A Crip Reckoning: Reflections on the ADA@30 – Resource Guide

This webpage provides a variety of resources—including a selection of books and articles, guides and monographs, websites and blogs, and multimedia content—centering disability and disabled voices and perspectives, with an emphasis on equity, intersectionality, and culture, in support of the panel presentation, “A Crip Reckoning: Reflections on the ADA@30.” This guide is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather representative.

Contents include:

About the Event

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach (OIPO)at the Burton Blatt Institute hosted an accessible Zoom webinar, open to the public, featuring a distinguished panel of thought leaders and scholar-activists in the worlds of disability culture, education, advocacy, and innovation.

The February 2, 2021 Zoom webinar—moderated by OIPO Director, Prof. Stephen Kuusisto—addressed many topics, including: ableism, cultural change, equity, creativity, and intersectionality. The event was made possible with generous support from University Lectures and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

The panel presentation was part of OIPO’s “(DIS)COURSES: Interdisciplinary Disability Dialogues”—an exciting, ongoing series on disability literature, media, and the arts, focusing on critical reflection, teaching, and research in today’s world.

This webpage provides a variety of resources—including a selection of books and articles, guides and monographs, websites and blogs, and multimedia content—centering disability and disabled voices and perspectives, with an emphasis on equity, intersectionality, and culture. 

To download a PDF copy of the February 2, 2021 event poster, visit https://bbi.syr.edu/discourses-poster-s21-ada30-panel/. A full transcript of the event is also available. 

The original poster for the series was designed by Prof. Emily Vey Duke.

About the Panelists and Moderator

  • LeDerick Horne is a Poet, Speaker, and Advocate who uses his gift for spoken-word poetry as the gateway to larger discussions on equal opportunity, pride, self-determination, and hope for people with disabilities.
  • Stephen Kuusisto is a University Professor and the Director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach at the BBI. A widely published poet and author, he is a frequent speaker in the U.S. and abroad. 
  • Naomi Ortiz is a Writer, Poet, Facilitator, and Visual Artist whose work focuses on self-care for activists, disability justice, intersectional organizing, and relationship with place.
  • Pratik Patel is Director of Information Technology Access for CUNY and Owner of EZFire Enterprises LLC, which consults on a variety of technology projects on accessibility for people with disabilities. 
  • David James (“DJ”) Savarese is an Author, Artful Activist, Public Speaker, and Practicing Optimist, working to make self-determined lives a reality for nontraditionally speaking people.
  • Alice Wong (she/her) is a Disabled Activist, Media Maker, and Consultant, and the Founder/Director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture. 

Blogs, Blog Posts, and Mass Media 

  • ADA30InColor (from Disability Visibility Project) – “#ADA30InColor: A series of original essays on the past, present, and future of disability rights and justice by disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) writers. Published and edited by Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project.”
  • Andrew Pulrang, Contributor on Diversity and Inclusion, Forbes Magazine – Andrew is a freelance writer with lifelong disabilities and 22 years experience as a service provider and executive in nonprofit disability services and advocacy. He writes about disability practices, policy, politics and culture for Forbes Magazine.
  • Bad Cripple – Blog of disability scholar-activist, Prof. Bill Peace (who died in 2019), on his experiences as a disabled man—before and since the passage of the ADA.
  • The Inclusive University – This searchable Tumblr blog shares new and emerging scholarly and other relevant resources on inclusive postsecondary education
  • OIPO Blog – Blog posts on a range of topics written by OIPO faculty, staff, and students.
  • Planet of the Blind – Blog of University Professor and the Director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach at the BBI, Stephen Kuusisto. He is an author, poet, blogger, and speaker.
  • Ramírez, K. M. (2019). Academic ableism: Fighting for accommodations and access in higher education. Disability Visibility Project – This blog post shares the personal experiences of the author applying for graduate school and the resultant struggles faced by requesting accommodations.
  • Recipe for a Perfect Mom: Autism, Motherhood, and Trusting My Journey – A series of blog posts/essays by Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri about the experiences of being a parent of an autistic child and coping with ableist attitudes and language concerning autism and disability, countering them with discussions of neurodiversity and autistic culture and refuting the identity of “Autism Mom.”
  • Thirty for Thirty on the ADA – Thirty short essays by Prof. Stephen Kuusisto, about the law, the anniversary, and the cultural impact of #ADA@30.
  • Thompson, V. (2021, February 10). Understanding the Policing of Black, Disabled Bodies. The Center for American Progress – Blog post discussing inequitable police encounters with disabled African Americans and issues a call for inclusive data collection on such encounters necessary for informing policy makers.
  • Waller, A. (2021, January 23). Black, Deaf and extremely online. New York Times. “On TikTok and in virtual hangouts, a younger generation is sharing the origins and nuances of Black American Sign Language, a rich variation of ASL that scholars say has been overlooked for too long.”
  • Wiener, D. (2016, May 25). On Mad Advantage: A Letter to ‘The Normals’ (and to the Rest of Us). HuffPost. An essay positing the concept of “Mad Advantage” and addressing the connections between the Mad Pride movement, accessibility when adopting a cross-disabilities perspective, and disability rights. Read more of Prof. Diane R. Wiener’s Huffington Post contributions (2016-2018).

