# data[].attributes.body
A student-led panel on disability & accessibility at WashU. 02 Dec 2022.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
De-Stigmatizing Disability: A Student Panel

# data[].attributes.body
An accessible future would mean that structures are designed as inclusive/accessible places, not just as an afterthought. Instead of having to make alterations to accommodate disabilities in homes and facilities when the need arises, the initial and default design of places would already be accommodating.

# data[].attributes.body
Sins Invalid is a disability justice based performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and LGBTQ / gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. Led by disabled people of color, Sins Invalid’s performance work explores the themes of sexuality, embodiment and the disabled body, developing provocative work where paradigms of “normal” and “sexy” are challenged, offering instead a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all bodies and communities.

We define disability broadly to include people with physical impairments, people who belong to a sensory minority, people with emotional disabilities, people with cognitive challenges, and those with chronic/severe illness. We understand the experience of disability to occur within any and all walks of life, with deeply felt connections to all communities impacted by the medicalization of their bodies, including trans, gender variant and intersex people, and others whose bodies do not conform to our culture(s)' notions of "normal" or "functional."

(Excerpt from the Sins Invalid website)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
OUR MISSION

Sins Invalid is a disability justice based performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and LGBTQ / gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. Led by disabled people of color, Sins Invalid's performance work explores the themes of sexuality, embodiment and the disabled body, developing provocative work where paradigms of "normal" and "sexy" are challenged, offering instead a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all bodies and communities.

We define disability broadly to include people with physical impairments, people who belong to a sensory minority, people with emotional disabilities, people with cognitive challenges, and those with chronic/severe illness. We understand the experience of disability to occur within any and all walks of life, with deeply felt connections to all communities impacted by the medicalization of their bodies, including trans, gender variant and intersex people, and others whose bodies do not conform to our culture(s)' notions of "normal" or "functional."

OUR VISION

Sins Invalid recognizes that we will be liberated as whole beings-as disabled, as queer, as brown, as black, as gender non-conforming, as trans, as women, as men, as non-binary gendered- we are far greater whole than partitioned. We recognize that our allies emerge from many communities and that demographic identity alone does not determine one's commitment to liberation.

Sins Invalid is committed to social and economic justice for all people with disabilities - in lockdowns, in shelters, on the streets, visibly disabled, invisibly disabled, sensory minority, environmentally injured, psychiatric survivors - moving beyond individual legal rights to collective human rights.

Our stories, imbedded in analysis, offer paths from identity politics to unity amongst all oppressed people, laying a foundation for a collective claim of liberation and beauty.

WHAT WE DO:

Our goals are to:

Promote leadership opportunities for people with disabilities within our communities and within the broader social justice movement.

Provide a supportive and politically engaged space for both emerging and established artists with disabilities to develop and present compelling works to a broad audience.

Develop and present strong artistic work that explores sexuality and the non-normative body, integrating the full and multi-dimensional experiences of disabled artists who are also people of color and LGBTIQ, in order to represent all of our communities and challenge dominant misperceptions about people with disabilities.

WE DO THIS BY:

Offering political education workshops for community based organizations and other organizations that share our commitment to social justice principles as a means of integrating analysis and action around disability, race, gender, and sexuality.

Presenting multidisciplinary performances (video, poetry, spoken word, music, drama, and dance) by people with disabilities for broad audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere.

Organizing performance workshops for community members with and without disabilities.

(click on photo and hover over it with the mouse for image description)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our goals are to: Promote leadership opportunities for people with disabilities within our communities and within the broader social justice movement. Provide a supportive and politically engaged space for both emerging and established artists with disabilities to develop and present compelling works to a broad audience.

# data[].attributes.body
Long Alt text description:

[Flyer for the Center for Diversity & Inclusion’s student art contest called “The Future Is Accessible: Disability Creatives on Campus.” Below the CDI logo and contest title, text reads: “During this year's Diversity Week, September 20-24, 2021, WashU's Center for Diversity and Inclusion will accept submissions of creative work by students with disabilities. Submission categories include: Writing, Performing Arts, Visual & Plastic Arts.

We are centering the experiences of students with disabilities and invite all such students to submit creative work inspired by this year's theme: "The Future is Accessible."

The CDI will display these pieces in an online and in-person gallery exhibition in the Fall 2021 semester (Dates TBD).

Students with disabilities who submit work or sign up to be a peer judge will receive free swag. Creatives in each category will also get the chance to win a giveaway box!” At the bottom of the flyer, text reads “Scan the QR Code (bottom right corner) to participate. Deadline: October 29th.” You can also apply by following this link: https://form.jotform.com/212544033867052.]

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Link to the website for the Disability Futures Virtual Festival in July 2021.

# data[].attributes.body
Check out material from the first ever Disability Futures Virtual Festival (July 2021), which convened writers, artists, and activists with disabilities to create dialogues around accessibility, digital divides, and intersecting forms of oppression.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Alice Wong in a video discussion titled "Resisting Ableism: Disabled People and Human Gene Editing" (CC).

# data[].attributes.headline
Alice Wong - "Resisting Ableism: Disabled People and Human Gene Editing"

# data[].attributes.subject
Alice Wong - "Resisting Ableism: Disabled People and Human Gene Editing"

# data[].attributes.body
#CriptheVote

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Alice Wong - "Resisting Abelism: Disabled People and Human Gene Editing"

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Pictured: A headshot of activist Alice Wong next to the cover of her edited book, "Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century." 

# data[].attributes.body
“To me, disability is not a monolith, nor is it a clear-cut binary of disabled and nondisabled. Disability is mutable and ever-evolving. Disability is both apparent and nonapparent. Disability is pain, struggle, brilliance, abundance, and joy. Disability is sociopolitical, cultural, and biological. Being visible and claiming a disabled identity brings risks as much as it brings pride.”

–Alice Wong