Crip News v.123
New works, new honors, flowers for Vilissa Thompson, other news, calls, events, and intensities. Thanks for being here.
NEWS
New Works
Street Soundsystem, a public soundsystem, created a film essay version of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s essay “Palestine is Disabled” to project in London’s outside public spaces.
“Disability culture is something you are a part of — not something that is happening to you,” says Saskatoon-based disabled artist and journalist John Loeppky in an opinion column for the CBC, published with video and ASL versions.
The recording is out from DaDa’s Rushton Lecture “Reclaiming Nonchalance” presented by Ashokkumar Mistry, with a panel featuring Kai Syng Tan, Sonia Boué, Dr. Linzi Stauvers, and Ngozi Ugochukwu.
In “Dailyrium,” recently published in Asia Art Archive, The Resting Museum’s Shreyasi Pathak considers how crip time shapes the archive.
For CNN, disabled journalist s.e. smith reflects on disability and comedy following Shane Gillis’s ableist flop on SNL.
Except from E.T. Russian’s “What Do You Want? I Got You” (2023) The January 2024 “Inclusive Design Issue” of Design Museum Magazine features “Accessibility and Inclusion in Housing Design” by Anne Riggs, “What Do You Want? I Got You” by E.T. Russian, “How Can We Design for Disabled Joy?” by Hannah Silver & Holst Architecture, and more.
“A wheelchair-user being cast as an extra is in many ways just as groundbreaking as being cast as a series regular,” writes Jason Dorwart in HuffPost, reflecting on Netflix’s Fool Me Once.
Uninstalling Normalcy by Dolly Sen, commissioned by Live Art Development Agency, is a “Study Room Guide” that “takes the form of reflections on the power of language relating to mental health conditions, the tyranny of normality, double consciousness, and much more.”
Chicago’s 3Arts has published new conversations among Deaf and disabled artists in their Disability Culture Leadership Initiative:
“Punk Cripistemologies” with multidisciplinary artist and disability advocate Reveca Torres, singer/songwriter Stephanie Alma, and comics artist/illustrator Bianca Xunise
“Rhythm & Humor as Resistance” with playwright and teaching artist Arlene Malinowski, drummer Tommy Carroll, and media maker Kennedy Healy.
Check out the full archive here.
Taku Aoyagi’s documentary film Fujiyama Cottonton, now showing in cities across Japan, seeks to represent the wholeness of residents at “welfare facility” Yamayuri En.
Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery by Annie Liontas was published by Simon & Schuster in January.
Neurodivergent philosopher and researcher Robert Chapman recently spoke with Jesse Meadows about their book Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism from Pluto Press.
The recording is out from Comic Studies & the Longmore Institute on Disability’s recent event “The Messy Work of Making a Visual Medium Accessible: Tactics for Audio Describing Unflattening,” featuring Nick Sousanis with Georgina Kleege, Joshua Miele, and Silvana Rainey. More resources from the event are here.
Elise Phillips, Executive Director & Creative Producer at UK-based CoDa Dance, recently published an opinion essay in Arts Professional about using technology to amplify disability dance artistry. CoDa is currently one of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations.
Photo by Marcus Shields. midair for some time, by NYC-based collective UP UNTIL NOW, is “a multi-sensory, immersive installation exploring intimacy, connection, and Queer community'“ featuring vibro-tactile suits by Music: Not Impossible. The performances run through March 24th at JACK in Brooklyn.
Scholars and activists Pratima Gurung, Penelope J.S. Stein, and Michael Ashley Stein published “Intersectionality, Indigeneity, and Disability Climate Justice in Nepal” on Bill of Health, the blog of the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School.
The Guardian’s Jay Rayner dines with disabled artist Jamie Hale and reports on the lack of access info at restaurants.
New Honors
Interdisciplinary disabled artist Alice Sheppard was named a MacDowell Fellow for an upcoming spring/summer residency.
Lachi, singer-songwriter and co-founder of Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities (RAMPD), was recently named one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year. She talked with Peter D. Kramer about her work.
Independent Australian regional theater company Back to Back was recently awarded the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award at the Venice Biennale for work that “blows away prejudice and makes disability a tool of artistic inquiry.”
Flowers for Vilissa Thompson
Here’s a little roundup of love for the creator of #DisabilityTooWhite, founder of Ramp Your Voice!, and general icon. You can support Vilissa on Patreon here.
@VilissaThompson, whether she knows it or not, has been a role model for Black disability activism for me, especially as it pertains to Black disabled women.
One of my day ones.
And was one of the inspirations for what I think was my most important legal writing I’ve done.
Tiara Mercius, J.D.
@VilissaThompson is the shit and deserves all her flowers for what she’s done to advance Black disabled feminism. Period.
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
I’m late, but I too would like to sing your name @VilissaThompson. Your love and leadership has taught me so much over the years. We love you. We need you. We absolutely will not let anyone’s insecurity or misogyny block the blessing you are to all. Keep shining.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
In Other News…
In the UK, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) have organized direct action protests “to resist Conservative plans to cut out-of-work disability benefits and introduce other harmful social security reforms.”
In the US, the Disability Caravan is on a tour to "honor and celebrate people and places significant to our 100+ year struggle for freedom and justice.” Check out the tour route here.
Accessible travel has been in the headlines recently:
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a new proposed rule that would “require that airlines meet rigorous standards for accommodating passengers with disabilities safely and with dignity.”
