- Identify and destroy ableism’s deep, racist roots.
- Support and uplift Black disabled leaders.
- Confront ableism and racism by educating each other.
As another Black History Month arrives, we, as Black disabled people, are asked to talk about our joy and our trauma. And I am often left with questions.
The complexity of our multiply marginalized identities becomes more apparent when celebrations and discussions do not have an intersectional lens. I see white people who want to hear my voice, yet there is an absence of the real deep work that needs to be done — particularly within the disability community around racism and ableism.
Accessibility for Whom?
Especially as someone with a spinal cord injury, I see too many discussions around so-called treatments and cures dominated by white voices. I understand the grief of becoming disabled, but often these discussions are rooted in a desire to return to a nondisabled state. They do not really encompass what a truly accessible world could look like. Because whether we have a cure or not, disability can always happen. Also, accessing these therapies requires a level of medical savvy as well as free time to pursue them. And unfortunately, the data does not support that those who are Black have that level of free time to pursue treatments for their disability.
Additionally, attitudes within Black communities are different around spinal cord injury. Being Black in America and nondisabled means being consistently under threat of becoming disabled by the varied systems of oppression that exist in this country. So, after becoming disabled, one is still focused on things such as how do I maintain my family? How do I work? How do I even get around in this area that I live in?
Nationally we talk about underserved communities. The reality is that economic investment leads to an increase in accessibility, but the displacement that happens with gentrification also pushes out disabled people in these areas.
Disability So White
Depression and anxiety are well known in our community as it’s part of the grieving process of becoming disabled. But what services are provided through culturally competent lenses to Black disabled people? Depression and anxiety are expressed differently across cultures, and a recent article spoke of how Black women, in particular, have a unique and distinct way of expressing depression and anxiety. How are spinal cord injury nonprofits and providers using their cultural competency to support people of color in coping with disability and spinal cord injury? Given the recent New York Times article on how doctors confess, ”I’m not wanting to even treat disabled patients, particularly those who are wheelchair users,” I would hazard to guess that cultural competency is lacking indeed.
Many years ago, Vilissa Thompson coined the term #DisabilitySoWhite, and we still see this today. The bulk of the nonprofits that focus on any type of disability are led by predominantly white individuals with predominantly white boards. Major organizations that focus on the so-called cure are also white-dominated. They seem to do well recognizing that they need to reach out to Black and brown communities but have yet to unpack why they continue to be inaccessible to those communities. And that inaccessibility is a choice.
Segregated Recreation
When I look at the movement of inclusive recreation, it is yet again predominantly white and middle class. Adaptive equipment for recreation is great, but how will you store that in a one-bedroom apartment in the city? What are transportation options, as many of these inclusive recreational opportunities do not exist within urban areas but in the suburbs? Additionally, none of the organizations that focus on inclusive recreation have deep knowledge and understanding about how racism and capitalism intersect when it comes to recreation.
By definition, recreation means that you have free time and disposable income to purchase equipment as well as to be able to utilize that equipment. Recreation for Black people has often, for centuries in this country, been inaccessible due to racism. Black people were not allowed to swim in the same swimming pools as whites. And as segregation was supposedly being dismantled, parks that had Ferris wheels, carousels and all sorts of wonderful things were destroyed rather than allow Black people to avail themselves of the same opportunities.
We also know the statistics around gender disparities and accessing the outdoors. The outdoors historically has been unsafe for those who are femme or identify as a woman, and so therefore, how are these organizations addressing issues around safety at the intersection of racism and patriarchy?
Ableism’s Deep, Racist Roots
It also goes back to how are we, as Black people, making sure that our movements are inclusive of Black disabled people? Emmy-award-winning hip-hop artist Keith Jones recently wrote an article about the continuance of the segregation of disabled people from the overall Black community and how it has deep roots in racism in this country. Disability and gender were not seen as detriments in Africa until colonizers came. And disability was used as a punishment against people trying to get free. Indeed, even thinking about attempting to obtain freedom was called drapetomania — a made-up illness. And we see its lasting impacts today.
