NEWS
From Pride to Pride
Yesterday, some organizers, like those of the NYC Dyke March, made access a priority for disabled, chronically ill, and immunocompromised queers by insisting on masks and offering an array of access features in the streets.
This week, we transition from one pride month to the next. In the U.S., July is Disability Pride Month. And for another year, pride is a tricky thing when it risks depoliticizing the role of disability in public life. When those marching in the streets are doing more to prevent the spread of covid than our hospitals, we are pushed to balance our love and joy in disability communities with the outrage and pain of ableism’s ongoing reign.
I am honored to continue the Cultivating Access Ecologies series I am curating at Lincoln Center with An Evening of Access Magic on Saturday, July 1st to kick off Disability Pride Month. This event is a silent disco party featuring DJ Who Girl (yours truly), DJ Crip Time (Stefana Fratila), Jerron Herman, and a bunch of party access features: vibro-tactile suits from Music: Not Impossible that translate DJ sets into points of haptic contact, ASL song-signing, live creative captioning, required masks for those coming in-person, and Zoom space and a virtual world for those joining remotely. More here.
Disability & the Culture Industries
There have been many recent headlines about disability and entertainment:
Black Lives in Music and Attitude Is Everything released “UNSEEN, UNHEARD: Race and Disability - Black Disabled Experience in the U.K.’s Music Industry.” The research finds that 74% of Black disabled music creators felt there were specific barriers to success in the industry.
The Inevitable Foundation has launched a campaign called Hire Disabled Writers, “a multi-pronged effort to break down the most pressing barriers holding back disabled creatives by providing both these artists and the industry at-large with equitable and innovative solutions to put more disabled people in positions of power.” The Foundation is also running an emergency relief fund and hiring an Individual and Corporate Giving Lead.
Unilever has launched a campaign called “Believe In Talent,” including a survey that found that 73% of disabled creatives felt the industry was exclusionary towards them, even though 62% expressed an interest in working in Advertising, TV, Radio, and Film.
In the U.K., Tracey Corbin-Matchett of Bus Stop Films was recently honored for her work to train disabled students for work in the screen industries.
Danny Woodburn recently argued that what Ted Lasso did for mental health, Hollywood should do for disability.
New Works
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in New South Wales, Australia is presenting Paradoxes of Paradise, an exhibition investigating the realities of chronic illness and organ transplantation. The show is curated by Creative Hybrids Lab, an international collective of artists who are also organ transplant recipients critically engaging with their lived experience of chronic illness and transplantation. Featuring Andrea Barrett (UK), Bianca Willoughby (AUS), Dominic Quagliozzi (USA), Dylan Mortimer (USA) and Tereza Crvenkovic (AUS). July 1 through September 24.
An article by Chancey Fleet in the MIT Technology Review looked at several tactile graphics projects seeking to end “image poverty.”
"Disability and the Divine" at Peterborough Cathedral in the U.K. features artworks depicting Christian figures as disabled, including a wheelchair-using Virgin Mary.
Vilissa Thompson recently broke down ableist assumptions about disabled people choosing not to have children.
Disability EmpowHer Network and the Toledo Museum of Art recently hosted the second annual Disabled Women Make History (and Art) event in celebration of the 24th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court Olmstead decision.
Disabled artists in L.A. recently staged a show based on Rocky Horror Picture Show.
EVENTS
Escape the Void: Poetry Night Fundraiser
Wednesday, June 28, 10pm ET, on Zoom
Join us for poetry night fundraising event featuring Chicana Disabled dance artist & poet Vanessa Hernández Cruz! Plus get a free digital zine! Vanessa will be reading four poems from her collection that dive into themes of liberation, intersectionality, & otherworldly experiences. Plus get a sneak peak of her newest poem that will premiere in her new dance work Metal, Plastic, Skin ! The fundraiser will help fund Vanessa’s new contemporary Disability Dance work Metal, Plastic, Skin premiering in July! Learn more about it here. Sliding Scale $15-$45.
Labor & Disability Justice: Towards Solidarity
Wednesday, June 28, 7 - 9pm ET, on Zoom
PeoplesHub Circle connecting movement activists from disability & worker/labor justice communities, and those already organizing at the intersections. The increased labor organizing across a range of sectors (warehouse workers, baristas, non-profit staff, higher education faculty, etc) has broad implications for all movements, including disability justice. Specifically, it means that labor unions, worker centers and affiliated organizations are in a process not only of growth, but also transformation. Labor Notes, co-sponsor of the Circle, supports worker organizations through such change. Disabled and chronically ill workers, especially those who are BIPoC, have always organized for justice on the job; this Circle will highlight some of this work. The Circle will also raise key questions regarding the opportunities and challenges around building real solidarity. Participants will be invited to share their own stories and strategies. Azza & Deborah, as moderators, will frame the session, alongside multiple guests offering brief observations and questions.. These provocations will serve as touch-points for small and full- group discussions. The event will also be a springboard for future networking and collaboration amongst disabled workers.
Access as Artistry, Access for Organizing
Wednesday, June 28, 12 - 1pm ET, on Zoom
The kickoff event for a series called “Access Access” that I am organizing at Creatives Rebuild New York will take place this week, featuring Jerron Herman. It will ground and introduce access as a set of artistic tools and as a framework for organizing. This event is designed for a general audience, including artists, organizations, and activists.