Read on Twitter
today, the #8toAbolition squad had a call with our friends from @behearddc, and i want to share some of the lessons we learned about integrating a disability justice framework into all of our work as organizers building abolitionist futures:
— for those of us organizing around abolition, we have to remember: despite the decades of organizing work that’s been done, these concepts are still new for a lot of people and we're still coming up with language! The ASL sign for mass incarceration was created only 4 years ago.
— when we seek to make our events accessible, it's not enough to enlist the support of interpreters. We have to prep! We have to send the names of books we will reference and the topics we'll discuss so that our interpreters can translate in advance.
— taking the time to prep also means remembering to *slow down!* while this work is urgent and necessary, caring for our people is also urgent and necessary. making our organizing accessible means working at a sustainable pace.
— most importantly: having interpreters isn't enough if the content itself hasnt integrated a thorough, explicit disability justice framework. Lift up the work + campaigns of folks disrupting ableism + state violence simultaneously. Black disabled folks are most impacted by both!
I'm truly grateful to be in community with @talilalewis, @behearddc organizers, and the #8toAbolition team. we are all learning, growing, and consistently working to do better. thanks to the folks who took time to educate us today + I hope these guidelines are helpful for others.