Books and Articles

  • Bell, C. M. (Ed.). (2012). Blackness and disability: Critical examinations and cultural interventions. Lansing: University of Michigan State Press. “This pivotal volume uncovers the misrepresentations of black disabled bodies and demonstrates how those bodies transform systems and culture.”
  • Bell, C. (2006). Introducing white Disability Studies: A modest proposal. In L. J. Davis (Ed.), The Disability Studies Reader (2nd ed.) (pp. 275-282). New York, NY: Routledge.  Addresses “the failure of Disability Studies to engage issues of race and ethnicity in a substantive capacity, thereby entrenching whiteness as its constitutive underpinning” (p. 275).
  • Ben-Moshe, L., Cory, R. C., Feldbaum, M., & Sagendorf, K. (Eds.). (2005). Building pedagogical curb cuts: Incorporating disability in the university classroom and curriculum. Syracuse, NY: The Graduate School, Syracuse University. “This book is the result of a collaborative and interdisciplinary effort to examine how the university can better include the perspectives of scholars and students who have disabilities in the classroom” (p. xii).
  • Berne, P., Levins Morales, A., Langstaff, D., & Sins Invalid. (2018, Spring/Summer). Ten principles of disability justice. In N. Havlin & J. M. Báez (Eds.), Beauty [Feature Issue]. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, 46(1&2), 227-230. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.2018.0003. “From within Sins Invalid, where we incubate both the framework and practice of Disability Justice, this burgeoning framework has ten (10) principles, each offering new opportunities for movement builders” (p. 227). 
  • Bogart, K. R., & Dunn, D. S. (2019, September). Ableism [Special Issue]. Journal of Social Issues, 75(3). “In this special issue, we define ableism as stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and social oppression toward people with disabilities—the largest minority group in the United States. People with disabilities are broadly defined as those who have conditions that are commonly perceived to be disabilities by the general public, including physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities, in addition to invisible disabilities, chronic health conditions, psychiatric conditions, and others. Foundational work on language, stigma, models of disability, and social and rehabilitation psychology is reviewed. The issue has three areas of focus: social and individual‐level predictors of ableism, experiences and consequences of ableism, and navigating and resisting ableism” (p. 650).
  • Brown, L. X. Z., Ashkenazy, E., & Onaiwu, M. G. (Eds.). (2017). All the weight of our dreams: On living racialized autism. Lincoln, NE: DragonBee Press. Collected works representing the lives, politics, and artistic expressions of Black, Brown, Latinx, Indigenous, Mixed-Race, and other racialized and people of color from many autistic communities, often speaking out sharply on issues of marginality, intersectionality, and liberation.
  • Brown, N. (Ed.). (2021). Lived experiences of ableism in academia: Strategies for inclusion in higher education. Bristol, UK: Policy Press and Bristol University Press. This collection explores ableism in academia from the viewpoint of academics’ personal and professional experiences and scholarship.
  • Brown, N., & Leigh, J. (Eds.). (2020). Ableism in academia: Theorising experiences of disabilities and chronic illnesses in higher education. London: UCL Press, University College London (UCL). Also available via Open Access. “Rather than embracing difference as a reflection of wider society, academic ecosystems seek to normalise and homogenise ways of working and of being a researcher. As a consequence, ableism in academia is endemic. However, to date no attempt has been made to theorise experiences of ableism in academia.”
  • Catapano, P., & Garland-Thomson, R. (Eds.). (2020). About us: Essays from the Disability Series. New York: New York Times Press. “Based on the pioneering New York Times series, About Us collects the personal essays and reflections that have transformed the national conversation around disability.”
  • Cory, R. C., White, J. M., & Stuckey, Z. (2010). Using Disability Studies theory to change disability services: A case study in student activism. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 23(1), 28-37. “In 2001, a group of student activists at Syracuse University started an organization called the Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee (BCCC). The BCCC activists used disability studies theory to engage the campus in conversations about disability and inform significant change in the way Syracuse administration think about disability. This paper explores what makes Syracuse unique and what happened between 2001 and the present day. It concludes with recommendations for disability services providers on how they can use the experience at Syracuse to inform their thinking about campus culture and services.”
