Opinion | Disabled Ancestry Should Be Embraced With Pride – The New York Times
Posted By admin on February 28, 2022
Our disability lineages can only be reclaimed through the stories we uncover. This means conceiving of disability as an identity like being queer, rather than reducing it to a medical condition. L.G.B.G.T.Q.+ people such as myself, who in the closeted past had no queer family members to look to as models, can now proudly find and claim their queer lineage, reclaiming and retelling family narratives to include their queer ancestors. Despite this progress, disability remains stigmatized. Disabled forbears often remain in the shadows, viewed with shame, not pride. Without ancestry, family history or lineage. Inconceivable.
After my daughters diagnosis, I began reclaiming my disabled kin. I discovered I had a distant relative with Down syndrome in the U.K., who had been integrated into her family. Her name was Rhona: Hebrew for joy. I learned about her joyous, Jewish life. Her parents helped found a cutting-edge care facility, Cosgrove Care, I visited Cosgrove and learned more about Rhona. Claiming my disabled relative transformed how I thought and felt about my daughters disability.
Finding disability lineage can mean learning to listen. To hear the untold story in euphemisms, silences and gaps. To read between the family lines. It means looking at old photos and noting the variety of bodies and minds you see. It meant seeing my daughter in a picture of Rhona from 50 years ago. For her bat mitzvah, my daughter chose a blingy purple plaid dress with metallic pink accents. Only when I was looking at the bat mitzvah photos afterward did I notice how Nadias woven plaid echoed Rhonas taffeta. Same pattern, same confidence.
Reclaiming our disability lineage also means rethinking fundamentally what a disability is its meaning and value. I had never thought of my Grandma Adina as disabled. I just knew that she adored me, dance in any form, and social justice, possibly in that order. Grandma Adina was also extremely hard of hearing. Yet I never thought of her as part of my familys rich disability lineage. Nor did I let, as Jewish tradition enjoins, her disabled memory be a blessing for my daughter. Shame and stigma about disability are so great that I had internalized them, never acknowledging that my dynamic dancing grandma was disabled.
We neednt minimize the challenges of impairment in order to value the gifts they give us. My grandmother was frustrated by her inability to hear. She hated having to yell What? and we hated repeating ourselves. Nonetheless, she was the best listener Ive ever known. But her hearing loss helped shape her extraordinary capacity for paying attention to me. In disability culture, this is called disability gain: the surprising benefits that an impairment can reap. This isnt about transcending ones disability, or being a supercrip. Disability justice activists like Stacey Milbern, who died in 2020, yearn for crip ancestries: the stories and wisdom of disabled elders. If we share our disabled family stories, we might just find such ancestors right in our own families.
See the original post:
Opinion | Disabled Ancestry Should Be Embraced With Pride - The New York Times
- Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month - eatright.org - March 5th, 2023
- Jewish American Heritage Month - Wikipedia - February 27th, 2023
- Jewish American Heritage Month | Equity and Inclusion - February 17th, 2023
- Osceola County will hold group wedding ceremonies this Valentine's Day, and there's still time to register - Orlando Weekly - February 7th, 2023
- A Proclamation on Jewish American Heritage Month, 2022 - January 27th, 2023
- What Is Jewish American Heritage Month? Celebrating Contributions and ... - January 27th, 2023
- Jewish American Heritage Month - National Park Service - January 27th, 2023
- Meet the Orthodox mom of seven who local Republicans want to replace George Santos - Forward - January 27th, 2023
- Florida Gov. DeSantis appoints anti-trans, anti-abortion author to Sarasota's New College board of trustees - Creative Loafing Tampa - January 27th, 2023
- Republican Jewish group calls on incoming GOP lawmaker George Santos to ... - December 25th, 2022
- Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States - December 21st, 2022
- Native American Heritage Month: Continued Support for the Indigenous ... - November 24th, 2022
- Filipino American History Month - Wikipedia - November 24th, 2022
- Rosh Hashanah - Wikipedia - November 24th, 2022
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - Wikipedia - November 6th, 2022
- The Best New Nonfiction Books Out in October 2022 - Book Riot - October 10th, 2022
- American Names - Behind the Name - October 10th, 2022
- Things to Do in DC This Weekend: Festivals, Exhibits, Tours - Washingtonian - October 10th, 2022
- Colorado has more than just Telluride Film Fest. Heres when you can see films in Denver, Vail, Breckenridge and beyond. - The Denver Post - September 19th, 2022
- A Tiny New Mexico Jewish Community Is Trying to Buy Back its Historic Synagogue Building - Jewish Exponent - September 9th, 2022
- What's going on in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin in fall 2022 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - September 9th, 2022
- This South Carolina College Town Is Top 10 In The Nation - kiss951.com - September 8th, 2022
- Wexner Heritage Program The Wexner Foundation - August 22nd, 2022
- Jewish Americans in 2020 | Pew Research Center - August 22nd, 2022
- Jewish practices and customs in the U.S. | Pew Research Center - August 22nd, 2022
- What You Should Know About NJ's School Supply Tax Holiday This Week - catcountry1073.com - August 22nd, 2022
- How small New England cities are standing up to white supremacists - Maine Public - August 20th, 2022
