Through the Eyes of the Disabled

“Through the Eyes of the Disabled” is an opinion piece written by Athena Weathers. The op-ed was inspired in large part by a movie night we had several months back to view the documentary “Crip Camp.” I helped Athena edit her piece for several weeks, and I am excited that it will be debuted on “The Positive Fantastic” podcast! We decided to name our podcast interview (Episode 11) with the same name, because the interview is also about bringing awareness around ableism and what we can do to dismantle it.

I feel strongly about supporting this young woman’s voice being heard as we collectively take on the work of acknowledging and dismantling the ableism that impacts our society. Athena shares eloquently about the intersection of her coming of age and her disabilities.

She has an insightful, unique, and keen perspective about what it means to be navigating life with disabilities. Since we recorded this episode, Athena has been giving open lectures about ableism as a student at Santa Rosa Junior College.

As the world starts to open back up, she has been bringing her activism to a more public arena. She gave a talk about the narrative of disability and which terminology to use to describe her community, with a discussion of everything from the terms alter-abled to neuro-divergent. Additionally, she spoke about the history of the disabled community and section 504 of the rehabilitation act.

I came to visit her and she had a stack of books to further her own education of the struggles disabled people have faced and unfortunately continue to face. Here’s the bibliography in case you want to get reading up on this topic, too.

• “Forgotten Crimes: The Holocaust and People with Disabilities” by Suzanne E. Evans

• “A Disability History of the United States” by Kim E. Nielsen

• “Ableism: the Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice” by Michelle R. Nario-Redmond

• “Being Heumann: an unrepentant memoir of a disability rights activist” by Judith Heumann

You can watch Athena read her opinion piece “Through the Eyes of the Disabled,” here.

For those of you in Sonoma County listening as this podcast goes live, she’s helping to organize and speak at a rally about community awareness called “Unity Through Community” May 15th at Santa Rosa Junior College. I encourage you to open up your mind, and listen with thoughtfulness as you hear about Athena’s journey.