Crip News v.44
NEWS
Beyoncé’s “Heated” & Ableist Language
Six weeks after Lizzo changed the lyrics in “GRRRLS” to remove a disability slur, the same word appeared on - and then disappeared from - Beyoncé’s new album, RENAISSANCE. White Australian activist Hannah Diviney catalyzed the conversation in a viral tweet, and again in a post published on HireUp. Diviney writes that Beyoncé’s “power to have the world paying attention to the narratives, struggles and nuanced lived experience of being a black woman […] doesn’t excuse her use of ableist language.”
Can the issue help us understand a widening gap between Disability Rights and Disability Justice? Rights-based work often fixates on ableist language, “representation,” and legislation. This tradition galvanizes political support around the shared experience of ableism with little or no recognition of the way ableism is the root of racism. Disability Justice, instead, focuses on meeting the direct survival needs of queer and trans disabled people of color, those most impacted by ableism. Justice-based work involves calls to mutual aid organizing over call-outs about terminology.
Have the white disabled activists who drive the focus on language acknowledged their othering of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a process that is far more conspicuously targeting Black women than any other artists?
Nowhere in the reporting about the controversy is a recognition that “Heated” is where Beyoncé offers the most direct celebration of her disabled kin. She dedicates the album to her Uncle Jonny who made the prom dress referenced in the song: “He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album.” “Witnessing his battle with HIV,” she said while accepting the 2019 GLAAD Vanguard Award, “was one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever lived.”
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the next controversy about ableist lyrics drew people deeper into work that can change the material conditions of the lives of disabled people of color? How much are we willing to risk in expanding nondisabled people’s sense that they have nothing to contribute to our work except staying out of it?
The hMPXV Crisis
hMPXV, the better name for “Monkeypox,” continues to spread globally amid widespread confusion about its transmission. In NYC, 23,000 vaccine appointments were gone within an hour last week. And the “investigational” status of Tpoxx, the only medicine available to treat the viral disease, is making it difficult to access for people who are in excruciating pain. If you or someone you know needs access to Tpoxx, see this guide, an excellent example of queer patient activism.
New Works
In the most recent issue of disability literary organization Zoeglossia’s Poem of the Week series, heidi andrea restrepo rhodes curates works by JJJJJerome Ellis, Hannah Emerson, and Tala Khanmalek on “crip grammars.”
A 21’ “inflatable psychedelic Argonaut” sculpture designed by Jason Wilsher-Mills in collaboration with 60 other disabled artists will be installed in Walsall Arboretum Park in the U.K. “as a celebration of disability in the Black Country.”
Natasha Ofili, Andraéa LaVant, Reveca Torres, and Andres “Jay” Molina discussed Disability Justice and filmmaking on a remote panel during Philadelphia’s BlackStar Film Festival.
One of the 2022 Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts has been given to disabled artist Larry Bissonnette.
Last week’s Leadership Exchange in Arts & Disability (LEAD) Conference featured another year of a packed program. LEAD Awards went to Eve Payor, Johannah Maynard Edwards, Robin Marquis, Betsy Ludwig, Marcie Bramucci, Damon McLeese, Kim Charlson, Lisa Carling, S.A. Corrin, and Pa'draig Naughton.
Creative New Zealand has made several commitments to access, inclusion, and equity in a new statement of intent, which some activists find to be minimal and late.
Arts Council England announced it is delaying the launch of its Arts Access Card program, designed to reduce barriers in theatre ticket policies.
Disability Erasure in Dance
Following a technical mishap that erased the participation of disabled artist Vanessa Hernández Cruz during an event by Dance/NYC to launch the Dance. Workforce. Resilience. Initiative, the Leadership Committee of Dance Artists’ National Collective (DANC) published a call to action addressed to the organization and the dance field in general. In response, the staff and Board of Directors published an acknowledgment and response that charts a path forward with short- and longer-term moves. Cruz also published a poem/letter on her Instagram:
Video Description from the artist: a black slightly staticky background with the captions In the center.
The Care Crisis in the U.K.
Disabled artist Jess Thom recently raised suspicion about a sharp rise in inadequate care in residential settings across the U.K., generating important reporting about the accountability of the Care Quality Commission’s supposed watchdog function. “More than half of the care homes inspected in the last month were found to be inadequate or to require improvement,” reports the Disability News Service. The Commission’s chief inspector has chosen to praise the efforts of providers over recognize the emergency in disabled people’s lives.
Electing Officials Focused on Disability
Lydia X.Z. Brown for Maryland. Yuh-Line Niou for New York. Phil Brual for Austin. Stephanie Meredith and many others for local School Boards. Despite a major lack of coverage about disability issues in the coming U.S midterm elections, some advocates on the ballot are building models for how to run a disability-centric campaign. With more focus, we might be able to better understand the chances of new legislation to increase disabled people’s financial security.
CALLS
Members of the public can submit comments on the FAA’s minimum airplane seat size regulations.
Fancy Feast@FancyBurlyQif you're fat, a fat ally, or anyone who doesn't want to be uncomfortable on airplanes, please note that the FAA is requesting comments about standards for minimum seat size: simpleflying.com/faa-minimum-se…7:13 PM · Aug 2, 2022724 Reposts · 790 LikesThe U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division is hiring a Plain Language Strategist.
The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to qualified painters, printmakers, and sculptors whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. There are no deadlines.
Craft Emergency Relief Fund grants will focus on materials-based craft and folk/traditional artists that incurred significant medical expenses related to treatment and recovery from COVID-19 and/or experienced a recent, career threatening emergency, such as an illness, accident, fire or climate related disaster.
Creative Growth is hiring an Executive Director.
P2P (Peer to Peer) Residency invites artists, writers, technologists to collaboratively imagine the future of the internet outside of the technocratic, capitalist environment. Apply by August 22.
EVENTS
Jezz Chung will perform before the closing reception of Pure Joy at 1969 Gallery in NYC on Friday, August 13th. More info here.
It’s also the last week to see Lorenza Böttner: Requiem for the Norm at the Leslie-Lohman Museum in NYC. More here.
Bitchin’ Heals, “a low-to-no cost weekend of opportunities for artists to engage in pleasure-filled activities curated by TRANSdisciplinary artist x senn-yuen,” will feature workshops and events with Nia O. Witherspoon, Sonya Rio-Glick, and jas lin. Various times from August 12th to 14th. Tickets here.
The Disability Collective presents an in-person children’s theatre show titled What Happened to You? at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto on Saturday, August 20th & Sunday, August 21st for the Toronto premiere of this groundbreaking work! For more information and to purchase your Pay What You Can tickets, visit thedisabilitycollective.com.
Ping Chong & Company’s Inside/Out…Voices from the Disability Community will be presented as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City Festival on Friday, August 12th at 6:30pm ET. More info here.
Thanks, Kevin, for taking a good strong point of view about symbolic politics vs material politics. They're not opposed, but the latter calls to us so much more urgently than the former. Much appreciated.