Black Disabled Activism: Ways to Support

Hello everyone! 

There has always been Black disabled people telling their stories and involved in multiple movements against racism, ableism, and all forms of oppression. To paraphrase the words of Vilissa K. Thompson, disability is too white and we all have a responsibility to learn and do the work. For starters, if you are on social media please check out the following hashtags by Black disabled women: 

#DisabilityTooWhite by Vilissa Thompson

#DisabledBlackTalk by Tinu Abayomi-Paul

#DisabledPeopleforBlackLives by Imani Barbarin 

#AutisticWhileBlack by Kerima Cevik

#BlackAutisticPride by Kayla Smith 

Here are a few links to work by Black disabled people, ways to support them, and a few other resources: 

1) A 2016 article by Britney Wilson

#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
Why we need to talk about both race and disability when addressing police brutality.

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/blackdisabledlivesmatter/

You can also check out my interview with Britney for the Disability Visibility Podcast https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2019/05/06/ep-50-disabled-lawyers/

2) By Dustin Gibson & Keri Gray

We Can’t Breathe: The Deaf & Disabled Margin of Police Brutality Project (video and toolkit)

https://www.dustinpgibson.com/offerings/wecantbreathe

3) By Vilissa K. Thompson

Being a Black Disabled Woman Is An Act of Defiance: Remembering #KorrynGaines 

http://www.rampyourvoice.com/black-disabled-woman-act-defiance-remembering-korryngaines/

You can support Vilissa on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RampYourVoice

4) Follow and support the work of Talila A. Lewis and Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf Communities - HEARD

https://behearddc.org 

HEARD created and maintains the only national database of deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind detainees & prisoners.

#DisabilitySolidarity #DeafInPrison

5) The writing and cultural work of Leroy Moore such as his book Black Disabled Ancestors:  https://www.poorpress.net/product-page/black-disabled-ancestors  

And a 2015 documentary: 

Where Is Hope - The Art of Murder
Police Brutality Against People With Disabilities
https://www.kanopy.com/product/where-hope-art-murder-police-brutality-aga

6) Statement on police violence by Sins Invalid from 2014: 

"...our bodies and minds are not controllable and cannot always comply -- this must be understood.  Our bodies and minds are not criminal.  We are unique and we celebrate our complexities."

https://www.sinsinvalid.org/blog/sins-invalid-statement-on-police-violence

7) Follow & support Teighlor McGee the creator of the private FB group Black Disability Collective https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackdisabilitycollective/

If you have the means support Teighlor’s labor: Venmo: Teighlor-McGee

8) By Morénike Giwa Onaiwu:

“It must be really nice to have the privilege of choosing not to see what is so very clear. Of not knowing this angst, this fear.”

https://morenikego.com/2020/06/01/the-silence-of-our-friends-hurts-my-ears/ 

9) From the Harriet Tubman Collective (2016): 

Disability Solidarity: Completing the "Vision for Black Lives"

https://harriettubmancollective.tumblr.com/post/150072319030/htcvision4blacklives  

11) The second edition of a disability justice primer by Patty Berne of Sins Invalid:

Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People 

https://www.sinsinvalid.org/disability-justice-primer 

Other resources: 

If you have the means, donate to a community bail fund. You can find a national directory from the National Bail Fund Network 

https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory 

You can download & read this e-book from, free until 6/5

“Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States”

Edited by Joe Macaré, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price

Foreword by Alicia Garza 

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/952-who-do-you-serve-who-do-you-protect  

"This is a screen-reader accessible version of Amnesty International’s Safety During Protest content, converted by Elizabeth McLain.

https://echolaliachamber.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/safety-during-protest-accessible-version/ 

"This is a screen-reader accessible version of the “26 ways to be in the struggle beyond the streets” content. This conversions was provided by Jane Berliss-Vincent."

https://echolaliachamber.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/beyond-the-streets-accessible-version/

“How to Be an Activist When You're Unable to Attend Protests”

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-be-an-activist-when-youre-unable-to-attend-protests


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Alice Wong

creating Disability Media, Culture, and Community

Alice Wong

creating Disability Media, Culture, and Community

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