Getting Down to Another Year
Notes at the end of 2022 from Qudsiya
Hello DTTS community!
It feels like 2022 went by in a blink. During the mad dash of December, a huge priority of mine has been building the foundations for our sixth season, which will drop into your feeds early next year. The team and I are beyond excited to bring you a new series of insightful conversations about disability, design, and intersectionality, so we can, together, uncover the building blocks for a more inclusive and accessible world.
I’ve also had an opportunity to reflect on the miles we’ve traveled in 2022. We wrapped up two podcast seasons, and I guest hosted an episode of Afar Magazine’s Unpacked podcast about inclusive and accessible travel. I had the honor of presenting at the Mobilities Conference on immigration and disability, and joined Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees at their biennial meeting to speak about this important and understudied topic. I also began my very first teaching gig with CUNY Law School’s Immigrant and Noncitizen Rights Clinic and led a panel on the future of the ADA at the Disability Rights Advocates annual gala. I feel so blessed to have had these opportunities to serve the disability community alongside leaders I admire and hold up as role models.
It's been even more thrilling this year to bear witness to the successes of the disability community and advances in the movement for disability rights and justice. I’ve been honored to interview many of the people responsible on Down to the Struts. In 2022, Alice Wong published her memoir, Year of the Tiger, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha released The Future Is Disabled, Arielle Silverman created Just Human, Jennifer Natalya Fink wrote All Our Families, and Sami Schalk birthed Black Disability Politics. And that’s just books!
On the advocacy front, Karla Gilbride won a unanimous Supreme Court victory in Morgan v. Sundance, and President Biden nominated her to serve as General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Disability Rights Advocates reached a historic settlement with the New York City MTA to make subway stations more accessible, and Urban Institute launched the Disability Equity Policy Initiative to advance research on the experiences and needs of disabled people in housing, immigration, and public benefits. Conchita Hernandez Legorreta was also named to the National Board for Education Sciences, and disabled people experienced outer space for the first time.
I cannot wait to see what beautiful things the disability community can accomplish together in the year to come!
Building Your Knowledge
Since podcasts are on my mind at the moment, here are three awesome audio experiences from disabled creatives I’ve enjoyed lately.
Young, Gifted, Black, and Disabled: Haben Girma Guides Us Through Self-Description (Reid My Mind Radio)
Another awesome audio experience from Thomas Reid, featuring a thought-provoking perspective on self-description from lawyer and activist (and the first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School), Haben Girma. Also check out Thomas’s Disability Visibility Project blog post on self-description, and Haben’s memoir.The Ancestors Woke Me Up feat. Leroy Moore (Power Not Pity)
I recently discovered Power Not Pity, a podcast created by Bri M. This is a fascinating and lyrical interview with Leroy Moore, activist, poet, and founder of Krip Hop Nation. Bri reads us excerpts from Leroy’s book, Black Disabled Ancestors, bringing to life the possibilities that disabled ancestors represent, and the imagined worlds they might have created if they came together in the present.Style Me Up, Nat! With Jennifer Renee (Fashionably Tardy)
I leave you with an episode from two of my favorite disabled podcasters, Natalie Trevonne and Lissa Lo. Natalie interviews beauty influencer Jennifer Renee, including some great makeup tips for those of you who might be in search of some fresh looks for the holidays.
And one article that explains how the changes to Twitter — from axing the accessibility team to charging for verification — will hurt disabled activists and the communities they’ve built. Even if you’re not an active Twitter user, it’s not difficult to see how it’s been important to the work of disability justice advocates.
Twitter has been important for disability activism — that’s being lost under Elon Musk (Miro Griffiths for The Conversation)
Taking Action
My one request of each of you as we head into the holiday break is to rest and be at peace. In the chaos and turbulence of this world, this is the greatest gift we can give each other, in furtherance of the Disability Justice principle of sustainability, so we can all stay in this work for another year.
Thanks for reading our newsletter this month. Stay tuned by joining our Facebook group and following us on Twitter and Instagram to learn more about what’s in store for 2023. Also remember to subscribe to the podcast, and if you like what you’re hearing and reading, please share the show and newsletter with friends and family.
Wishing everyone peace, rest, and love as we wrap up 2022!
In solidarity,
Qudsiya