The 19th published a feature of Emily Voorde, the disabled organizer whose longtime friendship with Buttigieg has helped shape his commitment to disability policy.
Finally, the hotel-focused booking platform accessibleGO announced a wide-reaching expansion to make it simpler for travelers with disabilities to plan trips.
CALLS
Sky Cubacub is organizing a fundraiser to support 21-year old Palestinian Seraj. You can donate money here or goods and services for an upcoming fundraiser here.
Sky also has a partnership with Far UV Technologies for $400 off the Far UV Legacy Guard (typically $1999). Use discount code “LegacyGuardRG” at checkout here.
Let’s Get Free is fundraising for a second cohort of A Softer Landing Fund, a guaranteed income program for people coming home from prison. Donate here.
Emily Sara is running an incredible jobs channel on Instagram. To follow, click this link on your mobile device.
The Center for American Progress is hiring a Policy Analyst/Senior Policy Analyst for its Disability Justice Initiative. More here.
AAPD is hiring a Vice President of Policy. More here.
The Disability & Philanthropy Forum is hiring an Executive Director. More here.
Applications are open for Caring Across Generations’s 2024 Care Fellowship. Apply by March 15. More here.
University of Atypical is seeking LGBTQI+ d/Deaf, disabled, or neurodiverse performers for a Disability Pride Cabaret Showcase in July 2024. More here.
The Disability Collective is looking for 10 disabled drag and burlesque performers for the second edition of CRIPtonite in Toronto. Apply by March 22. More here.
DaDa is looking for Trustees and a Chair of of the Board. More here.
EVENTS
Wake Up America: Black Disabled Women on the Future of Democracy
Tuesday, March 12, 4 - 5pm ET, on Zoom
The annual Longmore Lecture in Disability Studies promotes the work of scholar-activists bringing new perspectives to ongoing conversations of disability. Join us, together with Disability Visibility and the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute for Human Rights, for this conversation with the editor and authors from the new anthology Wake Up America: Black Women on the Future of Democracy as we explore critical insights on how we can create a more equitable political future. Keah Brown will be moderating the event, and on the panel will be Dr. Keisha N. Blain, Vilissa Thompson, and Andraea Lavant.
The Tuba Thieves
March 15 - 21, in-person at BAM (Brooklyn)
A slew of tubas were stolen from high schools across Southern California between 2011 and 2013. While reporters focused on the thieves, director Alison O’Daniel uses the tuba thefts as an opportunity to explore the roles of sound, power, and language in our conception of community. Prioritizing a d/Deaf/Hard of Hearing form of storytelling in which information collides and is allowed to be misunderstood, O’Daniel offers a truly incomparable, multi-sensory cinematic experience about what it means to listen in the modern world. All screenings feature Open Captions.
Collective Liberation: Disability and Immigrant Justice
TODAY, March 11, 10:30am to 12:00pm PT, on Zoom
In this webinar, funders will learn from disability justice leaders implementing strategies at the intersections of disability and immigration justice. Disability justice offers a framework for grassroots organizers and practitioners in the field doing cross-movement work. This framework underscores the ways in which collective liberation can dismantle systemic biases, including ableism. Featuring Osvaldo “Ozzy” Capmany, Executive Director of Living Hope Wheelchair Association, Laura Murchie, Staff Attorney at the Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center, Rumba Yambú, Co-Founder & Director of InTRANSitive, moderated by Sandy Ho, Program Director at Borealis Philanthropy Disability Inclusion Fund, and Kevin Douglas, Senior Director of National Programs at Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees.
Funding Sustainable Movements at the Intersection of Gender and Disability
Thursday, March 14, 10 - 11:30am ET, in-person at the Japan Society (NYC)
Please join Women Enabled International for a panel discussion on funding movements at the intersection of gender and disability, where you'll hear from activists, funders, and movement leaders about challenges and opportunities they've identified in funding sustainable movements. Following the panel, please join us for a networking event for attendees working at the intersection of gender and disability, which is co-sponsored by our colleagues at the Urgent Action Fund.
Jezz Chung presents This Way to Change, feat. Sarah Burke
Sunday March 17, 3 - 5pm ET, in-person at P&T Knitwear (NYC)
P&T Knitwear is pleased to welcome artist, poet, & change maker Jezz Chung for a discussion, audience Q&A, and signing of their newest book, This Way to Change. Jezz will be joined in conversation by Sarah Burke, Editor-in-Chief of Them.
Kinetic Light LAB Hangout
Saturday, March 16, 2 - 3:30 pm ET, on Zoom
Hangouts are hosted as an open-structured virtual social space for disabled artists to connect and get to know one another. Hangouts offer space to talk about disability, art making, creative practices, life hacks and tips, dreams, desires, disability wisdom, and more. You’re welcome to bring ideas for conversation or a bit of art that inspires you. LAB Producers, morgaine and Camisha, will loosely guide the gathering, offering topics and questions as needed. Come meet and be with us!
In an Instagram feature published by Slow Factory, disabled organizer stefanie lyn kaufman-mthimkhulu offers the term “soul loss” to understand the depths of non-humanity we are witnessing in the Israeli occupation.
ProPublica has published an in-depth account of one New York woman’s decade of neglect in the guardianship system. Disabled writer Alison Bergblom Johnson also published an essay on the guardianship of a woman in St. Paul, MN from 1896 – 1907.
Parents in Florida are suing the administrators of their loved ones’ Supplemental Needs Trusts after nonprofit founder Leo Govoni stole $100 million from their accounts.