disability justice is (our) liberation, not a trend

 

 

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disability justice is (our) liberation, not a trend

via cripchick's blog by cripchick on 7/7/10

white people are so quick to stake their claim into something. put out a statement. write a book. name their programs and committees after something. bring it up in a meeting as the rad person who picked up this cooooool thing from their activisty friends of color.

you know. the next revolution.

sometimes i get confused because the folks speaking for/about disability justice (and therefore defining it) are the same ones that talk forever about their white privilege. i'm like… "well, disability justice IS exciting —i want to move on it too!!!!…well, they are an important movement link and it'd be cool for people doing disability rights work to know what we are talking about…well, they might be the face of this, but they are working with people of color."

but no. the disability justice movement deserves to take its time to create, unfold, and be what it wants. white people need to challenge themselves to build a relationship with disability justice before/instead of acting like they got it on lock. i am just learning what disability justice means (personally and politically) and am not sure how one workshop could ever an expert make.

part of the beauty/realness of disability justice is that it acknowledges all the (violent) ways capitalism has trampled our lives. the nonprofit industrial complex, as a system, will always work against disability justice because it values product, output, "the now." it is never about long-term movement building that leads to true, sustainable community building. as a person who falls in love with project ideas and wants to have them planned out, funded, and staffed by morning, unlearning the pace of capitalism is the most challenging part of disability justice for me. i want to stand on a hill, say i have this brand new thing that's going to save us all and wave disability justice like a flag. but that's not how it works, i don't think.  i am in the process of completely rearranging my life because i know disability justice is is rooted in intentionality and to really have something that creates space for all of our selves, we must take our time to really sit in the complexities of all our realities and all of our dreams.

liberation takes time. so pls, yall. just chill.

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words i use:

nonprofit industrial complex – a system of organizations, government, and people with power. when people power movements (like the black panthers and young lords) got too powerful, the government poured a lot of money into nonprofits. this became a way to control movements. for more info, visit INCITE!.

disability justice – an understanding that a.) centers disability and b.) understands that ableism, racism, heterosexism, capitalism, classism, all work together to oppress people. it is says the system will never save us so we have to build our communities for ourselves. it values people being interdependent instead of independence.

 

 

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