  • Costanza-Chock, S. (2020). Design justice: Community-led practices to build the worlds we need [Information Policy]. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. “An exploration of how design might be led by marginalized communities, dismantle structural inequality, and advance collective liberation and ecological survival.” This text is also available via Open Access. 
  • Cowing, J. L. (2020, Fall). Occupied land is an access issue: Interventions in feminist disability studies and narratives of indigenous activism. In J. Waggone & A. Mog (Eds.), Visionary Politics and Methods in Feminist Disability Studies [Special Issue]. Journal of Feminist Scholarship, 17, 9-25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23860/jfs.2020.17.02. “Native/Indigenous narratives of health and environmental activism often engage with feminist disability issues to center the connections between land, health, sovereignty, and historical legacies of settler militarized colonialism.” 
  • Dolmage, J. T. (2017). Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education [Corporealities: Discourses of Disability].  Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9708722.  “Academic Ableism brings together disability studies and institutional critique to recognize the ways that disability is composed in and by higher education, and rewrites the spaces, times, and economies of disability in higher education to place disability front and center.”
  • Dunn, P. A. (2019, November). Disability in higher education: How ableism affects disclosure, accommodation, and inclusion. College English, 82(2), 226-242. Reviews three important books documenting the many inequities and injustices regarding disability in institutions of higher education.
  • Eberhardt, J. L. (2020). Biased: Uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do. New York: Penguin Books. This text offers ways to talk about racial bias and address disparities and inequities. 
  • Friedner, M., & Weingarten, K. (Eds.). (2020). Disorienting Disability [Feature Issue]. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 118(3). “Our idea for this issue emerged as a result of concerns about disability’s crystallization as an identity and concretization as a category. In our work, when we thought about the way that disabled peoples’ attempts to fit themselves into a disability box and thus a diversity box became disorienting, we realized that it would be productive to parse out the stakes of disability, particularly when using different methods, processes, and theories” (p. 488).
  • Ho, A.B.T., Kerschbaum, S.L., Sanchez, R., & Yergeau, M. (2020). Cripping neutrality: Student resistance, pedagogical audiences, and teachers’ accommodations. Pedagogy, 20(1), 127-139. “Neutrality is often impossible when disabled teachers are at the front of the classroom. This article unpacks three domains in which neutrality needs to be cripped: in response to students’ resistance to disability content, when considering the audiences for our pedagogy, and when teachers need accommodations.”
  • Kuusisto, S. (2004). Life without Mozart. In R. O’Brien (Ed.), Voices from the Edge: Narratives about the Americans with Disabilities Act (pp. 81-95). Oxford: Oxford University Press. This chapter discusses ableist discourse and Prof. Kuusisto’s experiences of discrimination and ableism in a university setting. It is one of several narratives giving readers an opportunity to discover the everyday problems and continued struggles disabled people face as the ADA is practiced and interpreted around the U.S.
  • Luczak, R. (Ed.). (2015). QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology. New York: Squares and Rebels. “Featuring fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and comics by 48 writers from around the world, QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology proves that intersectionality isn’t just a buzzword.”
  • McMaster, C., & Whitburn, B. (Eds.). (2019). Disability and the university: A disabled students’ manifesto. New York: Peter Lang. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/b15470. “A guide to what students with disabilities need to know about attending university, as well as to the essentials universities should provide for these students.”
  • Nario-Redmond, M. (2019). Ableism: Causes and consequences of disability prejudice [Contemporary Social Issues]. New York: John Wiley. This comprehensive volume integrates social-scientific literature on the origins and manifestations of prejudice against disabled people.
