Quarterly ideas for reflecting and engaging in your own way.
Every quarter my partner pens Calls to Action for her newsletter subscribers. Folks who sign up get suggestions for concrete ways one can respond to injustice around thee world. I have included it in my own newsletter and am posting it publically now on the blog.
SHARE this children’s book with someone in your life. Great for adults and kids alike.
PROTEST by wearing a mask in public spaces like healthcare settings, grocery stores, and shops.
An article on mask bans by Alice Wong, the founder of the Disability Visibility Project and author of Year of the Tiger: Mask Bans Insult Disabled People, Endanger Our Health, and Threaten Our Ability to ProtestMask bans are emerging in the USA. Misinformation and dangerous rhetoric in support of such bans exists in Canada and worldwide. By wearing a mask you help normalize it and make attempts at passing mask-ban legislation less likely to succeed. Please consider starting to wear a mask again in public settings as an act of protest against mask bans, as an act of solidarity with vulnerable people (disabled and immunocompromised folks, children and infants, elderly, pregnant people), and to protect yourself and others. While it is difficult to go against the grain of “normalcy”, choosing to protest and act in solidarity in this way is about liberation for all people – including those who cannot or refuse to wear masks. If you choose to take this action, you will not be alone! Many of us still wear masks for all of these reasons.
LEARN
Imani Barbarin discussing what liberation for disabled people might look like:
Jessica Kellgren-Fozard on talking to kids about disability (great info for any age and regardless of whether you have children in your life!):
Reflection suggestions for the two videos above:
a) what thoughts, feelings come up for you?
b) what have you been taught about disability and disabled people that these videos directly or indirectly highlight?
c) how can you challenge harmful beliefs and practice awareness of when they arise in yourself?
d) what else can you do to put this learning into action and change?
DONATE by boycotting the new iPhone 16
this Thursday, September 20th in solidarity with people dying in Congo, and giving that money to those historically and currently exploited and genocided in the Congo, instead. More information on the boycott
@teamcongo.rdc on instagram #BadApple
Suggested donation: the cost of the iPhone 16 you’ve decided not to buy ;) or whatever other amount!
Bonus: Although National Truth and Reconciliation Day, September 30th, in Canada; and National Indiegenous Peoples Day (Oct 14 in the USA) have passed, here is an open-source (free) 2hr online course by Yellowhead Institute
Registration and Info here. A free undergrad course in its entirety from the University of Alberta is also available for those looking to dig in a bit more.
https://www.coursera.org/learn/indigenous-canada Have a lovely Autumn season!
