Disability Justice by Shannon Starr

In my mid to late twenties, I stumbled upon the concept of disability justice, despite being a Special Education student in grade school and undergoing surgery for chronic pain. This revelation, absent from my earlier education, transformed my understanding of disability

shannonstubbs96 — 2023-11-20 15:01:11 UTC

This pivotal moment allowed me to embrace my disability with pride, recognizing it as a unique aspect of my identity rather than a limitation. Learning about disability justice empowered me, fostering a sense of agency and challenging societal norms perpetuating ableism. This newfound knowledge has had a lasting impact, shaping my personal identity and fueling my commitment to advocating for inclusivity and accessibility. In essence, discovering disability justice was a turning point that reframed my perspective, instilling in me a newfound pride in my identity and a dedication to a more inclusive and just world.

I think disability justice was a feeling that existed subconsciously in me long before anyone ever verbalized it to me.

2023-11-22 15:11:18 UTC

Disability education has always been something I had to seek out for myself. Beginning in seventh grade with a research assignment about activists, I would choose topics related to the disability community in an attempt to learn more about my community’s past and culture. While I was desperate to see myself reflected in the things I learned about at school, I also feared becoming ‘the disability girl’ in the eyes of others, a one-trick pony trying to make everything about myself. Throughout my entire educational career, disability-related knowledge has been something I had to seek out for myself and then pass on to my classmates, teachers, and administrators.

I don’t remember the first time I heard the term disability justice, but I do remember the first time I said the word ‘disability.’ As someone who grew up knowing many people who move like me and who thought of myself as quite comfortable with the idea of my disability, it came as a shock for me to realize when doing a school project in eighth grade that the word had never left my mouth. Even once I came to this realization and made a conscious effort, it was difficult to make myself speak it those first few times. I found myself confused and disappointed in myself that I of all people couldn’t even say ‘disability’ without cringing a little. I think that moment really brought to my attention that there was still a long way for me to go to reach the understanding of myself and my community that I wanted to have. That ended up being a turning point in my studies, solidifying my commitment to learning as much as I can and questioning the norms of our society that condemn and vilify disabled people. For me, learning about disability justice has meant freedom, validation, and power.

I didn't discover disability justice until I was an undergraduate student and befriended peers who were in disability studies courses.

2023-11-28 13:15:48 UTC

I never really thought about disability justice or activism until I befriended two people in my second year of college. I would listen to them chat about many topics and be so confused that I'd look up everything they had discussed. They often gossiped about the disability services office and other students. I never thought there would be so much drama within their community. One of my friends has a lot of disabled friends and would talk about all their experiences. This same friend even took a course that traveled to Japan and Washington D.C., so they had a lot of opinions. I'm grateful for them. Through all the gossip, rants, and stories I heard, I learned a lot and unintentionally became aware of the systemic and logistical issues affecting accessibility. But it wasn't until I studied abroad in Denmark that I kept thinking, "Well, how do folks with wheelchairs or other mobility devices get around?" and "Where are they?" That's when I realized how much those random tangents impacted me and their importance in creating societies where disabled people can exist as seamlessly as able-bodied people can.

Justice and a holistic approach is everything

2023-11-28 21:26:06 UTC

Without a justice framework, we will never be equal. I had this realization pretty early in my young adulthood around 18 when I went to college and was able to live independently. I officially became familiar with the term in my mid-20s through Sins Invalid, which I found super helpful and insightful. To me, it's obvious that we can only understand ableism "by tracing its connections to the heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism". This is a similar issue with many forms of discrimination in our society.

This shaped my perspective by showing me that we can't just put a band-aid on systemic issues like ableism. It goes too deep to ignore or to only address a symptom or two.

I didn't have a lot of early experiences with disability justice, let alone disability rights. I didn't have a lot of community around disability, especially for my physical disabilities, and it was very isolating. I would love to see disability, history, justice, etc. incorporated into anything and everything intersectional. I think this has a big impact because disability justice framework provides useful context and, at least to me, helps frame how to help the disability community in an intentional way. Justice is an important framework that helps inform a holistic approach to making things better for disabled people. I am so glad I was introduced to it!