DAY 3 DISABILITY JUSTICE
“Disability justice challenges the idea that our worth as individuals has to do with our ability to perform as productive members of society. It insists that our worth is inherent and tied to the liberation of all beings.”
Source: Nomy Lamm
The term disability justice was coined out of conversations between disabled queer women of color activists in 2005, including Patty Berne of Sins Invalid, and Mia Mingus & Stacy Milbern, who eventually united with Leroy Moore, Eli Clare, and Sebastian Margaret, seeking to challenge radical and progressive movements to more fully address ableism. Disability Justice moves beyond rights, equality, and studies based approaches.
Disability Justice centers the needs and experiences of folks experiencing intersectional oppression, such as disabled people of color, immigrants with disabilities, queers with disabilities, trans and gender non-conforming people with disabilities, people with disabilities who are houseless, people with disabilities who are incarcerated, people with disabilities who have had their ancestral lands stolen, amongst others. Disability Justice moves beyond access and inclusion in unjust systems, instead working towards collective justice and liberation, towards transforming society as a whole.
Link to Additional Resources
FURTHER READING
This Is Disability Justice. The Body is Not an Apology
Imagine Otherwise: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha On Disability Justice
Beyond Access: Mia Mingus on Disability Justice
https://equitableeducation.ca/2013/mia-mingus-disability-justice
Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People