggle greatly to make ends meet, and on top of that my family must manage my physical care 24/7. My parents must stay positive, focused and believe in me despite my physical challenges. My words share those triumphs and challenges with my readers.
Why did you write this book?
I wrote this book to help people understand that just because you have to use a wheelchair to get around or have a physical disability, it doesn't mean you can't dream like other kids. You still have talents and desires. This chair that I use to get around doesn't define me or what I do in life.
Who are your heroes?
Malala Yousafzai is one of my heroes for sure. I get from her that if it looks like the cards are stacked up against you and still you rise, that's something special, inspirational. She is one person who motivates me to be the best I can be and to keep on trying. I hope to meet her someday. Give her my number!

Fred Seibert is also one of my heroes. He really took genuine interest in me and built me up in the process. I've never met someone as disarming and kindhearted as he is. Fred Seibert is someone who really sees me for ME, not my disability. I remember him telling me what he told Tumblr creator and CEO David Karp (also one of my heroes due to the fact that he created my biggest creative outlet, not to mention that he is incredibly sweet himself) as I left Frederator's NYC headquarters for the first time, "Aaron, you can come visit me as many times as you'd like, as often as you'd like, until you're bored!" I'm bored a lot.
What are your challenges?
Obviously needing someone to help support me throughout the day. I can't do many things by myself as my arms and hands don't work very well. Also, pain management is hard. I don't talk about my pain a lot. If you focus on the negative, nothing will get done. And for sure, combatting loneliness and isolation. Kids my age have tons of energy and run around. That's not really my life, though I would love it to be.

I work hard to find meaning and purpose in my life and use my strengths to stay positive.

Finding a support system is key here. As the saying goes, "It takes a village." All the things I wrote of in my book, the art classes at Children's Museum of Arts where they have built a program around true inclusivity with the rights supports so that kids can socialize and learn how to make art and combat loneliness all at same time. Like going to an inclusive summer camp at Frost Valley. Like having opportltunities to speak at places like tumblr and Mercy College where I can share my story about what it's like to be a kid with big dreams who also has major physical challenges that will be with me forever. Like sharing things about my life on my blog Aaronverse.

All these things give my life meaning and purpose.
What's next for you? What's your dream?
I recognize, as Malala does, that education is key. I work hard in school because my dream is to attend a great university, study whatever it is that interests me at that time, and hopefully get a great paying job as I will need to earn a solid salary if I am to maintain my independence and help my family remain out of poverty. I hope to keep writing and making art.
Please tell us about your creative process. What was the toughest part?
Revisiting painful and frightening moments in my life was hard. Going back mentally to the homeless shelter my dad and I had to stay in for a while. Revisiting my dad's had his heart attack and my wondering who would take care of me physically and what would happen to me and my brother if Dad passed away. Those were hard times to remember and share.
What do you want kids to take away from your story?
That if people like me, kids like me, are given the right supports, we can be productive members of society. If we don't get those just right supports, our talents will go to waste.
The Buzz About This Kid Can Fly:
"At once beautiful and heartbreaking, Aaron Philip found a way to make me laugh even as I choked up, found a way to bring on my empathy without ever allowing me to feel sorry for him. An eye-opening debut."
-Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award winner and Newbery Honor author of Brown Girl Dreaming
"This inspiring glimpse into the life of a real kid goes beyond disability to celebrate his remarkable ability."

"Philip's simple, chatty account of both physical and societal challenges...will motivate readers with and without disabilities to support accessibility and inclusion."

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Day 27: Aaron Philip - The Brown Bookshelf

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Have you ever felt your spirit soar just watching someone on screen? Aaron Philip's infectious laugh, can-do attitude, talent and faith radiate and lift everyone he touches. Check out this video of him speaking to the folks at Tumblr for a bit of his magic.

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Aaron Philips memoir of growing up with CP.  This source features a couple relevant lesson planning tools.

NOTE: Aaron now publicly identifies as a gender nonconforming trans woman and uses she/her pronouns, though this source misgenders her.

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Book Connections | This Kid Can Fly: It’s about Ability (Not Disability)

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“At once beautiful and heartbreaking, Aaron Philip found a way to make me laugh... read more

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The Disability History Museum is a library of virtual artifacts, education curricula, and museum exhibits. These programs are designed to foster research and study about the historical experiences of people with disabilities and their communities.

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The Disability History Museum hosts a Library of virtual artifacts, Education curricula, and Museum exhibits. These programs are designed to foster research and study about the historical experiences of people with disabilities and their communities.

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The Disability History Museum promotes understanding about the historical experience of people with disabilities by recovering, chronicling, and interpreting their stories.

