As a community, we've been exploring themes of disability justice, ableism, and what we truly value about ourselves and other beings. To support our ongoing learning we'll be holding a workshop on unlearning ableism. Friends, family, and wider community members welcome.

In our culture, unless we or our loved ones are disabled, we can often think of ourselves as separate from disabled people and disabled peoples’ issues. But the systems and the ways of thinking about and relating to our body-minds that impact disabled people are the same ways of relating to body-minds that we all participate in and suffer under. Ableism is often made invisible in our society, while at the same time fundamentally shaping every aspect of our lives. It shapes how we structure our society, how we share wealth, power, and opportunity, and how we think about, relate to, and value ourselves and our loved ones. 

As Talila A. Lewis notes, “ableism plays a leading role in how we frame, understand, construct and respond to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, criminal status, disability, and countless other identities. Meaning, not only is ableism central to the construction of what people think disability is, but ableism frames every other marginalized identity as well.”

In a time of escalating eugenic policy and rhetoric, we can help create a world beyond ableism by learning how we got here, how to recognize ableism, and how to ground in our true values. By turning to the wisdom of disabled people, we can come into a deeper understanding of the ways we collectively struggle under ableism and how we can work towards greater freedom and deeper love for all of us.

Email gatheringround.seattle@gmail.com for any questions or access needs. RSVP for Zoom link.

Facilitator: Kiran is the Convener of Gathering Ground. They are autistic and have been involved in disability spaces for over a couple decades, and today feel most at home with the disability justice movement. They are a former core organizer of Autistics United Canada. They are a beginner in a more than lifelong, collective journey of unlearning ableism.

Accessibility: We are gathering on Zoom with automated captions. We read aloud comments typed in chat. Cameras are optional; most of us participate with cameras on to help build community. Please email gatheringround.seattle@gmail.com with any access needs.