Talk at Penn: "Cripping Intersectionality: (Neuro)Diversity and Disability Justice"

Talk at Penn: "Cripping Intersectionality: (Neuro)Diversity and Disability Justice" by Lydia X.Z. Brown, who blogs as "Autistic Hoya"

Saturday, April 23rd at 4:30, Penn LGBT Center, FB invite with details below 

Our bodies are sick, disabled, mad, wobbly, flappy. We are everywhere, working, loving, playing, laboring for liberation, yearning for community. But most representations of disabled people are relegated to little more than inspirational stories of overcomers and supercrips. Most discussions of disability are limited to patronizing awareness laced with pity and fearmongering campaigns to cure the "cripples" and "mentally challenged." Too often, disability is thought of as someone else's private medical problem instead of a diversity and social justice imperative. We must critically examine how ableism impacts disabled people and centers the bodies and minds of those who are more or less considered "normal," "healthy," "desirable," and "ideal," while others are construed as "deviant," "sick," "defective," and "undesirable." When disabled people live with the constant threat of violence throughout our lives, we must take up a call to action. Disability justice calls for us to move beyond blindness simulations, buddy programs, and superficial inclusion -- and toward social justice movements where radical access is the norm and disabled people are integral, valued parts of our communities.

Speaker:
Lydia X. Z. Brown (Autistic Hoya) is a gender/queer and transracially/transnationally adopted east asian autistic activist, writer, and speaker whose work has largely focused on violence against multiply-marginalized disabled people, especially institutionalization, incarceration, and policing. They have worked to advance transformative change through organizing in the streets, writing legislation, conducting anti-ableism workshops, testifying at regulatory and policy hearings, and disrupting institutional complacency everywhere from the academy to state agencies and the nonprofit-industrial complex. At present, Lydia is co-president of TASH New England, chairperson of the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council, and an executive board member of the Autism Women's Network. 

In collaboration with Elesia Ashkenazy and Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu, Lydia is the lead editor and visionary behind All the Weight of Our Dreams, a forthcoming anthology of writings and artwork by autistic people of color (release date April 2016). Previously, Lydia worked for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s national public policy team. Lydia has been honored by the White House, the Washington Peace Center, Pacific Standard, and Mic. Lydia’s work has been featured in various anthologies, including Criptiques, Torture in Healthcare Settings, and QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology, and periodicals including Tikkun, Disability Intersections, Black Girl Dangerous, hardboiled magazine, POOR Magazine, and the Washington Post. 

Accessibility:
This event is free and open to the public. The space is wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation will be provided. This event is low-fragrance (please do not wear perfume or other scented products). If you have any questions or concerns please contact Penn Disability Advocates atpenn.disability@gmail.com