I'm Disabled, How the Hell Do I Survive/ Resist This? To Exist Is to Resist: A workshop facilitated by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Are you disabled/ chronically ill/ have a condition/ Mad, sick, neurodivergent, Deaf/ Hard of Hearing or some or all of the above? Does the escalation in fascism scare the shit out of you and are you wondering how you can resist in a way that is accessible to your body/ mind? If you are disabled you are already resisting on a daily basis; this workshop will be a space to share and learn about different models of disabled organizing and resistance that have and are already happening, and plot your own.

Bio: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (they/she) is an older cousin, regular person, memory worker, disability and transformative justice old bytch, and the author or co-editor of ten books, including The Future Is Disabled, (co-edited with Ejeris DIxon)Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the transformative justice movemen,t Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice, Tonguebreaker and Dirty River. A Disability Futures Fellow, Lambda and Jeanne Córdova Award winner, five-time Publishing Triangle shortlister and longtime disabled QTBIPOC space maker, they are currently building Living Altars, a cultural space by and for disabled QTBIPOC writers. They are a new Philly resident after being a longtime visiting cousin.

January 8, 2025 - 6:30 to 8 pm ET/3:30 to 5 pm PT

ASL and Live Captioning will be provided.

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This workshop is part of a mini-series of workshops that offer an opportunity to answer the question that many people are asking: “How do I take action where I am?”

These five 90-minute sessions happening in December & January are intended to provide concrete ideas and steps that anyone can take. Each session is facilitated by long-time activists and organizers.

The sessions will be offered as Zoom webinars, but we will not record them. A couple of days before each session, we will email a Zoom link to all registrants. Importantly, these workshops are appropriate for people who are new to activism and organizing. They will not be useful if you are a long-time activist and organizer because you’re already taking action.

For the workshops, we will offer ASL interpretation and enable closed captions. We will have live captions for the January 8th workshop. A tech and access support person will be present throughout the event to attend to any emergent participant needs regarding Zoom and access.

Each workshop is a standalone session, but it’s a good idea to register for Mapping Your Social Change Ecosystem as an introduction so that you can assess your skills and interests in activism and organizing.

Please DO NOT register if you know you cannot attend. This is important. Space is limited. So please don’t register as a placeholder.

These sessions are being offered at no cost to participants BUT this does not mean they are free. There are costs associated with putting together such a program (labor, tech, interpretation costs etc...). If you can make a donation, please do. Funds will cover the costs of ASL. We will donate any surplus funds to REBUILD.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you make a donation, that counts as one ticket so you do not also have to register for a free ticket. It's either a free ticket OR a donation one.

Here is the list of workshops. You must register for each of them separately.

December 3 from 6:30 to 8 pm ET — Mapping Your Social Change Ecosystem facilitated by Deepa Iyer + Adaku Utah

December 4 from 6:30 to 8 pm ET - Mutual Aid - facilitated by Dean Spade

December 10 from 6:30 to 8 pm ET - Creating Change with our Kids facilitated by Zara Raven

December 11 from 6:30 to 8 pm ET - Move the Needle: Activism for Artists, Crafters, Creatives, and Makers facilitated by Shannon Downey

January 8, 2025 from 6:30 to 8 pm ET - I'm Disabled, How the Hell Do I Survive/ Resist This? To Exist Is to Resist facilitated by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha

This mini-series is organized by educator and organizer, Mariame Kaba.