Confronting the Whitewashing of Disability.
Blogging Task – Disability (Element 3)
Vilissa Thompson
Vilissa Thompson, an activist, describes herself as a “macro-minded social worker from South Carolina”. She is the founder of Ramp Your Voice! – an organization that discusses the issues that matter to her as a Black disabled woman, through an intersectional lens.
She started the #DisabilityTooWhite hashtag/campaign which triggered an important discourse regarding the visibility and representation of disabled people of colour in history, in media, etc.
Representation and visibility of disabled people of colour, are especially important because it has an impact on people’s self-esteem. It also helps to encourage and emphasise to disabled people that they are not alone in their identities. The lack of visibility creates a façade that disabled people of colour do not exist and makes it difficult to seek community. This façade also reinforces the lack of recognition of (invisible) disability in our black communities. The celebration and the liberation of people of colour should be in an intersectional lens that celebrates and liberates disabled people of colour too.
Black Activists in the Disability Canon.
(Taken from “Disabled people: The Voice of Many ” – Shades of Noir Journal)
- Maya Angelou
- Nasa Begum
- Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
- Harriet Tubman