Transcript:

0:00

ELLIOTT FUKUI: So disability justice is a term that was coined by Patty Berne and the Disability Justice Collective which was this amazing crew of disabled, badass, mostly queer and trans people of color. Disability justice is really looking at creating a world where every body, every mind, regardless of how it's shaped or moves or functions in the world, has a place. And understands that disabled folks have a lot, a lot, a lot to offer to our communities. And in the same vein, it's grounded in the agency and self-determination of a person who identifies, you know, like I identify as neurodivergent. That my agency and self-determination is prioritized over, right, things like the medical industrial complex or saying that there's something wrong with me. Transformative justice is also about agency and self-determination, right? And people have understanding that we are all empowered to change our lives and to change behaviors and to transform the culture that we live in. Disability justice is also trying to transform the culture that we live in to be bigger and allow for more agency and self-determination for more of us. So that intersection is a super sweet spot because, yeah, we're all fighting for that same thing, which is that we get to exist in the world without fear of harm just because of who we are or how we move through the world. As someone who's neurodivergent and with disabilities, a lot of how I entered into this work was through my own lived experience of trying to A, be accountable to my community and be able to show up for my community as someone who very frequently has to take moves back because of how my mind and my body function. But also for care to become a collective thing. Disabled folks, we've never been able to rely on a lot of the systems that are in place or those systems have been incredibly harmful to us. More than 50% of people who are murdered by the police are people with neurodivergence or who are neuroatypical or have cognitive disabilities, right? So for disabled community, this is also about us staying alive. I think everyone should have a safety team. Everyone should have a community that loves them enough and unconditionally. Having a safety team has enabled me to be outside, to be a part of my community, and it also is a preventative tool. My friends know how to support me and take care of me so that I don't end up outside while I'm dissociated or episodic, which means I have less interactions with police officers, which means I have a lesser chance of ending up back inside or really harmed by the state or the system. So when I think about transformative justice and community accountability, and again that intersection, right, is like this is really about going back to what we know is true. That our relationships are the most valuable resource that we have in maintaining our agency and self-determination, in getting the love and care and support we need to survive, and in shifting, right, shifting our culture kind of from the inside out.

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LEAH LAKSHMI PIEPZNA-SAMARASINHA: From a disability perspective, so many of us who are disabled live in a lot of isolation because of ableism, so, and I mean that can happen for people who aren't disabled too. I think that's true for a lot of survivors and a lot of people that they're like, "what community?" So I guess I also wanna give a shout out because I think, you know, like community is a word and community accountability, right? And I think often there is still this focus we have on like, oh my god, this great network of community is gonna be there and it's so wonderful. And a lot of us actually have a much more mixed experience or we're like, "actually we're loners, "we're hermits, we're, "there's a lot of stuff that we don't actually have support, "around or we're actually kind of isolated." And I guess I kind of wanna give a shout out to people who might be watching this video who are living alone in their apartments or their lives, who are still building lives that have safety, peace, justice, and healing. And to say that that's real too.

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