Collective Care, Access, and Disability Solidarity in Organizing

By Hana Malia, March 2024

Plain Text:

By Hana Malia, March 2024

Intro Statement: We need all of us–all of our bodies, all of our wisdom, all of our energy, all of our solidarity–and cannot afford to miss out on anyone’s contributions due to inaccessibility in our movements. This can be inaccessibility due to disability, financial access needs, neurodivergence, visible and invisible identities including race and gender that draw increased state violence, needs for childcare, transportation needs, and so much more.

This is my attempt to offer a practical, annotated model and guide for providing “access info” for actions and events in line with the wisdom of long time organizers, my own experiences, and those of my teachers/comrades. It is not perfect and it expects to evolve through feedback and the changing conditions of our lives and movements. Please share widely.

Access Info Model (Annotations in parenthesis):

Masks required–we will have extras if you need them. This keeps our bodies safer and those with heightened risk levels safer from state surveillance: (Clear masking expectations are one necessary way to honor our collective experience of pandemic and not leave people behind)

No ASL for this event (this is a commitment for our next event on 1/24): (If you are not able to create paths to access, be honest and accountable to your future commitments)

Sidewalk from parking lot and park pathways freshly paved, level, and ADA-compliant: (Share info about any terrain conditions. If marching, offer transport from start to end points)

Ramped park areas ADA-compliant in slope

Non-metered street parking on Main and 3rd streets (rally intersection)

L22 bus line stops a half block from the park where we will rally. Email solidarity@email.com for pre-paid fare card: (Include transparent financial info. Prioritize locations closest to public transportation and dedicate resources to paying for it)

Seating available including high weight capacity chairs, tall park benches, and large stone slabs: (Make sure seating is size/height accessible and make that known. Crowd-source this if not already on-site)

Park bathroom likely closed. CVS and street-level train station have ADA accessible bathrooms a 2-5 minute drive away. Greeter team giving rides to and from bathroom: (Bathroom access is often a reason folks can or can’t join an action. Prioritize this whenever possible)

We will keep a clear area for those praying Salah during the rally: (Consider the access needs of those observing daily and/or holiday-specific spiritual customs)

Water and Kosher for Passover snacks will be available at the Access Info Table

Childcare including instrument making available for 2 years and up

Safety/greeter teams with green armbands on-site to answer care and access questions day of: (Designate clear teams and contacts to focus on care and access coordination. This should include, but not rely solely on the most impacted folks)
Email solidarity@email.com with any questions

Safety Team and Speakers Can Center Access and Collective Care By:

Always have an access /care team and point person who is made known and visible to participants (special arm bands work well)
Make risk of state violence, arrest, and surveillance as clear as possible with an emphasis on keeping those most systemically targeted safe to participate
Invite people with mobility devices to lead/set the pace in any marching
Provide transportation or money for transportation/parking to and from actions
If marching, have vehicles to transport folks from the starting point to the ending point if needed
Chant slowly enough to allow folks to take good breaths
Provide all information/instructions on the mic as well as in writing
Mark care spaces in writing and illustrations (bathrooms, prayer space, low-stimulus space, childcare space, etc)
Be aware that cops often target folks they perceive as visibly disabled AND that folks with mobility devices can do amazing work creating physical barriers and de-escalating (Fat Rose has great resources on this)

More on Why We Value Access, Disability, and Collective Care in Palestinian Solidarity Work:

The ongoing genocidal war in Palestine is a strategic mass-disabling of a people
Disabled people are often the first to lose access to necessary care and tools in all wars including the ongoing genocidal war in Palestine
From the Abolition and Disability Justice Collective, “Disability justice cannot exist under settler colonialism, military occupation, imprisonment, and apartheid. We write this in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, dignity, and self-determination…Disability justice requires solidarity with Palestine.”

More on the Connections Between Disability Justice and Solidarity with Palestine:

Why Palestinian Liberation is Disability Justice by Alice Wong creator of the Disability Visibility Project
Crip Call to Action: Why Disabled People Living in the US Need to be Calling for a Long Lasting Ceasefire in Israel-Palestine by Allie Cannington from the Disability Visibility Project
Palestine is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Statement of Solidarity with Palestine from the ADJC (Abolition and Disability Justice Collective)
Fat Rose 4 Palestine

Resources and Tools that Informed this Guide:

Access Suggestions for Mobilizations (UPDATED) and older draft of Access Suggestions for Mobilizations by Sins Invalid who introduce the tool by saying, “In support of our current collective uprising, we offer these suggestions for making sure that your actions/ marches/ mobilizations include as many of us as possible. This work is ideally done from a deeper political commitment to disability justice, or at minimum a critique of ableism and an understanding of consent; otherwise paternalism and abuse can masquerade as ‘access support.’”
#AltTextPalestine Toolkit for making visual/digital/text content significantly more accessible. In the organizer’s words, “#AltTextPalestine is an online, grassroots organizing campaign on Twitter created by disability activists to make information about the genocide in Palestine more accessible.”
Nuts and Bolts of Disability Access from the SURJ Disability Collective is a practical guide to the questions we can ask ourselves, resources we can invest in, and disabled organizing wisdom for in and out of the streets.
Comprehensive “Accessible Activism” guide from by Kolia Bene, shared through The NewBridge Project out of the UK
A powerful guide to “Writing Good Accessibility Information” from Northern Irish trans, disabled activist and educator Ellen Murray.
Special thanks to my fellow “Hudson Valley Jew(ish) 4 Ceasefire” organizers for support and feedback