Crip News v.2
Last week's kickoff post had over 1,700 views, y'all! 🤠 If this is your first email, welcome. Thanks for being here.
Today, on the 5th anniversary of her death, we remember Deborah Danner. She was 66 years old when she was shot by police in her bedroom in the Bronx. Her story fits a terrifying pattern of Black disabled lives stolen by police: a neighbor called 911 to describe “erratic” behavior, the police responded by provoking confrontation, severely overreacting, then lying, and later being acquitted for her murder. Another pattern: medics tell the truth.
Although it is rarely mentioned in the reporting about her death, Deborah was an author and IT professional. I encourage you to take a few minutes today to read her 2012 essay, “Living with Schizophrenia.” Her descriptions of stigma, survival, and self-doubt foretold the failures of care and justice that allowed her death.
[T]hose who don’t suffer believe the worst of those of us who do. (3)
Today you might pass this essay through your mutual aid networks or demand that your elected officials respond to it or keep reading.
Last week was the officially designated Indigenous Peoples Day, but…
There is no alt-text for embedded Instagram content on Substack, so here is what this post by the Transgender Law Center says: As long as you are on Stolen Land, every day is Indigenous Peoples Day. The post was originally by @terisasiagatonu and there is more attribution on the image: In collaboration with @lilnativeboy & @melaninmvskoke.
Consider supporting the work to rematriate housing for urban Indigenous people.
Lots and lots of disability-related political action is happening around the U.S.
Universal paid sick leave would help stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect workers, but it’s far from a legislative reality. Check out where things are near you.
New York and California are among the first states to issue vaccine mandates for in-home care workers. So far in NY, ~3% (34,000) of these workers are refusing. And it is further contributing to an existing shortage crisis of home health care workers.
We need the Better Care Better Jobs Act. It has passed in the Senate but is stalled in the House. Get the basics on how $400 billion would transform access to home and community-based services (HCBS).
There’s lots to report on disability and public education right now. Distance learning is not working for disabled students and the inequities are worse for incarcerated students. Check out 3 bills in Congress that could protect disabled students. The U.S. Department of Education has finally issued guidance on IEPs during the pandemic. With the Department of Justice, they also released information on supporting students at risk of self-harm during the pandemic. New York State is seeking suggestions for replacing “emotional disturbance” as a classification for disabled kiddos. (I like “neurodivergence.”)
Rest in power, Marilyn Golden.
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, though any month is a good one to reflect on the disability unemployment gap. Unfortunately, awareness campaigns don’t work. Maybe we need a reframe: why not demand the right not to work?
Here are some residencies, grants, and jobs to consider:
The deadline for Dance/NYC’s Disability. Dance. Artistry. Residency has been extended until Oct. 30 at 11:59pm ET. There is lots of support for this application: virtual tech assistance hours, $100 for all eligible applicants as compensation for submission, and funds to cover fiscal sponsorship fees. Hell yeah, Dance/NYC!
October 25 is the deadline to submit an LOI for a $25,000-100,000 Artistic Production grant from the VIA Art Fund.
Abrons Arts Center is accepting applications for its Performance AIRspace Residency. This includes a $7,000 commission fee and 200 studio hours.
Northern Arizona University is hiring an Associate Director of the Institute for Human Development, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD).
Arizona State University is accepting applications for its Interplanetary Initiative Fellowship from January 10 - May 29, 2022, and is a salaried + benefits opportunity offering $32,000 ($2,454.55 biweekly + $5,000 moving stipend + benefits) and can support a J-1 visitor visa. As the Deaf Poets Society showed us in 2017, no one is more prepared for outer space than crips.
Want to know something totally enraging? 228 of the biggest cultural institutions in the U.S. received more than $771.4 million from the Paycheck Protection Program (almost half of the entire payout) and yet they still laid off 28% of its workers. See the full report from Cultural Workers United. And check out the Creative Economy Revitalization Act now in Congress.
