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DYP goes hardddd
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May 20th, 2009community, disability, organizingeveryday people brush us off ’cause we talk a little differently, think a little differently, move a little differently or because we are from group homes, in the foster care system, etc. they just don’t know. i love how creative you are. give you thirty minutes, markers, poster paper, and you come up with hot shit like this:
we get painted as consumers, objectives of charity and service. when we’re quiet, they think we don’t have something to say. i love your activist heart and how fiercely it beats when we come together.
while debates around language are storming around us, here you are unashamed and carrying disability pride posters, naming our tables the “disabled and proud team”, and wearing hot crip gear. i love how subversive i feel when were populating the room with resistant bodies!
the other night when we were doing check-in, you all said you were doing great because you loved being with each other. i wasn’t sure if you were just telling me what i wanted to hear. it’s easy to get sucked up into the non-profit industrial complex and even easier for this to be just another disability conference on the calendar. i love how much this means to you. i love that, like me, you were so excited about seeing each other this week you couldn’t sleep. i love that you drove 3 hours to get here. i love that even though we were in the middle of this spontaneous, unorganized group meeting, you said we were more organized than everyone else because we had tshirts. : )
i love the way that every time there was a time to speak, it was our crew picking up the mic! (how did this even happen?)
i love the way that you are leaders. it’s funny to me, we moved away from a “youth leadership model” into one of community building and ironically, we have more leaders than before.
i love the way you are not afraid to speak your mind. you know how to kick it with legislators, other disabled people, allies, the cop coming to check our permit—everyone!
i love the way you look out for each other. i love the way we know each other’s access needs and the interdependence that happens when we are together.
i love the way you create safe space for each other.
i love the way you know how to party.
i love the potential we have. i love how beautiful you are!
total Disabled Young People’s Collective fangirl here. isn’t my crew amazing, yall??
11 responses to “DYP goes hardddd” 
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reading this kind of post from you puts emotions into my heart i can only transcribe thusly:
*yay*
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you know chicky this stuff makes me wish i lived near you just so i could be a part of any group you’re active in
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This literally made me cry. Thank you so much for sharing. I’m so, so proud of the community and space that’s been created by DYP – you all are so awesome!! Thanks for letting me be a tiny, tiny part of this last summer – it was truly a privilege :).
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Like Amandaw, I wish I was nearer to y’all. awesome!
i’m trying to think what the cut off part of the poster in the third picture from the bottom (on the right hand side) says: The one that reads: Eye with an x through it “graduated valedictorian…” it’s really cool.
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cripchick
Cripchick is a queer disabled corean-american living and loving in North Carolina. Cripchick is a 22 year old youth organizer who has been working in the youth arm of the Disability Rights Movement since high school. She is most interested in using poetry, community organizing and media as a way to cut through isolation that marginalized people often face. Cripchick is a radical woman of color feminist and believes in the power of people coming together.
you can say hi by clicking on the post titled and leaving a comment, emailing her at consciouslycrip[at]gmail
[dot]com, or on twitter.
A Few Projects Cripchick Is Involved With
Cripchick is facilitating a satellite campus in her local community for School of Our Lorde. School of Our Lorde is an effort to bring people together to study the poetics, pedagogy, politics and publishing of feminist warrior poet Audre Lorde. You can join an existing campus, participate by distance learning or start your own campus! To find out more, visit: http://summerofourlorde.wordpress.com/
Disability Justice Track at the Allied Media Conference
The Allied Media Conference is an annual gathering where artists, media makers and activists come together to talk media strategies for community building. Cripchick is working with other disabled people to create the first ever Disability Justice track--- a space where we people will dissect a disability justice analysis and have time to talk about the way disability shapes our work as cultural activists, media makers and activists. You can find out more at http://alliedmediaconference.org
Disabled Young People's Collective's first ever Activism, Community, Empowerment Summit
Cripchick is an active member with the Disabled Young People's Collective, a crew of disabled youth working to get free in NC. DYP is organizing a 6 day event in August for disabled youth between the ages 16-24 to come together and learn about disability justice, organizing, and community building. To get an application or find out more, visit http://thedypcollective.org
amandaw May 20th, 2009 at 14:40