  • Ortiz, N. (2018). Sustaining spirit: Self-care for social justice. Berkeley: Reclamation Press. “Offers powerful, thoughtful, transformative insight into self-care, weaving together personal experiences in class, race and disability advocacy into informative advice on dealing with the risks of burnout.”
  • Piepzna-Samarasinha, L. (2015). Dirty river: A queer femme of color dreaming her way home. Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press. “A transformative memoir by a queer disabled woman of colour and abuse survivor.”
  • Savarese, D. J. (2017). A Doorknob for the Eye: Poems by DJ Savarese. Minneapolis: Unrestricted Editions.
    Ekphrastic poems written by DJ Savarese, now available via Open Access.
  • Singer, S., & Bacon, J. (Eds.). (2020). Special series: Ableism in the academy. Critical Education, 11(14-17). “This special series offers the readers of Critical Education groundbreaking work by scholars who explore a myriad of issues related to how ableism manifests and is resisted in higher education. Ableism is defined as the idea that able-bodiedness/mindedness is a preferred way of being in society.”
    Ableism in the Academy (Part 1); Vol. 11 No. 14 (2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v11i14
    Ableism in the Academy (Part 2); Vol. 11 No. 15 (2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v11i15
    Ableism in the Academy (Part 3): Vol. 11 No. 16 (2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v11i16
    Ableism in the Academy (Part 4), Vol. 11 No. 17 (2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v11i17
  • smith, sb. (Ed.). (2020). Disabled voices anthology. Nanoose Bay, BC, Canada: Rebel Mountain Press. “Written and illustrated by the Disabled community about the Disabled community, Disabled Voices is an international anthology collection of short stories (both fiction and non-fiction), personal essay, poetry, and artwork which includes 10 colour pages.”
  • Stones, E. D., & Meyer, C. A. (2020). Disability ethos as invention in the United States’ twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In J. S. Baumlin & C. A. Meyer (Eds.), Histories of Ethos: World Perspectives on Rhetoric [Special Issue]. Humanities, 9(1).  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/h9010011. “This article posits that disability activists routinely present a disability ‘ethos of invention’ as central to the reformation of an ableist society. Dominant societal approaches to disability injustice, such as rehabilitation, accessibility, and inclusion, may touch upon the concept of invention; but, with ethotic discourse, we emphasize disability as generative and adept at producing new ways of knowing and being in the world. We identify an ‘ethos of invention’ as driving early resistance to socially constructed ‘normalcy,’ leading the push for cross-disability alliances to incorporate intersectional experiences and propelling the discursive move from inclusion to social justice. Through our partial re-telling of disability rights history, we articulate invention as central to it and supporting its aims to affirm disability culture, reform society through disabled perspectives and values, and promote people with disabilities’ full participation in society.”
  • Ulanday Barrett, K. (2016). When the chant comes. New York: Topside Heliotrope. This volume of Ulanday Barrett’s unique poetry provides audiences ways of unpicking vital political questions around race, sickness and disability and gender, and chronicling the “everydayness of life” in the U.S.
  • Wong, A. (Ed.). (2020). Disability visibility: First person stories from the 21st century. New York: Vintage Books. “This anthology gives a glimpse of the vast richness and complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community.”
  • Wong, A. (Ed.). (2018). Resistance and hope: Essays by disabled people. Disability Visibility Project. Also available via Open Access. Essays by disabled writers, activists, and artists. This is “crip wisdom for the people.” Includes links to plain language summary, discussion guide, and other relevant resources.
  • Zubal-Ruggieri, R. (2012, July). The Inclusive University: Abstracts on Postsecondary Education and Faculty, Staff, and Students with Disabilities [SU Disability Studies Abstracts]. Syracuse, NY: SU Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies, Syracuse University. “This extensive listing contains resources intended for those who are interested in learning about inclusive postsecondary education and may be helpful to assist postsecondary institutions to include people with disabilities in all aspects of campus life” (p. ii).

