Crip News v.106
There's lots in today's issue, so click through at the bottom of the email to view the full issue. Thanks for being here.
NEWS
Excellence in Disability Reporting
The National Center on Disability and Journalism recently announced the winners of the 2023 Katherine Schneider Journalism Award and the Gary Corcoran Student Prize for Excellence in Reporting on Disability.
A pattern is clear across the categories: stories that uncover violence and toxicity in care facilities and service provision. Check out the full list of winners and, if you’re in Phoenix, AZ, you can attend the award ceremony on Nov. 9th.
“Disability Justice”
Every so often, I report on some of the corners of the internet where I notice this term is appearing. Here are some recent findings:
A recent story in the “Disability Justice for All” series by Prism looked at how disabled first responders are making disaster relief more accessible.
ABLE New Hampshire held its second annual Disability Justice Parade last month in Manchester, New Hampshire.
On the Office Hours Podcast hosted by David Spataro and Laura Martin, Mary Jirmanus Saba, Dana Ernst, and Sarah Abusaa discuss “Centering Disability Justice in Academic Labor Organizing: The Case of the UC Grad Worker Strike.”
In a recent blog post for Harvard Law’s Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, President & CEO of New Disabled South Dom Kelly writes about “Building a Disability Organization Rooted in Disability Justice.”
Professor Maureen Connolly, part of a team of researchers at Brock University and Niagara College that recently developed “an immersive virtual reality (VR) tool that will help students learn about the lived experiences of people with disabilities on post-secondary campuses,” recently said this about the project: “This is a wonderful example of what can happen when a project is informed by principles of disability justice.”
On Patreon, Write Jobs PLUS+ is offering “~$2 per word” for writing about disability justice (paid membership required to view).
In a recent talk called “America the Embodied: Democracy and the Future of Disability Justice,” Professor Joel Michael Reynolds argued that disability justice demands an amendment to the U.S. Constitution ensuring access.
A company called The Able Fables is selling $28 t-shirts about disability inclusion, including one that says “I LOVE ACCESSIBILITY & DISABILITY JUSTICE.”
New Works
The “Access Access” series is an offering from Creatives Rebuild New York and Artist-Organizer Kevin Gotkin. Videos, participation guides, graphic notation, and resources are available for 4 sessions recorded on Zoom in the summer of 2023: “Access as Artistry, Access for Organizing,” “Tools for Access Design: An Introduction to Access Ecologies,” “A Survey of Contemporary U.S. Disability Aesthetics,” and “Tools for Access Design: Plain Language and Easy Read.”
Disrupt And Resist : A Love Letter To The Disability Community On What Showing Up For Each Other Can Be, curated by Alissa Maru and Jen White Johnson is up through Nov. 11 at Mason Exhibitions Arlington in Fairfax, VA.
From Nov. 10th - 17th, the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Theatre Arts presents Corsicana, by Will Arbery, directed by Alison Mahoney and featuring disabled actress Megan Michaels. Mahoney and Michaels also were featured on the Voices of the Arts podcast from WQED.
The Social Model…& More Festival, curated by Caroline Mawer, will take place across Theatre Deli's Sheffield and London venues this month, starting this week. The festival “explores new perspectives on disability and the relationship between disabled people and the world around them. “
Disabled designer Paul de Livron recently delivered a hand-crafted wooden wheelchair to the Pope.
Samuel Habib recently accepted an award at the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards for “My Disability Roadmap,” a production with The New York Times Op-Docs series.
Netflix’s limited series adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s novel All the Light We Cannot See, has casted actors who are blind and low vision (Aria Maria Loberti and Nell Sutton) in the role of the lead blind character. Each episode is accompanied by vivid audio descriptions and audiences can listen to a separate audio introduction recorded by star Loberti.
Arts Council England will fund a pilot project exploring the representation of people with disabilities in children’s books for three to 11-year-olds.
But Arts Council England must also change the tides in its own workplace. A recent report found that most disabled staff reported instances where the organization “had not considered their access needs or preferences, and recounted instances of ableist attitudes and discrimination from colleagues, line managers and senior leaders.”
GOOD GOOD GOOD recently published an extensive interview with organizer Daphne Frias on “Disability & Climate Justice.”
Headspace, an Irish short film by Aisling Byrne, has been shortlisted for the 2024 Oscar awards.
Stage & Studio debuted a podcst episode in its documentary series of interviews and creative writing by and with young artists and writers featuring 3 stories of disability by Niko Boskovic and Veronica Salrin with a reading by actress Fermina Lopez.
