Black people with disabilities are capable of mental, physical, and spiritual feats. Although multiple sclerosis put Brad Lomax in a wheelchair, he joined the Black Panther Party and founded the Center for Independent Living. Lois Curtis, an artist and activist with schizophrenia, protested segregated housing practices and won a landmark case to support improved independent living communities. Claudia Gordon is recognized as the first deaf Black woman lawyer in the United States.
The great potential of the African diaspora can be realized. From Anthony Browder’s Kemetic files, he concludes that the real AI, or Ancestral Intelligence, of African people enables us to surpass limitations. Greatness is in our DNA.
We don’t need prompts to answer our callings and lead purposeful lives. Knowledge of our Divine and Ancestral connections and appreciation for our various abilities, when coupled with communal action, can foster significant contributions to society. To increase impact, we must acknowledge oppression, embrace opportunity, and engage in critical activities.
Disability Pride Month helps us recognize, remember, and redirect our efforts toward collective justice.
In July, we highlight the identities of people with disabilities and celebrate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This month also serves as a call to educate, collaborate, and create more inclusive programs and services.
Throughout the diaspora, people with disabilities are misperceived as cursed and subjected to segregation practices. In Ghana and South Africa, some individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia do not receive adequate treatment because their symptoms are considered conduits of an evil spirit. Lower-income Black students with disabilities in the United States are more likely to be placed in classrooms separate from the general population with less experienced teachers and inadequate learning materials.
The lives of African people with disabilities matter. They should not be imprisoned or murdered.
We must pursue work that addresses injustices for individuals with disabilities in the criminal justice system. The Prison Policy Initiative’s data indicates that up to 40% of incarcerated individuals have a documented disability. People with disabilities are “sixteen times more likely to be killed during police encounters.”
Expanding the definition of disability and broadening supportive resources are crucial actions to engage in our community.
Systemic and individual acts of oppression prevent Black/African people with visible and invisible disabilities from achieving high-quality lives. Physical and visible disabilities often correspond with accessibility challenges. Cognitive and invisible disabilities can limit access and the quality of educational, social, and recreational opportunities available to thrive.
Gymnast Simone Biles described her challenges with depression as, “It’s challenging to talk about how you’re doing mentally since it’s an invisible injury – people can’t see it, so it’s harder to understand, but I think that’s why it’s so important we feel empowered to open up about it.” While an invisible injury is not the same as an invisible disability, if left untreated, it can produce similar effects. In Biles’s case, depression from sexual trauma influenced her decision to leave gymnastics.
While Biles found the therapeutic resources to eventually return to competitive sports, she and others continue to endure mental health challenges that impact their lives.
The difficulties that Black/African people with disabilities face in the United States’ education system are pervasive.
Black children with ADHD more frequently find themselves trapped in the school-to-prison pipeline. The intersection between race, disability, and academic achievement often influences teacher and administrative expectations of students in self-contained and therapeutic day school environments.
Students with intellectual disabilities are often compared with non-peer groups, which undermines the unique contributions they offer to schools. Furthermore, they receive disparaging labels, which lead to segregation practices, stigmas, and misrepresentation.
Comprehensive awareness, empathy, and commitments, illustrated through strategic action to address disability injustice, are critical.
Disability Pride Month asks us to do more than talk about challenges. We can get involved with organizations such as the Center for Race and Disability Justice, the Legal Defense Fund, or create initiatives that address challenges for people with disabilities. Our community needs a range of services and multiple professional coalitions to help people with disabilities.
If we use our Ancestral Intelligence, knowledge, and skills, we can achieve collective justice and add to the legacies of Ancestors Lomax and Curtis. Every change movement begins with awareness. Share this article and contribute to the ABPSI 57th Annual Convention Fundraiser.
Photos by Frankie Cordoba on Unsplash, Mugabi Owen on Unsplash, and Osama Elsayed on Unsplash.