Guidebooks and Monographs

  • Ortiz, N. (2020, June 30). Discussion guide for Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century. This discussion guide is for educators, book discussion groups, facilitators, organizers, and anyone interested in examining the themes and questions shared by the authors published in Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, supporting readers to ask how these stories connect with their own life, family and communities. 
  • Vreeburg Izzo, M., & Horne, L. (2016). Empowering students with hidden disabilities: A path to pride and success. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. “Inspiring and informative, this encouraging guidebook will help you empower students with non-visible disabilities as they manage their challenges, accept and advocate for themselves, and reach their goals and dreams. Includes practical teaching tips ready to use in the classroom!”
  • Wiener, D. (2021, ongoing). FREE Wellness, Creativity, and Advocacy Resources in the Time of COVID-19. “This particular list has a combination of resources (organized thematically), but it is largely focused on ‘wellness’—across the life span, for multiple folx (with and without teaching backgrounds, with and without children and families).” This resource guide is updated periodically and was created specifically for use in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Wiener, D., & Penner, P. (2018). Syracuse University Disability Cultural Center’s Language Guide. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University. This language guide provides information on the different types of language that are used frequently when communicating about disability.

Multimedia

  • #ADA30InColor Panel Discussion (with American Sign Language [ASL]) – To mark the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Disability Visibility Project published a series of essays by Disabled People of Color, #ADA30InColor​, reflecting on the past, present, and future of disability rights and justice. This panel of #ADA30InColor​ contributors discussed the future of disability and the remaining work to be done post-ADA, featuring moderator Andraea LaVant, and writers Reyma McCoy McDeid, Timotheus Gordon Jr., Jen Deerinwater, Lia Seth, and Valerie Novack. Co-organized by the Disability Visibility Project, San Francisco Public Library and Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University. An event transcript is also available online.
  • ASL-only for #NoBodyIsDisposable Series – Panel Discussion of the film Fixed – The 1st of Superfest Disability Film Festival’s #NoBodyIsDisposable​ Summer Film Series kicked off with a screening of Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement followed by this panel conversation on current organizing against discriminatory care rationing during Covid-19 and how race, disability, and size play into who is viewed as disposable, made especially transparent during pandemics and police violence. The post-film discussion features Valerie Novack, a Black and Latina disability policy researcher focusing on inclusive cities and infrastructure; Silvia Yee, a Chinese-Canadian senior staff attorney at Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF); Max Airborne, a white organizer with Fat Rose, a radical collective that seeks to bring Fat Liberation together with other radical liberation movements; and moderated by Nikki Brown-Booker, a biracial program officer for the Disability Inclusion Fund and organizer for Hand in Hand: the Domestic Employers Network. An event transcript is also available online. 
  • #NoBodyIsDisposable Film Series Panel Discussion: Deej, Poetry, and Creative Forms of Resistance – This video includes the second in the #NoBodyIsDisposable​ 3-part summer series, highlighting the politics of disposability–how certain groups of people are deemed disposable/expendable/inferior–and creative forms of resistance. Following the film screening of Deej (not included here because of copyright), panelists discussed the power of poetry and art, and the potential for that power to create lasting liberatory change—both cultural and political. Panelists included artful activist and Deej‘s subject and co-producer David James Savarese; poet, blogger, and activist Lateef McLeod; and Assistant Professor of Disability Studies and disability justice activist Sara M. Acevedo (moderator). In this first-of-its-kind collaboration between a veteran filmmaker and a non-speaking autistic, Deej challenges misconceptions of what an alternatively communicating autistic can do. As one of only two non-speaking autistics included in regular education from kindergarten through college graduation, DJ expands our understanding of what full inclusion entails and the possibilities it offers to everyone. You can watch the film (with purchase) online​. An event transcript is also available online.
  • #NoBodyIsDisposable Sins Invalid Film Panel (with ASL & embedded captions) – Following a film screening of Sins Invalid’s “Unshamed Claim to Beauty,” this panel discussion featured Sins Invalid Creative Director Nomy Lamm, educator, dance and activist India Harville, dancer/producer/choreographer and director of Urban Jazz Dance Company Antoine Hunter, disability activist, poet and performer Maria R. Palacios, and was moderated by award-winning educator and sexologist Bianca Laureano. An event transcript is also available online.
  • ADA 30 Thought Leaders (free and open to the public; registration required) – “In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and 75 years of the National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM—October), invited participants reflect on their meanings and relevance in modern civil rights conversations, while looking ahead at what is still needed — and how to create it. Learn from diverse thought leaders as they reflect and lead us into the next frontier of disability rights and inclusion.” 
  • Black Disability Freedom Dreams Event – “What does Freedom look like for Black Disabled people? How are Black Disabled people actively dreaming up alternative visions of freedom, community and political power? What does it mean to center #BlackDisabilityFreedom​ and #BlackDisabilityDreams​ in our work? Let’s talk about it!” An event transcript is also available online.
  • Celebrating Black History & People with Disabilities – LeDerick Horne – Six brief videos of LeDerick Horne talking about black artists, activists, athletes, and scientists who also have disabilities. As a black man, and a person with a learning disability, the lives and work of these role models deeply inspire him.
  • Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution – “Crip Camp is the story of one group of people and captures one moment in time. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other equally important stories from the Disability Rights Movement that have not yet received adequate attention. We are committed to using the film’s platform to amplify additional narratives in the disability rights and disability justice communities – with a particular emphasis on stories surrounding people of color and other intersectionally marginalized communities. We stand by the creed of nothing about us, without us. For too long, too many were excluded, and it is time to broaden the number of voices and share the mic.  In the summer of 2020, the Crip Camp Impact Campaign hosted a 15 week virtual camp experience that featured trailblazing speakers from the disability community. With nearly 10,000 participants, Crip Camp 2020 showed the power of committing to accessibility for all.” A curriculum is also available “to extend the knowledge and understanding of disability and of disabled people offered in the Netflix film Crip Camp.”
  • Disability and the Media webinar with captions and ASL – In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Disability Rights Center-NH and the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire co-hosted a free, public webinar: “Disability and the Media.” This recording shares a discussion amongst participants about how mainstream news coverage largely leaves disability out of its programming despite disability being a cross-over issue for almost every topic. 
  • PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools – “This documentary film by Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. and Women in the Room Productions encourages a robust conversation about how to reduce the criminalization of Black girls in our nation’s learning environments.”
  • “Until Every Barrier Falls” a poem by LeDerick Horne – LeDerick Horne released this poem in October 2020, in recognition of Dyslexia Awareness Month and Disability Employment Awareness Month, as well as to honor and celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As Mr. Horne underscored, the video was released “during [an] era in our history when we are all confronting racism’s lasting legacy.”

