On Thurs., April 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Disability justice advocate Lydia X. Z. Brown, will present a lecture titled “They Must Not Stamp Us Out: Why We Need Disability Justice.”
This free lecture is presented in partnership with Northern Essex Community College’s White Fund Enlightenment Series. It will be held in The NECC White Fund Room, at 78 Amesbury St. in Lawrence and will also be telecast to the Harold Bentley Library on the Haverhill campus in room A112.
Brown is a disability justice advocate, organizer, and writer whose work has largely focused on violence against multiply-marginalized disabled people, especially institutionalization, incarceration, and policing.
“We are sick, disabled, mad, wobbly, lopsided, flappy,” according to Brown. “We are everywhere – working, loving, playing, laboring for liberation, yearning for community. …working for disability justice and freedom…Disability oppression is deeply connected with all forms of violence…We are constantly erased and forgotten, but this is not the way things have to be. Disability does not have to be something scary, broken, or sad. Disability justice challenges us to imagine and build a world where each one of us is valued for all of our humanity.”
This lecture is just one of many events scheduled this week for the “All Abilities” celebration being held on the Northern Essex campuses.
The “All Abilities” schedule kicked off Mon., April 9 with “Wheelchair Basketball” in the Sports and Fitness Center on the Haverhill campus where individuals had the opportunity to experience playing basketball as a wheelchair user.
A two-day interactive exhibit called “Allies for Inclusion” is on display beginning Tuesday, members of the Massachusetts Best Buddies Program will be in attendance today during the Renaissance Fair, other speakers are lined up and a panel of current and past Northern Essex students with disabilities will discuss their experiences on Thurs. from 3 – 4 p.m. in Lecture Hall A of the Spurk Building on the Haverhill Campus.
For a full schedule of events, see NECC’s website at www.necc.mass.edu.
For more information about the White Fund Enlightenment Series, or to be notified of upcoming events, contact Analuz Garcia at [email protected] or call 978-738-7423 or visit the website www.necc.mass.edu/whitefund