Liberating Disability
“Disabled, in the eyes of many is a dirty word because it shines a light on the differences of our world, and when we acknowledge difference, we must acknowledge privilege – and that opens a whole other can of worms.” ― The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me
Dates:
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 | 11:30 am-5:30 pm | In-Person, Express Newark, 54 Halsey St. Newark, NJ 07102
Thursday, October 24, 2024 3:00-4:00 pm (ET) • Virtual via Zoom (register to receive link). Download Program
Event Details: The future is disabled,” writes disability justice organizer Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. While disability has long been a site of exclusion and experimentation, people with disabilities remain the largest minoritized group in the United States: There are rich legacies of organizing, cross-movement solidarity, and collective refusal led by the most-impacted and in close partnership with other efforts for justice, decarceration, and liberation. Join us to learn more about these possibilities and how we are creating disabled and reparative futures here in Newark and beyond. This kick-off seminar for the 2024-2025 Mellon Sawyer Seminar, Potentialities of Justice: Toward Collective Reparative Futures,” draws together prominent scholars, activists, and educators to explore disability justice, human displacement and reparative practices, to illuminate frameworks that can inform generative responses to past and present social harms. Recordings of seminars can be found on the Sawyer Seminar at Rutgers – Newark YouTube channel. This event was made possible by the Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminars. Many thanks to our co-sponsors for their additional support and contributions. Much gratitude to Gourmet Dining, Reservations, and Express Newark!
Wednesday, October 23, 2024:
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Welcome Luncheon and Remarks by Dean Jacqueline Mattis
Chancellor Jeffrey Robinson and Dean Jacqueline S. Mattis, Rutgers University, Newark
12:00 – 12:45 PM: Keynote and Book Signing with Keah Brown
“The Pretty One and What Happens After You Learn to Love Yourself”
Keah Brown, Author, Actress, Journalist, and Screenwriter
1:00 – 1:15 PM: Black Impact Summit Report: Supporting Individuals with Disabilities
LeDerick Horne and Bill Davis, Black Impact Summit
1:15 – 1:45 PM: Policy Report on Race and Disability by Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies
Amanda Jaeger, Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, Rutgers University, Newark
1:45 – 2:45 PM: Zine Making Workshop by Sick of It!: Incarceration and Disability Justice
Mon Moha, Sick of It!
2:45 – 4:00 PM: Liberating Disability: New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP), Urban Education, and The Anti-Eugenics Project
Talib Charriez, Senior Program Coordinator, NJ-STEP, Rutgers University, Newark
LaChan Hannon, Department of Urban Education, Rutgers University, Newark
Samuel Quiles, The Center for Justice Innovation
Tiyanna Scarlett, Counselor, NJ-STEP, Rutgers University, Newark
Jean-Pierre Brutus, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
Mark Comesañas, Executive Director My Brothers Keeper, Newark
Jack Tchen, Director of the Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, and the Modern Experience, Rutgers University, Newark
4:00 – 5:00 PM: Film Screening: CRIP CAMP: A Disability Revolution
Crip Camp is both a gripping look at the history of the disability rights movement and a timely call to action, urging us to explore our own duty to fight for the dignity of all people.” – President Barack Obama
Thursday, October 24, 2024:
3:00 – 4:00 PM: Disability and Reparations: From Haunting to Hope
Dr. Linda Steele, Associate Professor at University of Technology Sydney Law Faculty and Adjunct Associate Professor at University of South Australia
Livestream:
Click image to view recorded livestream.