On the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Crip Camp: The Official Virtual Experience, an online workshop about different topics pertaining to the disability community, featured Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha, an amazing, queer, disabled, femme, writer of color, wrote one of my favorite books, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice. Why is this piece of writing so important? For one, this author has called for a change in perspective on personal care. Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha pointed out that people with disabilities sometimes can help our friends with disabilities with grocery shopping, laundry, or medication pickups from pharmacies. Patty Berne’s principle of disability justice, interdependence, which Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha has advocated for, is revolutionary. Instead of being dependent on able-bodied, paid, employees, members of the disabled community can rely on each other.
Recently, students at University of Southern California (USC) have adopted this philosophy of mutual aid and created the USC Care Collective to help meet the financial needs of their classmates, especially those who are undocumented. Since students who are undocumented unfairly do not qualify for President Trump’s Covid-19 aid, they have to depend on one another (link below. Since USC’s administration failed to allocate any of its COVID-19 relief funding to those in marginalized communities, the students had no choice but to solely depended on each other. This is one important example of how disability justice could be applied in today’s world.
In another part of this extraordinary book, Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha passionately calls for fully accessible performing spaces. The writer recalls how after being a participant in a Sins Invalid production, the theater immediately removed the wheelchair ramp. If accessibility was in the forefront of planning theatrical performances, people with disabilities could more easily be actors, costume designers, directors, set designers, and stage managers, instead of just audience members. If creative spaces were fully equipped to meet the needs of all people, regardless of ability, this would inherently give people with disabilities more opportunities to share their stories authentically.
Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha also notes that we need to think about accessibility in a much broader context than simply finding a wheelchair accessible theater. She urges directors and producers to also ensure that theaters consider the access needs of people who are blind, deaf, or sensitive to strong fragrances. Theaters need to provide programs in Braille, sign language interpretation, low scented environments, and quiet rooms for people who are sensitive to different sounds. When these necessary tools for access are readily available, all members of society will be able to enjoy live performances equally. This author pushes society to think about accessibility from the disability justice perspective, and this is the way of thinking we must adopt.
Additionally, Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha discusses the importance of healing justice. For me personally, the word healing has always had a negative connotation. This is because growing up in a mostly able-bodied town a lot of people would try to heal me of my disability, even when that was not my desire. Whether at a high school event or in the grocery store, I was constantly being told that I needed to be fixed. Having this message repeatedly being said to me as a young person made me falsely assume that my disability was an individual, and not one created by society.
However, Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha is referring to something completely different all together. In this brilliant book, the writer advocates for people to go through a process of healing from generational ableism, racism, or any other form of oppression someone and their ancestors may have endured. We need to heed this ingenious author’s wisdom, especially considering the imperial and genocidal history of the United States.
https://dailytrojan.com/2020/05/26/website-raises-funds-for-students-in-need/
