February, 2024

Supporting Black Disabled Individuals this Black History Month

Continue reading to learn more about what is happening at ADA and throughout the greater world of disability, including perspectives about the intersection of race and disability this Black History Month.


As always, our teams have been busy this month. Reentry had several successful events in the community including presentations at Greene and Neuse Corrective Institutes. The reentry team also presented to the Duke Justice Project, a group of students at Duke University interested in reentry and criminal justice.


In Early February, the Carolina Sled Hockey Team participated in Ambassadors of Adaptive Sports in Beers of America's Adaptive Sports Festival held at the John T. Rohodes Sports Center in Myrtle Beach, SC. Carolina Sled Hockey talked about the sport, but more importantly, spoke about the mental health benefits of participating in Adaptive Sports and the peer support that is received. The team displayed and talked about the adaptive equipment needed for Sled Hockey. We also got to watch Team USA vs Whales in a Wheelchair Rugby match.

2024 Youth Leadership Forum Information

In partnership with Youth LEAD NC, we are excited to announce that delegate applications for the 2024 Youth Leadership Forum are now available to fill out!


This event is an annual multi-day program that fosters emerging youth and young adult leaders in NC by teaching them how to advocate in their communities and for themselves. It will be held from July 20th to 24th, 2024 at NC State University.


Delegate applications are due by March 1st, 2024. To learn more about the Youth Leadership Forum and apply, click here.

Accessibility of Public Transit Survey from ECU Professor

Alliance of Disability Advocates is passing along a volunteer, online survey titled Perceived Accessibility to Public Transit being conducted by Dr. Kaylyn Levine, an Assistant Professor at East Carolina University in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment. The goal of this research is to understand how accessibility impacts first and last mile travel to public transit in the United States. 

 

The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete and is conducted on Qualtrics. Your identity will not be tied to your survey responses. The survey is completely voluntary and may be stopped at any point. 

 

If you would like to participate in this survey, please use the link below to begin:

https://ecu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6lBf6Qme9dpso6O

 

If you have any questions about this study, please email Kaylyn Levine at levinek23@ecu.edu.


Current Happenings in the Disability World

Remembering Intersectionality this Black History Month


This Black History Month (and beyond), we want to take the chance to amplify the voices of Black disabled people in our community. The intersection of race and disability identity is an important one for many people with lived experience. As with all discussions of intersectionality, it is important to note that understanding the experiences of people who are both Black and disabled is not as simple as adding up those individual identities. There are concerns that fall in the intersection of these two identities that neither Black non-disabled people nor White disabled individuals experience.


As Johnnie Lacy, a social justice pioneer and a founding member of the Center for Independent Living said: “It has been problematic for blacks to identify with disability. My classmates would have had to accept my disability within the same intellectual framework as my blackness–that of an oppressed minority opposite. I believe that African Americans see disability in the same way that everybody else sees it–worthless, mindless–without realizing that this is the same attitude held by others toward African Americans. This belief in effect cancels out the black identity they share with a disabled black person, both socially and culturally, because the disability experience is not viewed in the same context as if one were only black, and not disabled. Because of this myopic view, I as a black disabled person could not share in the intellectual dialogue viewed as exclusive. I could be one or the other but not both."


We encourage you to read the articles listed below to learn more about this intersectional identity directly from people with lived experience.

A Shared Struggle for Equality: Disability Rights and Racial Justice

Legal Defense Fund | Marisa Wright | July 31, 2023


Why Black Disabled History Matters

World Institute on Disability | Dikko Yusuf | Feb 22, 2023


'You Have to Scream Out:' Being Black and Disabled is a Constant Struggle

The Atlantic | Shalene Gupta | Sep 21, 2021


Disability and other identities?—how do they intersect?

Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences | Mary Wickenden | Aug 10, 2023


Understanding the Policing of Black, Disabled Bodies

Center for American Progress | Vilissa Thompson | Feb 10, 2021


How To Make Policies Work for Black Women With Disabilities

Center for American Progress | Megan Buckles | Feb 15, 2022


Disability doesn’t discriminate: health inequities at the intersection of race and disability

Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences | Brooke Dorsey Holliman, Michelle Stransky, Nathalie Dieujuste, and Megan Morris | Jul 6, 2023


"I'm unashamedly embracing every aspect of my identity and ensuring the world knows it."


― Andréa LaVant, Social Justice Advocate

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What We're Reading

Gun access, rural residency are key risk factors in N.C. suicide crisis

by Jaymie Baxley | Feb 29, 2024


Content Warning: self-harm and suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people ages 18 to 35 in North Carolina. It claims more lives than homicide, and its toll on young adults is surpassed only by motor vehicle accidents and unintentional drug overdoses...

Starbucks Makes Its Stores More Accessible, Inclusive With New Accessibility Guidelines

by Steven Aquino | Feb 20, 2024


Starbucks thinks accessibility pairs well its coffee. Late last week, the Seattle-based company announced “new accessibility guidelines” for its United States stores aimed at making them more accessible to and inclusive of disabled people...

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