Intersectionality, diversity, & human rights discussions & initiatives typically exclude disabled people
Disabled people are the largest rights seeking group in the world comprised of people with impairments marginalized from all segments of society.
There is no disabled identity. Only the disabling of people with impairments or conditions based on prejudiced opinions and attitudes, systemic barriers, and exclusions. That, the human rights model of disability is the foundation of the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities brought into Canada's laws with Bill C-81 and the upcoming provincial Accessibility Acts. We are and have been excluded by those who talk about intersectionality just as we were and are excluded by those who talked and talk about diversity and equity. We will gain our place in society by insisting and insuring that all of us participates in the world on an equal basis with others. By demanding and exercising our rights.
See: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Articles) brought into our laws by Bill C-81 and provincial legislation. (The implementation of which is the legal responsibility of all levels of government) https://lnkd.in/gsxYwjv
Examples of disabled people being excluded by those concerned with intersectionality.
E.G. 1 “Women's March Rockford: Celebrating the 19th Amendment while acknowledging inequity and pain experienced by women of color” Rockford Register Star. December 22, 2019, Sunday.
Women’s March Rockford practices intersectionality. Intersectionality is a term coined by Dr. Kimberlee Crenshaw. Intersectionality recognizes that oppression experienced by women is not the same and has varying degrees; it pays close attention to race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, and how they intersect.
As we celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment we acknowledge the true history of the 19th Amendment and the suffrage movement that demanded its passage. While the 19th Amendment did grant voting rights to all women in theory, black women, and other women of color, experienced racism in addition to sexism that made it much harder for them to exercise their right to vote.
By not acknowledging and condemning white supremacy, while working towards the passage of the 19th Amendment, white supremacy flourished and black voters would have to wait another half century and create a new suffrage campaign with black women leading the charge until they were fully enfranchised with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
During the suffrage movement black women found themselves having to choose between standing with black men or standing with white women. Black men wanted them to help fight against racism while white women wanted them to help fight against sexism. This is the very intersection Dr. Crenshaw highlighted. While black women fought against sexism, they were simultaneously experiencing racism, and while they were fighting against racism, they were experiencing sexism.
White women knew what the oppression of sexism felt like, and black men could identify with what the oppression of racism felt like, but neither could understand what it was like to experience them concurrently. This is why black women’s relationship with oppression is unique; Women’s Suffrage Centennial 2020 believes it is imperative that as we move forward we continue to acknowledge this disparity. While white women have certainly experienced sexism and trauma caused by the same oppression; intersectionality highlights the compounding factors of women of color combating the oppression and trauma of sexism and the additional trauma and oppression caused by racism.
The conversation of race and sexism, and the subsequent oppression caused by them, is difficult to navigate and is often met with high emotion and defensive reactions. Women’s March Rockford encourages these difficult conversations. We provide a foundation based on trust so we can have these open and honest conversations. We encourage all women to start having this raw and real dialogue that causes breakdowns and breakthroughs.
Sometimes in order to build bridges we must talk about our painful history — not to diminish the positives of a movement — but to ensure the movement continues progressing, taking critical lessons from its history and not repeating the mistakes of its past. Let us acknowledge our different experiences and perspectives so we can truly understand them; let us unite because of them and not in spite of them.
Women’s March Rockford believes that if we come together and fight against all things unjust as a collective unit, with a deep understanding of the unique oppression felt by each marginalized group, we will grow and heal our community. The influence and pressures of institutional racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, and homophobia are holding us all back.
The fourth annual Women’s March is at noon Saturday, Jan. 18 in downtown Rockford. Everyone is welcome.
Women’s March Rockford Mission statement: We are united in our belief that every human being has a right to be treated with dignity and respect. We will work to ensure that our laws and behaviors reflect these values.
The WCS2020 steering committee includes representatives from AAUW Rockford, AKA, League of Women Voters Greater Rockford, Midway Village Museum Center, NAACP, NCNW, NSDAR Rockford, PAIC, Rock Valley College, Sport Makeup, WNIJ DeKalb, Womanspace, Women’s March Rockford, and the YWCA Northwestern Illinois.
E.G. 2 (November 20, 2019 Wednesday). Students unify to support intersectionality at March for Solidarity . The Daily Campus: University of Connecticut.
"our support for the event, and our commitment to each of the issues that are being brought forward: Women's rights, gender and sexual-based violence, the environment movement, social justice and racial justice," McMillan said. "Personally, as an activist, these things are all very important to me and have been for a very long time."
E.G. 3 WHAT ARE INTERSECTIONALITY, PRIVILEGE AND POSITIONALITY?. States News Service. (October 8, 2019 Tuesday). (Pod Cast)
LAWRENCE GOODMAN, HOST
Hello and welcome to this edition of the Brandeis University podcast, “The Take: Big Ideas Explained in Under 5 Minutes,” where experts explain core concepts of their research in under five minutes. Our topic for today is, “What are intersectionality, privilege and positionality?”
These terms are bandied about a lot nowadays, but their meaning is often unclear.
I'm Lawrence Goodman with the Office of Communications and my guest is vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, Mark Brimhall-Vargas.
Thank you for joining us.
CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION MARK BRIMHALL-VARGAS
Thank you for having me, Lawrence.
HOST: What is the larger context or issue we're dealing with when we use terms like intersectionality or positionality?
BRIMHALL-VARGAS: We're really trying to answer a basic question of why does inequality exist. Intersectionality, privilege and positionality are attempting to describe particular functions within this larger structure of our society to give people insight into why this happens.
HOST: So intersectionality, what is it?
