Intersectionality and Coalition

This week, we read an interview with Barbara Smith, who is a Black feminist leader and icon. As a major part of the Combahee River Collective, she engaged in and organized for a lot of issues including violence against women, abortion rights, sterilization abuse, prison reform, and many others. Smith said that "the only way we can survive is by working with each other, and not seeing each other as enemies. There’s far too much of the perspective of: “You’re not like me. I’m not like you." This really signifies the importance of intersectionality and coalition between differing movements in order for process to be made.

This got me thinking about the autism rights movement. We know from watching Crip Camp that the disability rights movement received help from the Black Panthers and other activist groups for the signing of section 504, but nothing automatically sprang to mind when I considered autism rights activism specifically. The autism rights movement is designed to be incredibly inclusive and to support most leftist organizations and their goals. That being said, however, I'm aware that there are many people of color who often feel isolated in the autism rights movement and that their voices often get left out, even within this "safe space." As I have previously mentioned in past blog posts, my girlfriend is Black and autistic, and she does lots of work with organizations specifically dedicated to addressing the disparities faced by Black autistic individuals, as well as self-advocacy and resource awareness in Black communities.

That being said, my history resource project actually highlights significant individuals in the self-advocacy wave of the autism rights movement. Much like this interview, I decided to focus on specific people within the movement that allowed for it to become what it is today. Some of the figures I included were Jim Sinclair, Judy Singer, Laura Tisoncik, and Ari Ne'eman (who actually went to UMBC, which I thought was super cool!)