Events & Calendars Disability Justice 101

This workshop introduces disability justice as a framework to help us unravel internalized ideas about "good" bodies, "fit" bodies and how bodies "should" be.

Over the past year many people have been called on to think about illness and disability in new ways. Maybe in the current crises you're noticing how interdependent you are with others. Maybe being home 24/7 is reconnecting you with your own body and mind in ways that feel challenging. Maybe the constant media focus on illness & health - often with undertones of ableism, racism, fatphobia and eugenics - is showing you how much you don't know. Whatever the reason, we welcome you to learn and practice with us.

Through a lively combination of short presentations, discussions and reflection participants will:
- Gain an understanding of the medical, social, and disability justice models of disability
- Examine their own internalized beliefs about ability, disability, health and fitness and how these relate to gender, race, class, fatness and more
- Consider how these beliefs impact them and others
- Identify barriers to access and opportunities for greater access at Amherst College

The presenters are:

Yusef Flores is a non binary trans artist of color. They were born in Caracas, Venezuela and has been disabled for a long time but only recently understands what that all encompasses.

Davey Shlasko is a queer and trans educator who lives with disabling chronic illness. Disability justice helps Davey to imagine and practice liberation in teaching, organizational change and day to day life. Davey manages Think Again Training & Consulting and writes about social justice pedagogy.