Crip News v.126
New works and honors, changes at the SSA, calls, events, and in memoriam. Thanks for being here.
NEWS
New Works
“Criptech and the Art of Access,” a special issue of Leonardo edited by Vanessa Chang and Lindsey D. Felt, offers the term “criptech art” for disabled artists “who engage with digital and scientific technologies as both a creative medium and avenue for crip practice,” documenting and extending the Leonardo CripTech Incubator project. Featuring work by Laura Forlano, Itziar Barrio, Aimi Hamraie, Kevin Gotkin, Darrin Martin, Frank Mondelli, Jennifer Justice, Cynthia O’Neill, Meesh Fradkin, Olivia Ting, Allison Leigh Holt, Andy Slater, Elizabeth McLain, Erika-Jean Lincoln, Ysolde Stienon, Marina “heron” Tsaplina, Aminder Virdee, Megan A. Johnson, Eliza Chandler, Carla Rice, Vanessa Chang, Lindsey D. Felt, and Claudia Alick.
Fireweed Collective has released recordings from 2 recent programs: Romance Myth Webinar #4: Fear of Engulfment and Fear of Abandonment and Boundaries, Feeling, & Consent: A Webinar for Survivors & Other Miracles.
Now available on NOWNESS, the short film “Better” explores “disabled identity through two sisters – one living freely having accepted her chronic illness, and the other unable to process her sister's reality.” Developed by British writer/director Zoe Hunter Gordon with disabled producer/associate writer Celestine Fraser.
Lorina Bulwer by Dolly Sen, first printed in March 2022, is available again in its fourth printing. The text is a “polemical exploration of madness, material, and the life” of the incarcerated needleworker “who made thunderous embroideries that scorn and rage and gossip about life in the town and workhouse” from 1893 to 1912.
Crip Cinema Archive, a project by Emily Simmons, seeks to document “films that speak to something about the crip experience, speak to crip audiences, or that have a crip writer, director, or lead actor.”
Impact has published a feature issue on “Disability Rights, Disability Justice,” with works by an array of disabled artists and organizers.
Anna Maria has published “Access intimacy in therapy shelters queer disabled hope” on queerbeat, with illustrations by Mia Jose.
A new episode of the CBC Arts docu-series Canada’s a Drag features Edmonton-based disabled drag artisy Hot Wheelz.
The CBC also published video profiles of 3 filmmakers from the Canadian National accessArts Centre - Jody Lynn Roll, Paul Brain, and Kathy M. Austin - ahead of a short film screening event on Thursday, April 4, in-person at Contemporary Calgary Arts Society.
In a guest essay for Refinery29, Natalia Barroso recounts the process of releasing shame around disability in an intergenerational Latinx disabled family.
In Limelight Magazine, Steve Dow talks with “performers and directors who are working to improve disability representation” on stages and screens.
NPR profiled some of the care providers and disabled people in the movement for “holistic health care” that recognizes the importance of fun in the lives of people with complex medical needs.
New Honors
Unlimited has announced the 15 winners of its 2024 Open Awards program, each of whom will receive between £15,000 to £80,000 to create new work. The UK awards go to Aisha Mirza, Bea Webster and Ciaran Stewart, Farrell Cox, misery, Nadenh Poan, Nelly Kelly and Afton Moran, FlawBored, Sarah Ezekiel, Taking Flight Theatre Company, and Tink Flaherty and Abra Flaherty. The International awards go to Birds of Paradise Theatre Company and Diverse Patterns, Byron Vincent and Elif Simge, Chisato Minamimura and Alice Hu, Extraordinary Bodies and Pamoja Dance Group, and F. Zeeshan Choudhury and Rasel Rana.
The 2023 winners of the Wynn Newhouse Awards, an annual competition that “provides grants to artists of excellence who happen to have disabilities.” The winners are Allison Janae Hamilton, Emily Barker, Francisco echo Eraso, Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen, Megan Bent, and Nicole Storm.
