Crip News v.55

NEWS

New Works

• There are a bunch of new books out! And Duke University Press is having a fall sale (50% off!) through Oct. 28th with the code FL22.

  • Health Communism, by Death Panel Podcast organizers Beatrice Adler-Bolton & Artie Vierkant, is out from Verso. The book “examines how capital has instrumentalized health, disability, madness, and illness to create a class seen as ‘surplus,’ regarded as a fiscal and social burden.”

  • We Are Having This Conversation Now: The Times of AIDS Cultural Production by Alexandra Juhasz & Theodore Kerr is out from Duke University Press. The book “offers a history, present, and future of AIDS through thirteen short conversations.”

  • Nothing Without Us Too from Renaissance features 27 multi-genre stories by authors who are “disabled, d/Deaf or hard-of-hearing, Blind or visually impaired, neurodivergent, Spoonie, and/or who manage mental illness.” Authors: Jayne Barnard, Meg Candelaria, H.E. Casson, Jessica Corra, Matthew Del Papa, Jen Desmarais, Bernadette Gabay Dyer, Ari Fletcher-Bai, A. Gregory Frankson, Tea Gerbeza, Michelle F. Goddard, Anita Goveas, Dianna Gunn, Anita Haas, Juliet Hill, Stephen Graham King, B. Lawrence, Rook Laz, Melissa Mead, Polly Orr, Jessica Peter, Erin Rockfort, N.R.M Roshak, Holly Schofield, Avi Silver, Cathy Smith, and Sienna Tristen.

  • Black Disability Politics by Sami Schalk is out from Duke. It “explores how issues of disability have been and continue to be central to Black activism from the 1970s to the present.”

• asweetsea, open through Jan. 14, 2023 at John Hansard Gallery (Southampton, U.K.), is the first solo show by Liza Sylvestre. It is curated by Sarah Hayden as part of Voices in the Gallery. The exhibition asks “What does hearing mean? What does deafness mean? What does disability mean? Where do these things begin and end?”

• In The Creative Independent, Yo-Yo Lin talks with Joselia Rebekah Hughes about “using her everyday life in her work, art as a refuge and pathway to communication, and how lying can lead to burnout“ in a piece called “On the process of processing.”

• At the ribbon-cutting for a new disability career center in Chicago, the city unveiled a mural by Sam Kirk. It features poetry written by Lily Diego-Johnson, a poet and social worker with a disability “who communicates powerful words about disability identity. The mural also includes innovative sensory aspects, including lenticular images, giving the illusion of depth and movement, along with raised elements encouraging tactile interaction.” The event also included the announcement of Ariella Granados as Artist-in-Residence at Central West Community Center.

• The Center for Law & Social Policy recently published a report with concrete actions policymakers and program administrators can take to improve accessibility of public programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for people with Long COVID and other disabilities.

Upcoming Festivals

When I shared some thoughts to mark the one-year anniversary of Crip News, I noted how many disability arts festivals come across the channels I use to gather news for these issues. So many! And 2 long-running festival traditions are happening again.

In the U.K., DaDaFest has been running since 2001. This year’s theme is “Hybrid,” a description of content and form. Starting Oct. 26th, many performances will be filmed for remote viewing starting Oct. 31st and continuing through Dec. 18th. Check out the full program here.

And although it ended last night (apologies for not featuring this last week!), the Superfest Disability Film Festival also featured hybrid design for its program that has been running annually since 1970.

Searching: “Disability Justice”

I recently created a Google Alert for “Disability Justice.” And I’m learning a lot about how this term is circulating. Here are a few links:

• Co-Founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, Sarah Jama, is running to be a member of Ontario’s provincial parliament.

• Course Hero, a site that claims to help students “access 100 million course-specific study materials,” includes this slide deck about Disability Justice.

• ABLE New Hampshire recently organized what they call “the first Disability Justice parade” in Manchester.

Social Security Increase

The Social Security Administration recently announced that Supplemental Security Income and other Social Security programs will increase by 8.7% through an automatic cost-of-living adjustment process, the largest increase since 1981. A recent event organized by the Century Foundation to mark SSI’s 50th anniversary lays out why this increase is insufficient and explains the urgency of major legislative overhaul of the program.

Disability at Work

An Intel/ADP Research Institute survey from earlier this year found that only 4% of employees disclose their disability status at work, demonstrating the deeply entrenched risks from stigma and discrimination in work cultures. Could new platforms that mediate between employees and their employers help?

UHC “Investment”

UnitedHealthcare has committed $5 million to The Multi-Assistance Center located at a disability-centric theme park in Texas. The Employment Support Center will “provide counseling and education to individuals with disabilities to help them succeed in the workplace” and the Practice Without Pressure program will support disabled people to “become more comfortable with medical tests and procedures” such as blood draws and dental work.

---

CALLS

• Deep Medicine Circle is hiring an Administrative Assistant. More here.

• The Kelsey and the City of San Francisco Human Services Agency Department of Disability and Aging Services have released a Request for Proposals for those interested in operating the new Disability Community Cultural Center at The Kelsey Civic Center. More here.

• Robert Kingett is seeking disabled performers for an open mic series with the Chicago Public Library. More here.

• Creating Freedom Movements is seeking applications for its 2023-2024 Cohort. Apply here by Nov. 13th.

---

EVENTS

• Conversation about Blackness and Disability facilitated by Kayla Hamilton and Joselia Rebekah Hughes. This conversation is initiated by a new choreographic work in process entitled, “How To Bend Down/How To Pick it Up."  “How To Bend Down/How To Pick it Up” aims to offer a spatiotemporal, spiritual and somatic conjuring, archiving and reclamation of the ways Black and Disabled folks adapt, assemble together and love one another. Thursday, Oct. 27th 4 - 5:30pm ET. RSVP here or email morgaine@kineticlight.org.

• The Ford Foundation is hosting a conversation with Dr. Sami Shalk about Black Disability Politics. In NYC and remote. Wednesday, Oct. 26th 11am - 12:30pm ET. RSVP here.

• Weisman Art Museum is hosting an online version of the Flashlight Project, a workshop, where we’ll explore the frameworks of conversation in this now-familiar, virtual environment, led by artists Liza Sylvestre and Christopher Jones. Thursday, Oct. 27th 7 – 8pm ET. Register here.

• Indiana University Department of History’s 35th Annual Paul V. McNutt Lecture will be “Reimagining Disability, Reimagining History” by Dr. Susan Burch. Tuesday, Oct. 25th 7 - 8pm ET. Remote. More info here.

• MoMA is hosting a Crip Art Chat about “Masquerade” on Zoom on Friday, Oct. 28th 3 - 4:30pm ET. Register here.