11 Disability Rights Activists on Where the Fight for Justice Stands – Teen Vogue

Naomi: Disabled people are self-advocates in all that they do because they are used to their needs not being considered unless they raise concerns themselves. The best way to address this issue is to ensure that disabled people are being heard and seen in politics, business, and other sectors.

One way to help put more disabled people in leadership positions is to expand voting accessibility. This can come in many forms, from increasing oversight of the accessibility of in-person voting locations to expanding mail-in voting to conducting more outreach to disabled voters. Disabled people consistently have lower rates of voting turnout than nondisabled people, in many cases due to the additional challenges they face when they attempt to vote.

Many changes to make voting more accessible for disabled people will help nondisabled voters as well. Every person, regardless of disability, deserves the chance to participate in our American democracy.

Isabel: The special education system for disabled folk has become a prison pipeline, particularly for disabled students with intersectional marginalized identities. Disabled students are still being segregated in the [special education] system. While 55% of white students with disabilities spend the majority of their time in general education classrooms, only 30% of Black students do. This segregation of disabled students has created a society where only 75% of all disabled students graduate high school. Nationwide this is an epidemic, where around 70% of youth with emotional disabilities who drop out of school are arrested within five years.

Disabled folk are being set up to fail by an education system that doesn't value their future.

Ananya Rao-Middleton, Illustrator and chronic illness & disability activist: The disability rights movement still has a huge issue with whitewashing disability. This is a huge problem, because on average disability effects black, indigenous and ethnic minority communities more than white communities. Whitewashing the disability rights movement not only erases that fact, but also means that issues relating specifically to how racism and ableism work in tandem are not being listened to/heard.

Sandy: Injustice is stitched into the fabric of our institutions, culture, and logic. Unraveling these threads will require profound social transformation. In short, this is long-term work.

Everyone working toward disability justice in government, philanthropy, or at the grassroots level should heed the movements principle: leadership [by] those most impacted. Our communities lived experiences are invaluable, essential, and, frankly, nonnegotiable in this work.

Philanthropy has not fully reconciled with a history that was rooted in charity and funding for cures, and how eugenics was the donor engagement and fundraising strategy when it came to funding for people with disabilities. Those who support the movement should fund, hire, resource, and trust people with disabilities to lead our own liberation.

This movement is unapologetic in celebrating, lifting up, and always choosing disabled wisdom, joy, and ways of being when that is so often the least valued choice in our society.

Teona: It means fighting for affordable universal health care, changing the way we view disability and the eugenics that always hides around the corner when discussing us. It means realizing that disability issues don't just affect disabled people.

Disability isn't some evil, lurking monster to be afraid of. But it's ignorant to move about life as if you will never need the resources or help that we as disabled people rely on. Disability justice means taking action now to fix certain problems rather than allowing them to fall apart, forcing disabled people who already have less income, access, energy, and time to fight to fix them.

Imani: I believe it is imperative to focus on the use of ableism as the tool kit of white supremacy. Every single form of marginalization is meant to disable those at the mercy of this governing system. To build toward equity, we must unpack a history of eugenics, race science, and ableism that seeks to isolate, disenfranchise, and discard those deemed not valuable to society.

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11 Disability Rights Activists on Where the Fight for Justice Stands - Teen Vogue