Often when Black folk talk about these issues in white spaces, especially white disabled spaces, we receive pushback. White disabled people often aren’t equipped to handle these types of discussions because, overall, all of our complicity in systems of oppression by not thinking about them prior to our disabilities is not actually talked about. Marginalization seems to be not real until it happens to you.
And when nonprofits focus on disability, they need to be asked, “How are you moving out of the way so that Black disabled people can lead? What are your funding structures for programming and elevation of Black disabled leadership within your organization?”
When we Black disabled people are focused on, it’s often around being victims of a gunshot. While this is necessary, it often can add to the stigma and negative stereotype of gun violence being exclusive to the Black community. Additionally, Black women are more likely to become disabled by a violent partner. How are disability organizations collaborating with domestic violence organizations to make sure that we are really real about inclusivity? Furthermore, LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to become disabled due to violence against them by cisgendered heterosexual individuals as well as the overall abundance of becoming disabled from police brutality. How are these predominantly white and straight organizations collaborating with and, let’s be real, providing adequate funding the support that is so needed within these communities?
Collaborate with Black Disabled Leaders at Every Level
Disability nonprofits must reprioritize their relationships with Black disabled leadership by funding Black disabled leaders, but also must collaborate with local municipalities in conjunction with Black disabled activists on the variety of unmet needs at the municipal level. We know that disaster plans are not inclusive of disabled people. Recently we saw this in the City of Buffalo when a harsh winter storm killed so many. But where was the planning on the part of the City of Buffalo, and historically, how has the City of Buffalo contributed to the displacement of Black disabled people?
Recently on LinkedIn, I was sent a job posting for the first-ever ADA coordinator for the City of Buffalo. What would it have looked like if the City of Buffalo had a truly inclusive diversity and equity and inclusion initiative? How would that have mitigated the death and further disabling of marginalized people in Buffalo this winter?
And I know that it sounds like I am perseverating, and maybe I am, but white people have even hijacked the Disability Justice movement while continuing to profit at the exclusion of Black disabled disability justice practitioners. We’ve commodified our social movements. And just like how white women benefited from affirmative action, we’re seeing white disabled people getting monetized on the back of the Disability Justice movement and the inclusion movement. And this is true even if they are not disabled. A recent article in Forbes showed that 81% of those who hold a DEI role in corporations are white. My recent report on the Working Reality here in Rochester and Monroe County unequivocally shows how racism and ableism are keeping Black disabled people from being on par with their white counterparts.
It’ll be my 40th trip around the Sun this year and, therefore, my 40th celebration of Black History Month. And yet I sit asking the exact same questions that my foremothers have asked. So, I quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Where do we go from here?
I think the first part is looking at this post and having an honest conversation with yourself about all the points that have been made. If you belong to an organization, I encourage you to read my report and look at your equity and contracting and how are you actually bringing Black disabled disability justice practitioners to help you with your DEI initiatives. When we look at what we can do in our communities, how are our white folk educating other white folk on the impacts of racism and ableism within their own communities? And for our Black folk, how do we confront the ableism within our own? None of these questions are easy. However, they are all worthwhile as the end goal is liberation for all.
Author Bio:
Luticha André Doucette, owner of Catalyst Consulting graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in Bioinformatics where she developed protein surface prediction algorithms. After graduating, she was a Fellow at the University of Rochester where she worked in a genomics lab that focused on analyzing the venom of parasitoid wasps to develop new drug therapies for various diseases. In 2017 she authored a report on wage disparities across race, gender, and disability in Rochester and Monroe County in conjunction with the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative and in 2018 authored a follow-up report on employment barriers for disabled people in Rochester and Monroe County.
She is a graduate of the Leadership and Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Fellowship program and an AUCD Emerging Leader. An active member of United Spinal Association, she is committed to helping organizations examine equity across race, gender identity, and disability in policies, practices, procedures, and relationships.