Crip News v.124

New works, an employment dispatch, calls, events, and more. Thanks for being here.

Mar 18, 2024

New Works

The new 2024 World Down Syndrome Day campaign from nonprofit CoorDown is an instant classic that demonstrates a logical fallacy at the heart of ableism. Ahead of March 21, the ad stars Canadian disabled artist-badass Madison Tevlin and, was inspired by a 2019 speech from Italian disabled self-advocate Marta Sodano, and addresses the power of assumptions to either limit or liberate. The video takes its place in the pantheon of Down Syndrome media excellence, along with “Not Special Needs” and “Anything But Sorry.”

A video still of a lush green backyard garden thriving in between apartment buildings, a caption in the middle of the image says “vibrant slowness”

Greenness by Alex Dolores Salerno explores the natural aspects of autistic access intimacy and pays tribute to the late disabled artist Mel Baggs. The show is up at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT from March 21 through May 19.
The Council on Quality and Leadership published results from a survey of 347 professionals who work with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The study asked the workers to define “ableism,” provocatively rated each definition, and concluded that only 48% of the workers had an accurate sense.
Disabled author Sandra Gail Lambert was recently interviewed on WUFT about her new collection of essays.
Dance company Full Radius Dance recently premiered its newest work, Saint, at 7 Stages Theatre in Atlanta.

This is a close-up photo of me (Sam) releasing urine from my catheter into a yellow water balloon. I’m wearing blue pants faded to purple, a grey plaid shirt and brown leather sandals. My Dystonic hand is visible from the top left corner, pushing urine out of my catheter bag.

Yucky, curated by Sam Peterson at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, is up through May 4. Featuring works by Josh Campton, Sophie Cassar, Makeda Duong, Lorcan Hopper, Elizabeth Reed, and Finnegan Shannon.

Navy blue background with pink text. “Criptionary”, “Envisioned as a comprehensive online database, Criptionary’s mission is to document, elaborate upon, and spotlight critical disability concepts, influential scholars, and pioneering advocates. More than a passive dictionary, it’s a “living” archive, constantly evolving and updated by a community deeply embedded in disability discourse and advocacy.”

Criptionary, a new project from the UC Berkeley Disability Lab, “aims to be a dedicated digital platform for disability studies and advocacy.”
The Hastings Center has published a new issue brief on “Anti-Ableist Medical Education: Meeting the Challenges.”
The Television Academy Foundation released video from a panel about “Ensuring Authentic Disability Inclusion” featuring Lauren Appelbaum, Eileen Grubba, Tari Hartman Squire, David Renaud, Sue Ann Pien, and Karen Horne.
Poetry Foundation recently published “Starship Somatics: An Invitation” by Petra Kuppers.

Employment Dispatch

There’s been a lot of news about disability and employment lately:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 22.5% of disabled people had jobs in 2023, the highest rate since the agency started collecting disability data in 2008 but still roughly one third the rate for nondisabled people.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland published research, however, that shows the increase in disabled workers “largely reflects a change in self-reported disability status among those already in the labor force rather than an actual increase in labor supply.”
- The Center for American Progress also identified gaps in the new disability employment rate data, noting that “Asian workers with disabilities have the lowest employment rate compared with other racial and ethnic groups, and are the one group whose employment rate has not increased or recovered following the pandemic.”
- CAP also published recommendations on “Eliminating Barriers to Employment for Disabled Women,” part of the Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis released a blog post about “The Labor Effects of Work from Home on Workers with a Disability,” showing that the availability from work from home “has the potential to greatly narrow existing labor market gaps between workers with a disability and those without a disability.”
In an essay called “Divine Economics” in MIT Technology Review, Whitney Bauck profiles Allison V. Thompkins, whose research helped show how that ADA has had long-term negative impacts on the disability employment rate, and who has turned her work toward spiritual education.
Last month, Kansas passed legislation to phase out subminimum wages for disabled workers. In Georgia, similar legislation has passed a committee vote. But efforts at equal pay failed in Utah. The New America Foundation has updated its state-by-state map of the issue.
New York City recently issued a Request for Information to co-design “a new pilot workforce development program for New Yorkers with disabilities.”

CALLS

Sick in Quarters (SiQ) is raising money for safe and accessible vigils to mourn the passing of Izabelle New. Donate here.
The RestFest Film Festival is accepting submissions, with deadlines on March 21 and April 25. More here.

EVENTS

Kinetic Light LAB: Writing Into/Shifting Our Waves of Grief

Friday, March 22, 2 - 4pm ET, on Zoom

Are you feeling isolated and in despair due to the ongoing genocides happening globally? Do you want to spend time with others bearing witness and committing to action? In this two-hour workshop, we will read the words of activist poets to help inspire us – and we will do some generative writing exercises to help name, release, and transform our collective grief into transformation and change. All levels of writers are encouraged to attend. Learn more about Amir Rabiyah at their website.

There’s a tilted horizon and thin lines that shoot out from a vanishing point like a sunset (the usual Crip News header) except the colors are inverted and it’s a black background with white lines, like nighttime. Big text floats over the land-line: INTENSITIES BELOW. Smaller text under: we could breathe, hold the breath and let it out slow, mist the plants, or notice a sensation, get water, leave the screen entirely, nap

digital collage of a black and autistic 15 year old young male smiling while cascaded in a crown of colorful flowers — Design by **Jen White-Johnson**.

Rest in Power, Ryan Gainer

On March 9, police in California murdered 15-year-old autistic child Ryan Gainer while responding to his family’s request for help. Tributes have spread online and once again there is renewed attention on the long-standing pattern of police terror against Black autistic people.