- Honoring the Turkish-Jewish Maftirim heritage - August 16th, 2022
- Voices of European Jewry: Krakow, Poland | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle - thejewishchronicle.net - August 16th, 2022
- POLITICO Playbook: This week, it really is the economy, stupid- POLITICO - POLITICO - July 25th, 2022
- Ukraine's Centuries-Long History As Viewed Through its Currency | At the Smithsonian - Smithsonian Magazine - July 23rd, 2022
- How the American right became aligned with Hungary and its authoritarian leader - WYPR - July 14th, 2022
- The Republican Problem with the Holocaust - LA Progressive - July 14th, 2022
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - July 10th, 2022
- 111 New Books to Read for Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month - July 10th, 2022
- Where to See Art in Philly This Summer - Philadelphia magazine - July 6th, 2022
- DNI Haines Welcomes 15 New Americans at Town of Vienna Naturalization Ceremony - Office of the Director of National Intelligence - July 6th, 2022
- Date Will Live in Infamy': Tri-State Leaders, Public React to SCOTUS Abortion Ruling - NBC New York - June 26th, 2022
- Callista L. Gingrich | Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month - June 25th, 2022
- The Halakhic Argument for Reproductive Justice - Harvard Political Review - June 19th, 2022
- JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH - The Weitzman - June 4th, 2022
- A Proclamation on Jewish American Heritage Month, 2021 - June 4th, 2022
- Jewish American Heritage Month May 2023 - National Today - June 4th, 2022
- Jewish groups hope focus on Ukraine and antisemitism will draw ... - June 4th, 2022
- City and state governments across US bolster police in wake of Uvalde massacre - WSWS - June 4th, 2022
- Fighting rabbinic ban, Jewish activists push Temple Mt. prayer closer to mainstream - The Times of Israel - June 4th, 2022
- Emory Libraries Blog | Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month - June 2nd, 2022
- My fellow Jewish Americans, Happy Rodney Dangerfield Month | Opinion ... - June 2nd, 2022
- 8 Asian American and Pacific Islander Creatives on the Relevance of Heritage | Architectural Digest - Architectural Digest - June 2nd, 2022
- Citizens bring transportation concerns to Henrico supervisors - The Henrico Citizen - Henrico Citizen - June 2nd, 2022
- Bill to ban Palestinian flag at state-funded institutions clears initial reading - The Times of Israel - June 2nd, 2022
- The Toni Times | May 2022 - Toni Atkins - May 2nd, 2022
- Tiburon town council passes antisemitism resolution J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - April 30th, 2022
- ADL: NJ had the 2nd most antisemitic incidents in US in 2021 - News 12 Long Island - April 29th, 2022
- Why These Israeli Farmers Became Heroes After Killing Their Crops - Jewish Exponent - April 23rd, 2022
- How Can We Protect Cultural Heritage in Ukraine? Five Key Steps for the Int'l Community - Just Security - April 23rd, 2022
- An April reflection: We must fight to preserve religious liberty - Shelbynews - April 16th, 2022
- Chair and teacup from Texas synagogue hostage crisis to be displayed in exhibit - Religion News Service - April 9th, 2022
- A thriller from Mexico and a debut detective novel: The Jewish books you need to know this month - Forward - April 9th, 2022
- Phillys Wilma Theater is returning a donation from a group close to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich - The Philadelphia Inquirer - March 24th, 2022
- Watching From the Other Side: A Ukrainian American Perspective on the Invasion of Ukraine - Shondaland.com - March 24th, 2022
- The View From Swamptown: Exploring the Morgenthau Women's connection to Saunderstown - The Independent - March 24th, 2022
- Waiting for Bowman to finally acknowledge Israel - The Riverdale Press - March 8th, 2022
- William P. Barrs Good Donald Trump and Bad Donald Trump - The New York Times - March 8th, 2022
- Is the Writing on the Wall for Denver's Oldest Neighborhood? | Westword - Westword - March 2nd, 2022
- Improv Class Sparked Their Long-Term Romance - The New York Times - February 28th, 2022
- Live updates: US official: Belarus may join Ukraine invasion - Boston.com - February 28th, 2022
- NFTs, art repatriation and the VMFA: How a local museum ended up in the middle of an international controversy - Richmond.com - February 28th, 2022
- Tampa City Council will hear options for reversing approval of Hanna Avenue 'City Center' project - Creative Loafing Tampa - February 28th, 2022
- Why American Jews Love Stella D'Oro Cookies | The Nosher - February 23rd, 2022
- Known for playing East Coast Jews, this Mrs. Maisel star is a proud Southern belle - The Times of Israel - February 23rd, 2022
- Resilient Peoples & Place: Arias Hoyle on Afro Indigeneity, rap, and the 'new wave' of Indigenous expression - Juneau Empire - February 23rd, 2022
- Things to do in Cincinnati this week: Feb. 21-27 - The Cincinnati Enquirer - February 23rd, 2022
- Bhutan Earns First Oscar Nomination for Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, Up for Best International Feature Film This Year - Tricycle - February 11th, 2022
- Jewish Book Festival: Author Horn talks about why she titled her latest book People Love Dead Jews - Vancouver Sun - February 3rd, 2022
- Opinion | The Attack at a Synagogue in Texas - The New York Times - January 24th, 2022
- One Opera Opening Would Make Any Composer Happy. He Has Two. - The New York Times - January 22nd, 2022
- Lani Guinier drew on her Black and Jewish roots in a life of outspoken activism - Forward - January 14th, 2022
- The enduring legacy of Rosenwald Schools in Charlotte and throughout the American South - WFAE - January 14th, 2022
- The 16 Best Things to Do in Miami This Week - Miami New Times - January 14th, 2022
Comments