Crip News v.215

Jan 12, 2026

NEWS

Truthout’s Marianne Dhenin recently asked 5 disability justice organizers - Sarah Blahovec, Alex Green, Johnnie Jae, Dom Kelly, and Arielle Rebekah - to explain what’s at stake for disabled people in the second year of Trump’s second term.

“COVID-conscious organizers must be willing to combat their own whorephobia and internalized racism,” writes artist, organizer, and journalist Khalil (Kae) Dennis in new reporting on the work of Black trans sex workers with Long COVID for The Sick Times.
Access artist Cheryl Green recently spoke with Gemma DiCarlo about her work to showcase the experiences of brain injury survivors on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud.

Queer disabled artist Perel recently reflected on the roles of grief, crip time, and collaborative access layers in the making of their show Natural Acts for the most recent issue of Stance on Dance.
In Broad Street Review, organizer and Founder of Disability Pride Pennsylvania Vicki Landers asks “Why does Philly enforce health and safety codes, but not access codes?”
Healing Justice Ldn recently published some winter resources and recommendations.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine recently published a study that shows where an elder lives directly affects their recovery from a broken hip: those in “economically disadvantaged neighborhoods” spent about 23 fewer days at home during the year after their injury.
Robert Stack, founder and CEO of Community Options. Photo by Patti Sapone.
New analysis by Susan K. Livio from NJ Advance Media found a dramatic rise in taxpayer-funded executive salaries of the nonprofits with the most group home clients in New Jersey. For example, Robert Stack, head of Community Options, was paid $2.37 million in 2023, nearly tripling his 2018 compensation of $838,942.

An engineer at the European Space Agency, Michaela “Michi” Benthaus, is the first wheelchair-user to travel to space. Benthaus was one of six passengers on an 11-minute journey aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on Dec. 20, 2025.
Tressa Burke, CEO of the Glasgow Disability Alliance, recently refused to accept an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) honor, saying the UK government was “fueling hatred, blame and scapegoating of people with disabilities.”

Last month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to use Times New Roman 14-point font in all official documents, reversing Calibri 15-point font that was “recommended as an accessibility best practice” in 2023.

CripJustice is seeking stories or information about school districts who call Child Protective Services against the families of students with disabilities when they advocate strongly for their children. The organization is also looking for volunteers and grant opportunities.
DisabiliT4T is seeking disabled queers with expertise in cybersecurity and secure web design and queers who use screen readers to consult on web accessibility and help build “the infrastructure for a revolutionary new kind of intentional community for disabled and chronically ill queer people.”

3rd Annual Disability Justice is Beloved Community
Sunday, Jan. 18, 12 - 6pm PT, in-person at the Ed Roberts Campus (Berkeley, CA) and on Zoom
This gathering of arts, culture, and political organizing will feature multi-cultural drumming, an open mic/variety show, bodyworkers, disabled artists and vendors, skill shares, music and dance, food and drinks, an art build for Reclaim MLK's Radical Legacy March, movie screenings, and more. We’re excited to put this event on with our partners Disability Justice Culture Club, Disability Justice League - Bay Area, the Anti-Police Terror Project, Peace Out Loud, Ability Now, Senior and Disability Action, the CIL, and Hand in Hand.

Compressed and Re-expanded | Three films by Jenny Brady
Thursday, Jan. 15, 7 - 9pm GMT, in-person at Tramway (Glasgow)
LUX Scotland presents a special screening event featuring Jenny Brady’s work which explores the fragile, intricate mechanisms that shape how we communicate. Brought together for the first time, Brady’s films ‘Receiver’ (2019), ‘Music for Solo Performer’ (2022) and ‘The Glass Booth’ (2025) will be presented with audio description made in collaboration with access worker and accessibility consultant Elaine Lillian Joseph. The screening will be followed by an in-conversation with Jenny Brady and guest speaker Louise Hickman.
Kinetic Light LAB Hangouts
Fridays, January 16 & 30, 2-3:30 pm ET on Zoom
LAB Hangouts are hosted as an open-structured virtual social space for disabled artists to connect and get to know one another. Hangouts offer space to talk about disability, art making, creative practices, life hacks and tips, dreams, desires, disability wisdom, and more. You’re welcome to bring ideas for conversation or a bit of art that inspires you. LAB Producers, morgaine de leonardis and Camisha Jones, will loosely guide the gathering, offering topics and questions as needed.

Planting Disabled Futures
Jan. 14 - 16, in-person at the Disability Cultural Community Center (San Francisco)
Join The Olimpias for a Planting Disabled Futures extravaganza, with a public performance on January 14 and small sharing parties on the 15 and 16 of January. The crip intimacy virtual reality/community performance installation invites you into a world of healing plants cultivated by disabled peoples’ embodied ways of knowing.
(FREEDOM): A Celebration of American Sign Language, Community and Belonging
TODAY, Monday, Jan. 12, 6pm, in-person at New York Live Arts (NYC)
(FREEDOM) is an autobiographical performance tracing the life of Brandon Kazen-Maddox, a Black, Queer, hearing child raised in a white, Deaf world. A third-generation heritage signer of American Sign Language, Brandon tells their own story, through an interdisciplinary fusion of ASL, spoken word, Simultaneous Communication (SimCom), music, projected subtitles, aerial arts, dance and theater. Brandon is joined by a remarkable ensemble of Deaf, hearing, and ASL-fluent artists whose ethnic, linguistic, and cultural identities mirror the diversity of Brandon’s own family. Together, they bring to life a story that transcends language, celebrates connection, and explores what it truly means to belong.