Hello, dear DTTS community! We appreciate your patience and grace, especially our newest subscribers, as the team and I adjust to new transitions, personally and professionally.
We’re thrilled to share that we’ve officially launched our search for a Digital Media Manager. You can check out the position posting here, and please do share widely with your networks. We’re excited to bring on a new team member who can help us sharpen our social media game, improve our website, and generally expand our digital footprint, all while building a more just, inclusive, and accessible world. If digital media and disability justice are your jam, and you’re looking for a part-time paid gig, this position is for you!
This is a paid position at $35 USD per hour, and involves 10-20 hours of work per season. We typically release 2-3 seasons per year. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and walks of life. Anyone who is interested can send a resume and brief cover letter explaining your interest in joining our team and any relevant skills to downtothestruts@gmail.com.
Getting Down to Business
It’s been a delight to get into the business of teaching. My family law students are bright and engaged, and I’m impressed each class as they debate how a family should be defined; when and how the government should regulate families; who should have the right to marry; and how each member of a couple should be treated if a marriage breaks up. Of course, we’ve also talked about how disability can impact the family—including the case Buck v. Bell which denied the right of disabled people to reproductive choice; the impact of guardianships and conservatorships on disabled people’s right to marry; and the SSI marriage penalty.
In addition to launching my new role as a law professor, I’m delighted to share that I was selected as a 2025-2026 USC Annenberg Civic Media Fellow. I’m so honored to be a part of an incredible cohort of brilliant creators who are leveraging media to do things like bring traditional healing practices to modern medicine, amplify disability culture through humor in the face of global conflict, ensure food justice in their communities, and so much more. You should learn more about our full cohort and connect with them all through social media. We’ll be spending the academic year together thinking through how we can move our civic media projects to the next level as a supportive, interdependent community. I know that being a part of this incredible cohort will be a humbling experience, and a chance to think about how to make Down to the Struts a stronger resource for all of you, my treasured listeners and readers.
As always, if you have feedback or ideas, please email us at downtothestruts@gmail.com.
Community shout-outs
As always, here’s a snapshot of what’s going on in the community.
Next on my reading list is Articulate: A Deaf Memoir of Voice by Deaf writer, Rachel Kolb. I can’t wait to dive in to Rachel’s experiences as a Deaf person navigating a hearing world, and the ways in which she has challenged our notion of what it means to communicate and be heard. Also check out this wonderful reflection from Rachel’s newsletter about creating the audio version of her book. As a blind person whose preferred reading modality is audiobooks, I found
Rachel’s thoughts on creating the recording from a Deaf perspective fascinating.
Fellow Civic Media Fellow, Maysoon Zayid has developed DisCo (DisCo=Disability Community) events around the world, from Ramallah, to Bethlehem, to New York to bring together and celebrate disability community and culture. Hit Maysoon up on Instagram if you want to bring DisCo to your community.
Thanks for reading our newsletter this month. We’ll be back next month with more news from the podcast and the disability community!
In solidarity,
Qudsiya