Anti-Racism Resources - July 2024
Image description: The Disability Pride flag is the background behind an illustration of three raised fists signifying people of color. Above the image is the text “Anti-Racism Resources July 2024” and below is the text “Disability Pride Month.”
Each month, we feature educational resources in the NAAFA Newsletter to support our community in working to dismantle systemic racism. These resources are also shared on our social media, blog, and website. Resources vary from month to month, and may include historical information, tools for personal reflection, or information about how to get involved and make change. Many of the resources we suggest will be introductory resources, and this information is never intended to be full coverage on the complex and nuanced topics that are chosen each month. We encourage you to continue learning, and we especially hope you will seek out and support scholars, artists, creators, and activists who represent the communities most impacted by the topic of the month.
This month we invite you to join us in exploring resources about Disability Pride Month.
Racial justice, disability justice, and fat justice are all deeply intertwined. Below you’ll find resources to support disabled people, including those who live with multiple marginalized identities. You’ll also find resources to help those who are currently able-bodied become educated and prepared to act in solidarity.
What is Disability Justice? This article lays out how disability justice intersects with other movements like racial justice, gender justice, etc. It’s really important for us all to understand that our oppressions and experiences are interdependent and that our liberation is inherently connected. Disability justice relies on carceral justice which is connected to gender justice and so on and so forth. This resource demonstrates that well.
What is Ableism / Ableism 101. This is a primer on ableism, including different behaviors and microaggressions that able-bodied people are sometimes guilty of and should work to unlearn as they work through their internalized ableism. The examples and phrases to avoid are especially helpful.
Celebrating Disability Pride Month: Uplifting BIPOC Queer Creatives in the Disability Community. This 2024 article discusses the intersection of disability, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ identities; why inclusive discourse matters and spotlights on disabled, BIPOC, queer creatives.
Disability doesn’t discriminate: health inequities at the intersection of race and disability. This 2023 study shows the disparity in access to healthcare for BIPOC, disabled persons.
The burden and consequences of self-advocacy for disabled BIPOC by the Disability Visibility Project. This 2020 guest blog post from a Black, disabled woman outlines the burden of self-advocacy in higher education facilities. She points out many ways that colleges or universities may deny accessibility requests and the lack of support that disabled, BIPOC students may find in that environment. Denial of requests such as these are the actions of systemic racism and ableism.
TikToker Brena Jean regularly advocates for Lipedema awareness and shares her perspectives on the intersections of race, class, disability, and size. She joined us last year for this episode of the NAAFA Webinar Series to help our community learn more about lipedema, the barriers to diagnosis and treatment, and the experience of being an influencer who discusses these subjects.
Black Disabled Men Get Together. In this 2016 clip, Leroy F. Moore, Gary N Gray, Donald Foster and Lateef McLeod discuss their lived experience as Black disabled men and discuss lack of visibility in the mainstream disability community and ableism in Black communities.
On this episode of NPR’s It’s Been a Minute, Dr. Sami Shaulk, author of Black Disability Justice, discusses the intersections of disability and Blackness, including how disability justice is essential to political protest and how inaccessible voting is part of disenfranchising Black and Brown voters.
