Ly Xīnzhèn M. Zhǎngsūn Brown

Disabled people have always been at the forefront of movements for justice and freedom, building networks of care and solidarity, and creating social and cultural transformation. Disabled students organized to create the first disabled-run direct services center in Berkeley in the 1960's, bring the first Deaf president of the nation's only Deaf university in the 1980's, and create Disability Cultural Centers at a growing number of universities since the 1990's and peer-led, abolitionist, anticarceral support by/for neurodivergent and mad people. Come to this session to find solidarity, community, connection, and witness. You'll learn about histories of powerful disabled students' organizing and community building, gain tools for knowing and caring for ourselves and each other, and plant seeds for future connection, growth, and transformation.