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Non/responses to the pandemic have painfully and chillingly illustrated how people, systems, society, etc., use purported "fitness/health/wellness," as well as age, location, and other factors to make decisions about worthiness and value. This year's ableism definition modifications explicitly name birth place and living place. I removed the term "nationality" to avoid feeding into settler-imperialist conceptions of space/place and invite people to consider "living place" very expansively so as to include people who have pathological/criminal labels that invite surveillance, incarceration, institutionalization, etc., and for people who are transient, nomadic, non-possessory in how they exist, and more.

​ P revious definitions and additional context can be found here (2021), here (2020), and here (2019) .

dark to light and light to dark images of the definition. Image description: rectangular image with the definition of ableism laid over various colored blocks in the background indicating the overlaid, intertwined, connected nature of all forms of systemic oppression to ableism. The following words are on the image: able·ism /ˈābəˌlizəm/ noun A system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. This systemic oppression that leads to people and society determining people's value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, "health/wellness", and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, "excel" and "behave." You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism. working definition by @TalilaLewis, updated January 2022, developed in community with disabled Black/negatively racialized folk, especially @NotThreeFifths. Read more: bit.ly/ableism2022

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Working Definition of Ableism - January 2022 Update

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Non/responses to the pandemic have painfully and chillingly illustrated how people, systems, society, etc., use purported "fitness/health/wellness," as well as age, location, and other factors to...

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A website for college students, created by the HBCU Disability Consortium and the Association on Higher Education And Disability https://www.blackdisabledandproud.org

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BLACK, DISABLED, AND PROUD: COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

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BLACK, DISABLED, AND PROUD: ​COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Homepage

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Half of People Killed by Police Have a Disability

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Half of People Killed by Police Have a Disability

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The report, published by the Ruderman Family Foundation, a disability organization, proposes that while police interactions with minorities draw increasing scrutiny, disability and health considerations are still neglected in media coverage and law enforcement policy.

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Half of People Killed by Police Have a Disability: Report

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“Police have become the default responders to mental health calls”

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After police murder mentally-ill victims, their loved ones and activists/artists with disabilities work to dismantle disability injustice in this documentary.

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The Film

Where Is Hope: The Art of Murder, A Documentary: Mentally ill victims murdered by police brutality prompts friends, family and activists/artists with disabilities to rise-up and battle these injustices by any means necessary.

Documentary Feature - Available in English Only.
Closed Captions available in English

Where Is Hope: The Art of Murder Explores Police Brutality Against People With disabilities and the murder of two victims with disabilities and the story of the loved ones left behind. Directed by Emmitt H Thrower and Co Produced by Leroy Moore Jr. Produced and Sponsored by Wabi Sabi Productions Inc. Running time 69 minutes Released Oct 2015

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Full length Documentary with music.Where Is Hope: The Art of Murder, explores Mentally ill disabled victims murdered by police brutality. This prompts friends, family and activists/artists with disabilities to rise-up and battle these injustices any way they can. Two disabled women tell their stories of pain and horror upon the demise of their friends and loved ones.

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Inclusivity for Activists with Disabilities

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Inclusivity for Activists with Disabilities

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When engaging in activism, it is important to make sure that EVERYONE is able to participate. This article gives suggestions to make sure you consider activist with disabilities as well when planning your activism activities.

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URGE - Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity

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7 Ways to Make Your Activism More Inclusive of Activists with Disabilities

Posted by Nicole Gathany

In April, I broke my ankle which severely limited my normal activity and opened my eyes to how ableist the world is. That includes activist spaces. Yes-even yours.

It was a temporary disability, but I also was diagnosed with a long term (invisible) disability two years ago. I've also had a chronic disease since childhood that sometimes makes activists and social spaces inaccessible to me.

I am a chapter leader for URGE ATL, the Atlanta City Activist Network for URGE and participate in reproductive justice work with other organizations in Atlanta. This means I have experienced what people have done right by disabled people and what they can improve on. So, here is a list of ways folks can make their activist spaces more inclusive of disabled activists.

1. Recognize that disabilities are quite common.

The Woke Olympics can be ableist af, y'all. I remember last year, I was attending training on speaking to legislators and during the discussion, a white ally felt the need to say "Stop tweeting and get up off your ass!" I immediately quipped "What if they can't get up off their ass?" This person looked at me with disgust and rolled their eyes saying, "Well. Of course!"

This dismissive attitude implied to me, that disabilities were the exception to the rule and not the norm. But the reality is disabilities are quite common. And according to the CDC, 1 in 5 adults has a disability and they are more common in some communities and regions than others.

2. Make room for different forms of activism and keep in mind that community organizing is a group effort.

The comment and response described in #1 were ableist. But aside from that, they erased the fact that not all activism or organizing involves marching in the streets. Community organizing includes a myriad of processes including making phone calls to supporters, creating signs, planning, developing strategy, feeding other organizers by ordering food, writing letters to your legislator or trans women in prison, raising bailout funds for people in jail for not paying traffic tickets, setting up healing circles for other organizers and more. None of those require "getting up off your ass."