When they don’t take into account how the emoji in the “red flag” Twitter trend is described by screen readers [several red flag emojis whose official description does not mention the color red!]
What else is going on in the land of disability internet culture? Always lots. But y’all should check out Madison Zalopany’s TikTok videos, especially the recent ones about her adventures in self-advocacy with an inaccessible movie theater. You’ll be shocked at the co-optation, but maybe not surprised.
Another TikTok fave? Imani Barbarin.
Youngmi Mayer broke open lots of discussion about Netflix’s Squid Game in their explanation of the bad English translations. It’s important to mention that the closed captions had worse translations than the English subtitles. (What’s the difference? Subtitles only translate spoken material; captions (should) describe the full sound design.) This is just one example of a broader relegation of captions away from artistic integration.
Check out this helpful primer on the term “madness” from Project LETS, written by @stefkaufman:
The first slide of an Instagram deck: Why we use the term madness. Several balls in different colors are swirling like planets in the solar system.
In Forbes last month, Andrew Pulang typologized disability activism and explored its twinned vilification and glory.
Disability activism can be incredibly rewarding. It can also break your heart.
Activism might also be small acts, like contributing to a medical expense fundraiser.
Now, art news!
Dolly Sen offers a thoughtful critique of the CRIP TIME exhibition at Frankfurt’s Museum für Moderne Kunst (up until January 30, 2022).
Liza Sylvestre is an inaugural recipient of the Joan Mitchell Fellowship!
Superfest 2021 has just finished, but there’s still lots to explore from the program. For example, have you heard of the Rationale Method that was used in the festival’s Best Audio Description award winner?
During ArtPrize 2021 for the rest of October, The Dearest Friends Project has installed several banners and panels on the exterior of the Grand Rapids Art Museum.
Jillian Mercado brings queer disabled Latinx-cellence to fashion and television and reflects on her second season on The L Word reboot.
Disabled designer Josh Miele is a 2021 MacArthur Fellow! And last week, the New York Times featured several disability-led tech innovations in its On Tech newsletter.
Eco Soma: Pain and Joy in Speculative Performance Encounters by Petra Kuppers is out from the University of Minnesota Press.
The DeWitt Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine has released several recent videos from its speaker series on the history of psychiatry.
Selma Blair discusses chronic pain and MS ahead of the release of her documentary on Oct. 21 on Discovery+ that chronicles her stem cell transplantation.
Now, events happening this week.
Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez shares their evening-length film A Garden in the Shape of Dreams: The Video Performance on Oct. 21 from 7:30-9pm ET live-streamed by the Center for Performance Research. After the virtual screening, Krishna Washburn, a visually-impaired dance artist and Artistic Director of The Dark Room, will facilitate a conversation about the work with Nuñez and the film’s collaborators, including Michelle Mantioni, Alex Romania, and Poncho Castro. Captions and ASL. No cost.
T.L. Lewis will present the keynote address at the Building Power conference at the University of Michigan on Oct. 23 at 1pm ET in person and on Zoom. ASL, captions, and more access features by request. No cost.
NYC Black Deaf Advocates will host BIPOC Deaf and Hearing Interpreter Networking (with a masquerade mask contest!) on Oct. 20 from 8-10pm ET on Zoom. In ASL.
The Resting Up Collective and The Remote Body kick off a workshop/talk series this week. On Oct. 21 at 3pm ET, they present “Pressing on Tender Points - Jennifer Brough in conversation with Amy Berkowitz.” No access information. Email theremotebody@gmail.com to RSVP with ‘resting up collective - Amy Berkowitz’ in the subject.
Laura Heath-Stout will discuss “Ableism in Archaeology” on this week’s episode of the Diggin’ In conversation series on Oct. 20. On YouTube with captions. No cost.
Check out the Fireweed Collective’s many ongoing support groups.
If you have Zoomed with me in the last few months, you might notice I have a print by Jen White-Johnson in my video box. You can get this and more at Jen’s shop!
