It’s Disability Pride Month, and I enter it with complicated feelings about both “disability” and “pride.” So far this year, we’ve seen the dismantling of bodily autonomy in the United States with disproportionate effects on disabled people, ongoing violence against black disabled bodies around the world, and the continued devaluing of people with disabilities written into pandemic-related policies.
Still, I find myself clinging more closely to the “disability” aspect of this month of remembrance—finding delight in expressions of disability culture and growing stronger bonds with the disability community. I am also reminded of the privileges that allow me to experience pride in my identity as a blind person, and recognize the deep inequities that instill fear and uncertainty for many of my disabled brothers and sisters, especially those who are black, indigenous, and/or queer. For many in our community, expressing disability pride comes at the risk of harm. For others, who have become disabled by systems and structures that have disabled them through violence or exclusion, disability pride seems like an impossible oxymoron.
As I navigate through the tangle of joy, pain, and righteous anger that this month always seems to catalyze in me, the principles of disability justice offer a way to understand them a little bit better. Intersectionality helps me build consciousness about how laws and policies fail to address the multitudes inside of each one of us, and how those identities together, not in isolation, shape our experiences. Collective liberation and cross-movement solidarity remind me that I am not alone in my struggles. And leadership by the most impacted pushes me forward, especially in my work on Down to the Struts, to amplify and center the many voices in my community.
With all of that said, I leave you on #DisabilityPrideMonth2022 with these wise words from J. Logan Smilges, published on the Disability Visibility Project blog this time last year:
“Disability justice engenders a future where pride is just one of many ways for us to love on ourselves and the people around us.”
Wishing you all deep love, however you choose to mark (or not) this month of pride and remembrance.
Building Your Knowledge
Here are some fantastic pieces by members of the disability community for you all to enjoy this month.
Bhargavi Davar on Buddhism, Connection, Colonialism, and Earthworms (Disability Debrief)
Peter Torres Fremlin interviews activist, scholar, and community organizer Bhargavi Davar about the role of Buddhism and international disability rights in her approaches to activism and organizing in India and around the world
My MS and Me (Disability Visibility Project)
I highly recommend checking out the full catalogue of Disability Visibility Project guest posts for a wide range of voices from the disability community. This post from film critic, freelance journalist, and podcaster, Carolyn Hinds complicates the concept of “disability pride,” by chronicling the very real physical challenges of MS and the particular forms of discrimination that often come with being black and having an “invisible disability.”
I often return to these reflections from Conchita Hernandez Legorreta, Ruth Kogen Goodwin, and Robin Wilson-Beattie about their experiences as disabled women in America navigating intersectional identities across gender, race, immigration status, and more. These women remind me of how important it is to challenge the status quo and demand more of the social, political, and economic structures that we move in until they fully contain our multitudes. These women are leaders and role models, and I hold their wise words very close.
Taking Action
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Thanks for reading our newsletter this month. Please feel free to share your thoughts, feedback, and ideas in the comments or email us at downtothestruts@gmail.com. We’ll be back in your inboxes next month with more news from the podcast and the disability community!
— Qudsiya