Staying home and tweeting ARE important. Digital organizing, for example, is an entire field, there is even a digital organizing fellowship program called The Kairos Fellowship for activists interested in this work.

3. Be mindful of invisible disabilities.

You cannot tell if someone is disabled just by looking at them because not all disabilities are visible. Earlier this year, reproductive justice, rights, and health groups in Georgia were spending every day at the capitol to pressure legislators to vote no on HB481, a bill that eventually and effectively banned abortion in Georgia. As the URGE ATL chapter president, I asked several of our community members to join us at the capitol to protest. Although some folks were available, they could not come due to disabilities I did not know that they had.

I will not out our members but I will say that disabilities, in general, can include mobility (serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs), cognitive (serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions), vision (serious difficulty seeing), self-care (difficulty dressing or bathing) and independent living (difficulty doing errands alone). Many of these can be seen or unseen. Sometimes, the inability to imagine these invisible disabilities leads to an unfair policing of disabled people.

4. Ask each attendee about their accessibility needs before events and actions.

Related to number three, you cannot always tell someone is disabled just by looking at them, so it's important to ask everyone about their accessibility needs. That way you can plan according and make sure all folks feel they can participate.

Here is a to help organizers plan more accessible events.
5. Be mindful that for many, disabilities cannot be separated from their other marginalized identities
According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2013, women, older people, and people of color were more likely to report having a disability.

For me as someone living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which I developed as a result of the sexual violence I experienced, I often wonder if I would have experienced this trauma, in the same way, were I not a black queer woman. Especially considering 9 out of 10 survivors are women according to RAINN and that's just based on the information that's reported.

My PTSD, which involves depression and anxiety, sometimes makes it difficult to participate in some actions. Some events and actions can trigger my PTSD and make sick to my stomach.

Additionally, according to the World Health Organization, disabled people are likely to experience economic stress due to medical expenses which often leads to poverty. Therefore, lack of funds or lack of access to transportation can also make activism less accessible to disabled people. If your organization has the ability, provide carpooling or ride shares to actions and events.

6. Make sure your event or action is accessible every step of the way.

Asking attendees about their accessibility needs is just the first step. The worst thing you can do is fall through at the end of an event.

This summer I went to a certain march (won't say which one), but I was experiencing pain in my ankles and could not march the whole way so I took the bus they provided for physically disabled people. It turned out they provided a bus for the march but they did not provide a bus afterward. Luckily, I was able to use a rideshare service paid for by URGE but for others, this may have created an undue burden.

Don't just ask about accessibility to check off boxes. Demonstrate that you actually care about disabled folks.

If you Google my name, you might find a picture of me with a quote by my name saying that I see self-care as a form of resistance. I love Audre Lorde and I love her quote on self-care which says, "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare."

However, self-care is not accessible to everyone in the same way and the modern self-care movement can be incredibly ableist, especially in the US which tends to be very culturally individualistic.

This is where community care comes in. A few years ago, I attended a march against police brutality in Atlanta, but I had to leave because several people there were smoking tobacco and my asthma makes it so that I stop breathing if I breathe in too much tobacco smoke. I later contacted the organizers of the march and told them about my asthma and they told me there was nothing they could do about that.

I was turned off from direct actions for years following that even. Eventually, a friend of mine who organizes communities in Queens, NY against police brutality reassured me that what those organizers did was wrong because paraphrasing Assata Shakur, in community organizing it's our job to protect and take care of each other.

Many of the steps above can help with community care. In the situation I described above, centering community care could have looked like asking people to smoke in a designated area to care for those with respiratory issues.

This isn't an exhaustive list and I have left out plenty of other things you can do for folks with disabilities. However, this is a great start that shows your commitment to disabled folks. Comment if you have any additional ideas on how to make activism more inclusive of disabled activists!

Tags: activism, disability, inclusivity, people with disabilities

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7 Ways to Make Your Activism More Inclusive of Activists with Disabilities - URGE

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In April, I broke my ankle which severely limited my normal activity and opened my eyes to how ableist the world is. That includes activist spaces. Yes-even yours. It was a temporary disability, but I also was diagnosed with a long term (invisible) disability two years ago.

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René Brooks is a late-life ADHD success story. After being diagnosed 3 times as a child (age 7, 11, and 25), she was finally able to get the treatment she deserved. René decided that her passion for helping others should be put toward people with this disorder who are struggling in silence or shame. She started Black Girl, Lost Keys to empower black women with ADHD and show them how to live well with the condition.

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Black Girl Lost Keys navigates life with ADHD with realistic viewpoints, a lot of acceptance, and major laughter.