Organizations and Projects

  • Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) – “AHEAD is the leading professional membership association for individuals committed to equity for persons with disabilities in higher education.”
  • Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN) – AWN provides community, support, and resources for Autistic women, girls, nonbinary people, and all others of marginalized genders.
  • DREAM: Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring – “DREAM (Disability Rights, Education Activism, and Mentoring) is a national organization for and by college students with disabilities.”
  • Fireweed Collective – “Fireweed Collective offers mental health education and mutual aid through a Healing Justice lens. We help support the emotional wellness of all people, and center the needs of those most marginalized by our society. Our work seeks to disrupt the harm of systems of abuse and oppression, often reproduced by the mental health system.”
  • Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf Communities – HEARD – HEARD is “a volunteer-dependent nonprofit organization that works to correct & prevent deaf wrongful convictions; end abuse of incarcerated people with disabilities; decrease recidivism for deaf and returning individuals; ​and increase representation of deaf people in professions that can combat mass incarceration” (Source: Talila A Lewis)
  • Krip Hop Nation – “Krip-Hop Nation’s mission is to educate the music, media industries and general public about the talents, history, rights and marketability of Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities.”
  • National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD) – Federally-funded national U.S. center for college and graduate students with any type of disability, chronic health condition, or mental or emotional illness.
  • Sins Invalid – “Sins Invalid is a disability justice based performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and LGBTQ / gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized.”

Periodicals

  • Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) – DSQ is an digital, Open Access, multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities.
  • Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal (RDS) – “Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal (RDS) is a quarterly online, open-access journal that provides an international forum for people with disabilities, academics, professionals, artists and creators from all backgrounds and expertise to express ideas relevant to our understanding of disability.”
  • Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature – “Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature (ISSN: 2690-7089) is a digital, Open Access, quarterly journal of disability poetry, literature, and the arts, with two interconnected purposes. First, we are dedicated to providing an accessible venue for featuring the work of emerging and well-known writers with disabilities (disabled writers). Second, we seek to make available and expand a searchable core of this work for interested readers (with and without disabilities) who are committed to disability poetry, literature, and the arts.”

