Happy yesterday to my pain flare-up, a day for the couch. So welcome to the Tuesday edition of the newsletter. Thanks for being here.
-k
NEWS
In Brief…
There are a lot of new works to report out today (and still many more next week!), so I’ll keep some other news short today.
Biden has signed a so-called “landmark” bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriages for nondisabled people in the US. We still do not have disability marriage equality.
The second parabolic flight from AstroAccess, an organization dedicated to disability inclusion in space exploration, will take off tomorrow from Houston. 4 returning flyers and 12 news ones will “continue the important accessibility research that was conducted on the inaugural AstroAccess flight in October of 2021, as well as work on two additional parabolic flights conducted by MIT and the Aurelia Institute, which flew AstroAccess Ambassadors in May of this year.”
Gabriel Perna reports on the rise of venture capital investments in tech startups attempting to “disrupt” the marketplace for autism care and services.
Rachana Pradhan reports on private equity pouring billions of dollars into the lucrative business of clinical trials.
Some major health care systems, like The Cleveland Clinic, are now charging patients to communicate with their doctors through messaging portals.
A lawsuit in D.C. is seeking changes to bike lanes that make it difficult and dangerous for wheelchair users to get from their car to the sidewalk.
Lisa Rein’s reporting in The Washington Post gives us a new sense of the crisis of administrative backlogs at Social Security offices.
The Center for Disability Justice Research recently opened at Cal State - East Bay. Co-Directors Dr. Sarah Taylor and Shubha Kashinath, and center affiliate Dr. Eric Kupers, were recently on KPFA’s Pushing Limits to discuss the opening.
On KBOO’s Disability Justice: An Everyday Pursuit in Survival, organizer Nico Serra talks about durable medical equipment and the Oregon Health Authority Ombuds Program.
Disabled workers in the University of California UAW strike have laid out the blueprint for an “Access Needs” section of a contract that could take protections around disability beyond the ADA’s insufficiencies.
The Wellcome Collection in London has closed its Medicine Man exhibition, after 15 years on view. “The story we told was that of a man with enormous wealth, power, and privilege,” the museum said in a tweet. “And the stories we neglected to tell were those that we have historically marginalized or excluded.”
New Works
John Lee Clark’s How to Communicate: Poems is out now from W. W. Norton. Poets & Writers posed 10 questions to John about the book.
Sharing the story of her medical crises over the summer, Alice Wong writes about the flaws of American health care that make it so difficult to stay in community while getting the care you need.
Leah Harris historicizes the push to expand involuntary treatment for those with so-called mental illness.
A report by the Urban Institute has found that over 17 million disabled people - and nearly 75% of extremely low-income disabled people - are not receiving federal housing assistance they should be getting.
The Belabored podcast from DISSENT Magazine looks at how long covid is a labor rights issue.
Wanted: A World For One Billion is on view at the United Nations Visitors Lobby in NYC through Jan. 4th. The show features Panteha Abareshi, Lauren Anders Brown, Mbuto Carlos Machili, Megan Bent, Aurora Berger, Frances Bukovsky, Sugandha Gupta, Jaklin Romine, and RA Walden.
The Center for American Progress has released a new report: “How Dehumanizing Administrative Burdens Harm Disabled People.”
Disabled artist Viktoria Modesta joined Katy Perry on stage in her recent show in Tokyo (and continues to imagine a “post-disability world,” which is not possible.)
#FestivalsWithoutBarriers is a new British campaign to improve accessibility at arts and music festivals.
Lateef Mcleod was recently on the Srsly Wrong podcast to discuss Disability Justice.
Disabled artists Ezra Benus and Panteha Abareshi are 2022 Artist2Artist Fellows, a program from the Art Matters Foundation where artists act as grantmakers.
The city of Zurich awarded a cultural prize to the queercrip theatre project Criptonite.
In The New York Times, Ross Douthat writes about what legalized euthanasia has done to Canada.
The Creative Diversity Network has released “Diamond at 5: A deep dive into the representation of disabled people in UK television.”
The 4th Inclusive Cultural Gala recently took place at the National Theatre of Panama and featured a roster of professional disabled artists.
Szepty/Whispers - a stage performance that looks at “how culture, migration, and trauma shape generational perspectives on disability” - recently closed at Pi Provocateurs in Vancouver.
CALLS
Applications for UCLA’s Dancing Disability Lab, running from July 17th - 25th, 2023, are open through Feb. 6th. More info here.
Sign the petition to ask the UK-based organization Scope to stop the exclusion of ethnically diverse people and the clinically vulnerable from their Disability Equality Awards.
Crate Studio & Project Space Ltd are raising funds for a retrospective exhibition celebrating the life and work of Margate-based artist and disability activist Lizzy Rose, who died in January 2022.
The Whitney Museum is accepting applications for an FAO Schwarz Fellow to “plan, co-lead, and then lead programs for disabled and non-disabled youth and their families, design lessons, and engage in scaffolded learning.” More info here.
The ADAPT Community Network is hiring a full-time Assistant Director of Education Program Services.
PeoplesHub’s Cultivating Cultures of Access campaign is raising funds to be equally distributed between PeoplesHub’s disability justice, arts and cultural programs and Let’s Get Free, The Women & Trans Prisoner Defense Committee's creative practice of prison abolition. Donate here.
Disabled British artist Esther Fox is seeking people (ideally U.K based) living with a genetic condition to participate in a series of online workshops in early 2023. These 2 hour workshops will explore the ethics of genome editing from the perspectives of people with lived experience of genetic conditions, whose voices are rarely heard in conversations around genome editing. The workshops will generate material for a film art installation which will be exhibited as part of “Cut + Paste”, an exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute from spring/summer of 2023, exploring the ethics of genome editing technology. Please email estherappleyardfox@gmail.com and express your interest.
EVENTS
Online. Thursday, Dec. 15th, 4 - 5:30pm ET
Join artist Jillian Crochet, whose work is featured in the exhibition Tikkun: For the Cosmos, the Community, and Ourselves, with guests Carmen Papalia, Whitney Mashburn, and Georgina Kleege for an interactive virtual discussion exploring the relationship between art, touch, and care.
How to perform on Zoom, presented by Anusha
On Zoom. Thursday, Dec. 15th, 6 - 8pm GMT
Suggested Amount £0 - £20
Image description: Background – Dark background Writing in a blue oval with turquoise outlining. “How to perform on Zoom.” Pink writing: Presented by Anusha In collaboration with: The Remote Body, Crip Play.
Weekly peer-led support groups at Luna Community Care
In Pawtucket, RI and remote. Various dates/times.
Global Disability Dialogues, vol. 1: Miyuki Tanaka
At this Zoom link. Friday, Dec. 16th, 4 - 6 pm ET
The first in a series of informal dialogues with disability activists, students, researchers, and artists from NYC and around the globe, with the aim of discussing each other's disability and access-related work, convened by Miyuki Tanaka, Yan Grenier, and Sasha Kurlenkova at NYU.
A Woodley White Solo Exhibition + Ode to the Tee
In-person party in Brooklyn. Thursday, Dec. 15, 6 - 8pm ET
For Woodley White, the T-shirt is a generous muse. Within its dependable formula — crew neck, short sleeves, boxy fit — lurks infinite variation. Tees are willowy; tees are squat. They are monochrome, striped, or checkered. Some have sloped sleeves that peek out like snouts, others boast sleeves angular as the wings of an aircraft.
Thanks again for bringing together this wide-ranging collection of news. Lately I've been thinking and writing about legacy, so the story of Lizzy Rose resonated.