Disability Justice: How to become an Agent of Change
In a world where disability is historically and societally viewed as a tragedy or personal shortcoming, the foundation of Disability Justice is rooted in reprogramming what we, as a people, have been taught or “spoon fed” about disability, independence and allyship.
Contrary to popular belief, disability is not a monolithic experience, nor are people with disabilities one dimensional. Disability, similar to any other aspect of a person’s identity, shapes one’s social reality and encompasses a community with its own cultures, legacies and expectations of society. While in this week’s educational article, “An Introduction to Ableism”, I provided an un-intimidating review of ableism and its harmful effects on the disability community, in order to become an agent of change, we have to critique our society, and ourselves, using a more investigative lens in order to question the systems we create and benefit from that in turn debilitate and erase other communities.
Disability Justice goes beyond allyship and the promotion of accessibility, it is fundamentally about reframing how society views people with disabilities as a whole. Even though accessibility is important and can determine the spaces in which people with disabilities are included, this idea of “equality” is often used as a band-aid in order to brush systematic and intersectional oppression under the rug.
According to Mia Mingus’ article “Changing the Framework: Disability Justice”, “As organizers [family members/loved ones, educators, employers etc.], we need to [move] away from an equality-based model of sameness and “we are just like you” to a model of disability that embraces difference, confronts privilege and challenges what is considered “normal” on every front” (Mingus, Towards Interdependency). Mingus, a self-identifying “queer, disabled woman of color” does not want to her queerness, Blackness or disability to be overlooked in exchange for “equality”. A common misconception is that the Disability Rights Movement is identical to Disability Justice, this is false. In Nomy Lamm’s article “This is Disability Justice”, she interviews *radical crip artist/activists Leroy Moore and Patty Berne, who provide the distinction between the efforts and intent behind the Disability Rights Movement and Disability Justice. Patty explains that “the term disability justice was born out of conversations she was having in 2004 with other queer disabled women of color, trying to find language for a movement-building framework that centered disabled queers of color, that wasn’t “arguing for our mere right to exist, but instead assumed that we are whole beings...Fifty years ago we would all be in institutions...Legal rights, attendant care, education, public housing, street access, the ADA, all of this came about through the focused work of disability rights activists, [but] Disability rights doesn’t challenge any structural oppression except for disability. Even the idea of independent living is...a capitalist framework; there’s nothing about collective interdependency” (Patty, personal interview). A major component of ableism and justifying the mistreatment or erasure of the disability community is the idea that people with disabilities are dependent. We have created a world in which independence is a form of social capital, when in reality, no one is completely independent. Mingus argues that “This work [the work of Disability Justice] is about shifting how we understand access, moving away from the individualized and independence-framed notions of access put forth by the disability rights movement and, instead, working to view access as collective and interdependent” With disability justice, we want to move away from the “myth of independence” (Mingus, Towards Interdependency). The premise of Disability Justice is to challenge the way systems favor specific representation of bodies over others. Disability Justice does not equate someone’s worth or desirability based upon their ability to perform as a “productive member of society”, independently. By using an interdependency-framework we are able to dismantle systems that privilege able-bodied individuals based on the assumption that they are completely independent and ultimately worth salvaging. As Patty adhered to, Disability Justice is about challenging the system and its oppressive framework, not the individual. In the powerful words of Leroy Moore, one of the Black artists and activists within Lamm’s piece, “All bodies are unique and essential. All bodies are whole. All bodies have strengths and needs that must be met. We are powerful not despite the complexities of our bodies, but because of them. We move together, with no body left behind. This is disability justice” (Moore, This is Disability Justice).
When it comes to being an agent of change, especially as an able-bodied individual, it’s imperative to acknowledge that people with disabilities did not create this system of oppression and discrimination, we did, and even if we did not create it intentionally or first-hand, we all play a role in enabling it. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t help to improve or critique the very system we established. An agent of change is not only knowledgeable about the system’s downfalls, but also forthcoming in accepting their own privilege and using their placement in society to advocate and empower communities. While not everyone can be at the forefront of every movement, it’s what we choose to do at home or even behind the scenes that encourages true social change. Whether you’re talking about Disability Justice to your loved ones, incorporating accessibility within your event planning, using person-first language, or even continuing to educate yourself on the disability community so that you may become a better ally, effort counts, no matter how small. Try not to become intimated, as we all make mistakes, and remember that in order to overcome systemic injustice, we need to exhibit more than good intent, but powerful resistance.
How are you changing your own and other people's views on the way we view and represent individuals with disabilities?
*radical crip: The term “crip” is short for cripple. In a historical context, cripple was a derogatory term or slur used to identify people with physical impairments. However, during the Disability Rights Movements, the term “crip” was reclaimed by people with disabilities in order to convey their pride and unapologetic attitude towards their disability. Now, the term “crip” is not simply limited to those with physical, or visible, disabilities, but also includes people with invisible disabilities (i.e. people who are neurodivergent, deaf/hard of hearing etc.). Please note that the usage of the term “crip” is limited to those within the disability community, it is NOT acceptable for “outsiders” to use in reference to people with disabilities.