Changes at SSA
Martin O’Malley, the former Governor of Maryland who was sworn in as the new Commissioner of the Social Security Administration at the end of last year, recently testified before the Senate Committee on Aging about the state of the agency. He painted a picture of crisis, opening with figures showing that SSA staffing is at a 25-year low despite serving a growing population. He also showed state-by-state data on disability applicants’ waiting time (averaging nearly 8 months or 228 days for an initial decision).
He also announced several significant changes to the agency’s practice of “clawing back” funds it deems were overpaid: the SSA will stop intercepting SSI benefits for people who were deemed overpaid and cap the withholding at 10%, shift the burden of proof onto the SSA to find proof of claimants’ wrongdoing in overpayments, extend the available repayment period for those who do need to pay money back by 2 years, and make it easier for people to request a waiver if they’ve done nothing wrong.
Although the SSA is using these announcements to put forward a new and compassionate face, the changes come because the agency’s hand was forced in the settlement of a class-action lawsuit, Campos v. Kijakazi, at the beginning of this year. And, according to a recent report by the agency’s own internal watchdog, the SSA failed to properly notify some poor and disabled Americans before levying huge fines on them, sometimes reaching more than $100,000.
CALLS
Maxime Beauregard and Erin Ball are raising funds on behalf of Palestinian artist Youssef Muhammad Amin Akhdar, who has asked for help for him and his family to be allowed at the Gaza-Egypt Rafah border crossing. Donate here.
The Sistas Uprising Fund is seeking funds to distribute a new round of grants for marginalized artists. Donate here.
Disabled Dismantlers, “disabled artists and/or workers are providing collective care, action, equity, safety, and joy for each other and ourselves,” are seeking new members to co-create space in monthly meetings. More here.
Project LETS is hiring an Anti-Carceral Youth Peer Counseling Project Coordinator. More here.
Applications for the $10,000 2024 Processing Foundation Fellowship, Sustaining Community: Expansion & Access, open today, with several opportunities about disability and tech. Apply by May 2. More here.
Disability Arts Online is seeking respondents for its annual audience survey. More here.
Criptonite is looking for disabled/chronically ill theater, dance, drag or performance artists living in Switzerland for a new lab project. More here.
EVENTS
Whitney Signs: Biennial 2024
Saturday, April 6, 3:30 - 6pm ET, in-person at the Whitney Museum (NYC)
Join us for an in-person program focused on the 2024 Biennial, led by Deaf educator Joyce Hom in American Sign Language. The event begins with a tour at 3:30 pm and will be followed by a wine and cheese reception from 5–6 pm in the Laurie M. Tisch Education Center. Please plan to meet in the lobby at 3:30 pm.
ReelAbilities New York
Various dates and times, April 3 - 10, in-person (NYC) and online
Founded in 2007 by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York is the largest festival in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with disabilities.
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles InFocus: Disabilities Program
Saturday, April 6, 11am - 6pm PT, in-person in LA
InFocus: Disabilities is a program that spotlights disability both in front of and behind the camera. It features a blend of storytelling through the lens of visible and invisible disability, centering work made by disabled filmmakers and stories of disability told in close collaboration with their subjects or protagonists. From family dramas to romantic comedies to experimental narratives, this program showcases a range of work from emerging talent.
DREDF Fair Housing Month Events
Various dates and times, starting Friday, April 5, online
In celebration of Fair Housing Month, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund is hosting four lunchtime (12 PM - 1 PM PT) presentations on fair housing law.
Rest in Power
Cola Boyy
“Disabled disco innovator” performed at festivals like Coachella and made beautiful noise for disability artistry. He is memorialized by the New York Times and NPR.
Jess Curtis
Jess Curtis eschewed “pretty dancing” and left an indelible mark on dance and the artistry of access. He is memorialized in the San Francisco Chronicle, on KQED, and at a recent vigil.
Paul Alexander
Paul Alexander survived polio, became an iron lung icon, earned a law degree, wrote a book and, late in life, built a following on TikTok. He is memorialized by the New York Times and NBC.
And more…
If you’re reading this, you know every disabled life matters. If you have someone you’d like to remember, drop a tribute in the comments. We cherish the many who are not lifted up by major news organizations.