Podcasts

  • ADALive – ADA Live! is a free national broadcast monthly podcast providing opportunities to learn rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Leaders in the field share their knowledge, experience, and successful strategies to increase the participation of persons with disabilities in communities and businesses. ADA Live! is produced by the Southeast ADA Center, a member of the ADA National Network and a project of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University. Of note, Episode 83b: The ADA turns 30: The Future of Disability Rights with Lex Frieden discusses the future of disability rights with Mr. Lex Frieden, a well-known disability rights activist and a leader in the independent living movement and a “chief architect” of the ADA. 
  • Contra* – A podcast about disability, design justice, and the lifeworld. Episodes feature interviews, analyses of the built environment, reviews, and more.
  • Crip Times: A Podcast Series – “Disabled people have long been experts at staying at home, and getting creative with new ways to stay in community with one another. At the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, many of us were wondering how we could maintain the sense of intimacy and connection that we get from gathering in crip arts spaces. Out of this desire, Crip Times was born: a new interview podcast series produced and hosted by Yousef Kadoura, Kayla Besse, and Kristina McMullin. Crip Times is a project of Bodies in Translation and Tangled Art + Disability and hosted on Andrew Gurza’s Wheels on the Ground podcast network.”
  • Disability Visibility Podcast – “This is life from a disabled lens. Disability Visibility is a podcast hosted by San Francisco night owl Alice Wong featuring conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people. If you’re interested in disability rights, social justice, and intersectionality, this show is for you. It’s time to hear more disabled people in podcasting and radio.”
  • De-escalating Disability – “De-escalating Disability aims to explore the intersectionality of race, policing and disability – specifically, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Hosted by Gavin Jackson, this podcast interviews with police officers, legal professionals and other subject matter experts, breaking down the myths surrounding ASD and examining what police may or may not be doing when responding to those with disabilities. “
  • Disability Inclusion, Intersectionality, and Activism (Being Mixed-Race Series‪)‬ The Nasiona Podcast – “Much of the already small disability representation in the media focuses on white people, and often men. Although we would never know it from TV and movies, the CDC reports that 19.67% of people of color have a disability compared with 20% of white people. In many spaces, people with disabilities aren’t welcome regardless of race, often unintentionally. Mia Ives-Rublee, a transracial adoptee and the founder and coordinator for the Women’s March Disability Caucus, is working to change the norm.”
  • Intersectional Insights – “We’re three black, blind women raising awareness and sharing our perspectives on everyday issues. Get political and personal with us on this deep dive into the intersection of race, disability, and gender in the US.”
  • New Women – “New Women is a fictionalised podcast series which interweaves the stories of disabled first-wave feminists Rosa May Billinghurst, Helen Keller and Mabel Normand. Throughout each 10-minute episode, the women narrate their lives in the early twentieth century.” 

Resources Shared by Panel Participants

  • Abolition & Disability Justice Coalition – “We are abolitionist psychiatric survivors, people with disabilities, and their accomplices. We believe in and work toward the liberation of all.”
  • Advocates Fear for People with Disabilities and Underlying Health Conditions Under the Age of 65 Being Left Out as California Shifts to Age-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Priority – This blog post shares video of a press conference organized by Disability Rights California and disability advocates responding to the new COVID-19 vaccine guidelines in the state of California. It also includes first-hand stories from members of the disability community, the impact these guidelines will have, and how they seek to have Governor Newsom and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) do more to support people with disabilities and underlying health conditions. Includes links to other media coverage on the subject.
  • Black Girls With Disabilities Are Disproportionately Criminalized – This powerful op-ed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Dr. Subini Annamma, and Vilissa Thompson in Teen Vogue talks about how Black girls are targeted at school because of their disabilities, along with their race and gender.
  • Freedom for Some Is Not Freedom for All – This blog post offers critical reflection on how the COVID-19 pandemic affects disabled people in inequitable ways, particularly those disabled people isolated and incarcerated in congregate settings and institutions. 
  • Sins Invalid (n.d.). Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People A Disability Justice Primer (2nd. ed.). – “The Second Edition of Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People (digital version) is available now with full visual layout, or as a text-only version! This Disability Justice Primer, based in the work of Patty Berne and Sins Invalid, offers concrete suggestions for moving beyond the socialization of ableism, such as mobilizing against police violence, how to commit to mixed ability organizing, and access suggestions for events. Skin, Tooth, and Bone offers analysis, history and context for the growing Disability Justice Movement. The Second Edition includes the addition of a new section on Audism and Deafhood written and edited by members of the D/deaf community, and a Call to Action from Survivors of Environmental Injury, as well as disability justice timelines, an extensive glossary, and a resource list for learning more.”
  • ‘So Angry, So Scared’: California COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Change Leaves Disabled People Behind, Say Advocates – Media coverage critical of the California guidelines administering the COVID-19 vaccine and how it these guidelines place disabled people at risk.

Syracuse University Links/Resources

Websites

Updated 5/24/2021