BRIMHALL-VARGAS: Different identities have different amounts of social power. When we're thinking about race, white people have more social advantage than people of color. Men have more social advantage than women or people who are nonbinary, etc.
So the question about intersectionality is, what happens to people who experience multiple forms of oppression at the same time? We want to pay attention to that particular intersection where two forms of oppression come together because there's a story there, and it's a story that is almost never told.
HOST: A working-class African American woman how does intersectionality apply to her?
BRIMHALL-VARGAS: Intersectionality says that person experiences the world differently than other people who may share these identities, but perhaps have a social advantage in one of them. So for example, a working-class African American woman is going to experience her blackness differently than a working-class African American man.
I worked in an environment where there was a desire to focus on advancing women in senior leadership positions. We ended up inadvertently thinking about the experiences predominantly of white women. We didn't necessarily focus on all women.
So when thinking about an African American working-class woman, by paying attention to her experience, we are able to create systems that are the most just for everybody.
HOST: Next term, privilege. What do you mean by that?
BRIMHALL-VARGAS: Most people, when they think about privilege, actually think about something that is earned. For example, if I work really hard, I get promoted into a job. That is an earned advantage that someone has through hard work.
The term privilege is used differently here. It is actually attempting to focus on social advantages that are not conferred by effort or some type of merit, but rather simply by how one was born. For example, there is an understanding that being white or light-skinned or male in society has certain privileges. Being in these groups gives you certain social advantages that are not afforded other groups of people.
HOST: Is a low-income white woman privileged?
BRIMHALL-VARGAS: She is privileged by her status as a white person, but woman and low-income, those are subordinated identities. Just by virtue of having racial privilege, that doesn't mean she doesn't experience economic oppression.
HOST: Finally, let's take positionality.
BRIMHALL-VARGAS: In a previous place of work, I was facilitating a conversation between a white man and a white woman. Positionality is important when you're thinking about their experiences of walking that particular campus.
The white woman said of a particular parking lot that she didn't feel safe walking in that particular parking lot at night. His response was, I don't see what's wrong with that parking lot. I walk in that parking lot at night all the time. To understand why they experience that parking lot differently, one needs to understand positionality.
She sees that parking lot as a woman. He sees that parking lot as a man. It is their social positions that give them insight into what is the reality of that space. That's why positionality is important. It gives us insight into what other people experience that we may not.
HOST: A low-income, gay, white man meets a wealthy, straight, Latinx woman. How does positionality affect their interaction?
BRIMHALL-VARGAS: I suspect that they may see the world very differently. But there are opportunities where they might see some things similarly if they each understand that positionality is informing how they're interacting.
A low-income, gay, white man experiences advantage through being white and male, but disadvantage through being low-income and gay. A wealthy, straight, Latinx woman experiences advantage by being wealthy and straight, but social disadvantage by being Latinx and a woman.
If they have enough self-awareness of understanding their social advantages and disadvantages, they can provide insights to each other about different experiences to help them have a better sense of how people experience that environment.
HOST: And there you have it, What are intersexuality, privilege and positionality? explained in under five minutes. You can find this podcast on iTunes, Spotify and SoundCloud, so we hope you'll subscribe and keep listening to The Take: Big Ideas Explained in Under 5 Minutes brought to you by Brandeis University.
https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2019/october/intersectionality-privilege-thetake.html
E.G. 4 Stephanie Beatriz opens up to UW students with intimate discussion of intersectionality. Badger Herald: University of Wisconsin - Madison. Samiha Bhushan. (November 12, 2019 Tuesday).
"Even within the large expanse of Shannon Hall, Fox and NBC's "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" actress Stephanie Beatriz delivered an incredibly intimate interview regarding her experiences as a bisexual Latina woman in the entertainment industry.
Growing up, she described her affinity for theatrical roles. According to Beatriz, theater generally employed "colorblind" casting while movies she watched as a child rarely had non-white actresses.
...Beatriz expresses her frustration at people's ignorance about this issue."
E.G. 5 BBC Radio 5 Live - 11:55 PM GMT. TVEyes - (December 25, 2019 Wednesday). U.K. National Radio
12/25/2019 23:55:09: ...now Lily nd Prix day any diversity initiatives or conversation difficult conversations that have been hedging Prix day those continue through those you say that but actually diversity activism has congee been going on since the 70s burnished from the BBC them very broadcast people papers were written to talk about diversity in the industry it very much is massive stage but actually it was going on when I started and good remember it was pretty bad boy you probably remember It was pretty bad the 70s if you're black or brown on television in those days you usually the butt of the joke and you are not the protagonist or the antagonist usually a reason for a joke you the foreigner you were the other and I think that since then things have changed them on screen particularly we are featured on television we are part of the joke we are the deliverer of the joke all the all the action point or dramatic pivotal moment but we still need to change course is behind the scenes in the decision-making process amounts were I'm trying to the all the activity that I'm doing is just get people to look at what happens behind the camera was on a start the week this week and behind the camera behind the glass it was still a very dominant culture affair very very white behind the glass and a lot of occasions and red on the right arm but that needs to change with my brothers up in them brothers and sisters and many more women with more LGBTQ with more everybody and you know this wonderful thing of intersectionality we're all standing on each other's shoulders and rivers at the top of the trapdoor gets through that got to remember that the got reach back down and pull the next person otherwise intersectionality doesn't work so I'm I'm campaigning for that more obvious sense of Supercell support self love self nurturing helping each other understanding each other it's about empathy is not just about diversity in the list before Let's be honest people get a bit cheesed off with the word diversity now let's call representation here Let's call it measures Let's call it activism but Erm it is designed to have it sort of unity and love really that's all it is and it's having a good manners that's all
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