From high left, Rasheera Dopson, Lauren Proby, Ola Ojewumi, Britney Wilson (backside left), and Nichelle N. Prepare dinner, in the course of the digital panel moderated by LaurenProby on Jan. 22.
Photograph by Milette Millington
On Jan. 22, Lauren Proby hosted a digital dialog discussing the politics of incapacity, Black womanhood, and incapacity justice at Traditionally Black Schools and Universities (HBCUs) with incapacity advocates Nichelle N. Prepare dinner, Rasheera Dopson, Ola Ojewumi, and Britney Wilson.
Proby is a scholar at Spelman Faculty (Class of 2025), and she or he is presently a Coelho Heart Incapacity Regulation, Coverage and Innovation Fellow at Loyola Regulation College in Los Angeles, California.
Prepare dinner is the founder and principal marketing consultant at Practegy LLC. Dopson is a neighborhood analysis advocate and scientist.
Ojewumi is the founder and director of Venture ASCEND. Wilson is an affiliate professor of legislation, in addition to the director of the Civil Rights and Incapacity Justice Clinic, at New York Regulation College (NYLS). They started the dialog by sharing their experiences with lodging as college students at their HBCUs.
Prepare dinner attended Spelman Faculty within the early 2000s, and she or he was within the means of finishing her diploma in engineering there when Hurricane Katrina hit. At the moment, issues had been tough, and she or he had undiagnosed Consideration Deficit Hyperactivity Dysfunction (ADHD) and anxiousness.
“I didn’t learn about it, however I knew one thing was up. It was my first time coping with this, and I blamed myself. I used to be unaware of how my mind functioned, and my vanity took successful.” she mentioned. She was lastly identified at 34 years previous.
Rasheera Dopson, together with anxiousness, has had quite a few surgical procedures as a consequence of her uncommon ailments. She went to Morehouse Faculty to get her masters diploma, after doing her undergraduate diploma at a predominantly white establishment.
“Sometimes, you don’t have entry to counseling or remedy as a disabled scholar. I used to be fortunate I had counseling. I continually was coping with medical and cultural ableism. In my first 12 months, I spent a majority of the time advocating for my wants. I want it was extra welcoming as a scholar,” she mentioned.
Dopson had the boldness that she might do it, as a result of different Black girls did it too. “Discovering neighborhood is essential,” she added.
Ojewumi had a coronary heart and kidney transplant at a younger age, and she or he additionally survived most cancers. She thought going to an HBCU can be simpler than public faculty, the place she was coping with racism.
“I paid a lot of cash to struggle for my wants. Whereas there, I noticed Black wealth like by no means earlier than,” she mentioned. She left Howard College as a consequence of not getting lodging, and went to a predominantly white establishment that was extra accommodating.
Nevertheless, the racism was on one other degree. “I couldn’t discover security wherever,” she added.
Though Wilson needed to go to Georgetown College, she modified her thoughts and determined to go to Howard for the cultural expertise. Wilson has cerebral palsy. “I used to be raised round Black individuals, they usually didn’t actually talk about incapacity once I was rising up,” she acknowledged.
She got here into her personal id on incapacity, and it was a tradition shock. “It was a struggle getting residing lodging, however I had assist, via my full scholarship. It’s a continuing battle for fundamental wants as a disabled individual.”
They then mentioned what obstacles had been like for them. Prepare dinner shared how being Black and disabled, different issues take lead over it, as a result of stigma hooked up culturally.
“There’s a dismissiveness of incapacity that exists, and likewise a scarcity of coaching in terms of creating areas which might be pleasant in direction of social-emotional studying (SEL),” she continued. “Vulnerability can both be good or unhealthy.”
Ojewumi shared that her dad and mom are from two totally different tribes in Africa, and she or he additionally shared how the complexity of the Black disabled expertise could be very distinctive.
“Incapacity is seen in a different way in Africa versus america. In Africa, individuals had been by no means being inspired to debate incapacity, which mirrors itself in Black tradition, as a consequence of being rooted in white supremacy,” she continued.
Dopson added that historically, in Black tradition, black excellence is perfection, and incapacity is the alternative, which implies that these with disabilities should be saved hidden, they usually haven’t any price. That is one perspective on incapacity.
The opposite perspective is one which Dopson believes: “My incapacity empowers me, and provides me confidence,” she continued. “In our society, we have to give attention to reframing what Black excellence appears like to incorporate incapacity,” she acknowledged.
These excited about staying up to date on the advocacy work of Dopson, Prepare dinner, Wilson and Ojewumi can discover extra data right here:
Ojewumi – https://olaojewumi.com/
Wilson – https://www.nyls.edu/faculty/britney-wilson/
Dopson – https://www.instagram.com/rasheeradopson/?hl=en,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasheera-dopson-rasheeradopson/
Prepare dinner – https://www.nichellecook.com/