Mouthwater Festival, co-founded by Saira Barbaric, NEVE, and Vanessa Hernández Cruz, is a new disabled arts fringe festival coming to Seattle in fall 2024, funded through a multi-year grant from the Ford Foundation.
“Lines,” a dance work featuring queer, refugee, and disabled performers, recently premiered at the Dream City Festival in Tunis, Tunisia.
In Seoul, South Korea, Korean and Australian disabled dancers performed Counterpoise, a collaboration between Adelaide-based Restless Dance Theatre and the Korean contemporary 29Dong Dance Theatre.
Rest in Power, Ady Barkan
Be a Hero, the organization Ady co-founded in 2018, announced the death of the activist who sought broad and urgent changes to the American health care system. The organization released a briefing on Ady’s work and life.
CALLS
The U.S. Access Board is hiring a Public Affairs Specialist. Apply here.
The Spoonie Uni Project is raising $800 to support 4 Black and non-Black Indigenous low-income folks this fall. Donate here.
The Grieving Project, written by Lisa Sniderman, produced by Open Circle Theatre, and directed by Suzanne Richard, has issued an Open Casting Call for lead and ensemble actors with and without disabilities and Deaf/Hard of Hearing who sing for hybrid (live and virtual) performances of a spoken word musical about finding your voice. More info here.
EVENTS
Late Shift x NYU Center for Disability Studies with Jerron Herman: Rest
USE CODE LateShift-NYU FOR 100% DISCOUNT
Thursday, Nov. 9, 6 - 8pm ET, in-person at the Guggenheim Museum (NYC)
Join us on the evening of November 9 for the newest Late Shift program highlighting LAX, a site-responsive, interactive performance and score choreographed by interdisciplinary artist and dancer Jerron Herman. Designed to be experienced from anywhere within Frank Lloyd Wright’s rotunda, Herman’s score will guide visitors’ energy throughout the building, creating moments that honor our bodies’ needs for comfort, play, and rest. This immersive program, presented in collaboration with the Center for Disability Studies (CDS) at New York University, will also feature a host of additional activations throughout the museum. Herman’s score will ebb and flow, providing opportunities for visitors to engage with performance textiles created by artist Sugandha Gupta, attend gallery talks with vibrant verbal descriptions of artworks and lively conversation led by educators Georgina Kleege and Bojana Coklyat, and enjoy a screening of Notes from the Panorama, a video collaboration between multidisciplinary artist Carolyn Lazard and writer/performer Amber Rose Johnson.
"Home is a Holy Place" by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Thursday, Nov. 9, 4:30pm, online
Part of the Asian American Feminisms Speakers Series at Smith College. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, a renowned queer and Asian American poet, performer, and organizer in Disability and Transformative Justice movements will discuss her work and new book, The Future is Disabled. Co-sponsored with Prof. Jina Kim’s Smith College English department course on Feminist and Queer Asian American Writing.
SIGHTED PEOPLE SUCK!
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 7pm, in-person at Under St. Marks (NYC)
SIGHTED PEOPLE SUCK! a new solo storytelling performance by Leona Godin. Writer and performer Leona Godin (New York Times, There Plant Eyes) has lived on pretty much every notch of the sight-blindness continuum and has been on all kinds of stages. From presenting animals to other kids at the San Francisco Zoo, to banging drums in a New Orleans punk band, to finding love and her (decidedly not-angelic) blind voice in an East Village basement theater open mic, she’s learned a lot. Like how to handle a boa constrictor, play the accordion, have Blind Pride in an ocularcentric world, land a TV commercial, and wield a white cane with authority while wearing high-heel boots (OK, maybe she’s still working on that one). Most importantly, she’s learned the hard-fought lesson that blindness isn't really the problem. It's just that sighted people kind of suck!
Conversations with ‘The Fil’: Panel Discussion on Braille Music Transcription
Monday, Nov. 6, 7 - 8pm ET, on Zoom
In this “Conversation”, Dr. Dalia Sakas will lead a panel discussion about braille music transcription with the following guests: Vaughn Watson (Director of Student Success - Manhattan School of Music), Madeline Mau (Student - FMDG Music School), Kyle Woodruff (Tenor - Tabernacle Choir), and Ju Hyeon Han (Assistant Professor, Music Performance - Ithaca College). We will also unveil more information about our upcoming partnership with the New York Public Library’s Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Books Library. RSVP to music@fmdgmusicschool.org to receive the webinar link.