It’s an honor to have my BDLM symbol officially archived at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
@NMAAHC
Our art is our survival! Black Disabled Lives Matter ✊🏾📢
Timeline cleanse if you need one! Knox tonight at his 4th grade school winter concert singing
@MariahCarey
‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’
#AutisticJoy
on full display! My kid is everything! I hope Mariah sees this!!
There is a reason we’re spreading
#JordanNeely
joyful photos and videos around the ether. It’s because unhoused people are twice as likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators. They're less likely to be believed when they try to report a crime.
#JusticeForJordanNeely
For Ralph. Giving him his flowers today. Celebrating Black life now and always in a world that often considers us disposable. Ralph deserves to grow old. All Black lives deserve to grow, exist, and experience liberation!
#RalphPaulYarl
#RalphYarl
words from Nex’s mom Sue Benedict have stayed with me. “Nex had a light in them that was so big, they had so many dreams. I want their light to keep shining for everyone. That light was so big and bright and beautiful, and I want everyone to remember Nex that way.”
#NexBenedict
Seriously! I know she was Black! This is why posting my art on X is exhausting. I’m getting called out for showing solidarity to other Black disabled women. I’m a Black disabled woman and can’t even share my art in peace because certain folks want to invalidate my words.
CW: Holding space for the memory of
#ElijahMcClain
today who should still be here. In 2019, Elijah McClain, an unarmed Black man was forcibly restrained and injected with enough ketamine to kill a 200 lb man, the local officials lied, and coroner called his death inconclusive.
How we should remember him. His Smile. His Joy. His Light.
#TyreNichols
As a mother of a Black child, my heart is with Tyre’s family during this heavy time. Art helps me heal. I made this for you Tyre. He leaves behind a 4 year old son.
I am not ok. My heart is heavy. He is so beautiful. This is really hard. As a Neurodivergent mom to a Black Autistic son this is personal. Knox is 11. 15 is closer than we think. This is a nightmare that a lot of Black and Autistic folks can't ever wake up from.
#RyanGainer
So this just happened.
@MariahCarey
just said Knox's name. We thank you Mariah for giving us the best Christmas ever. We appreciate you showing us your amazing love and light this holiday season and for amplifying Knox's
#AutisticJoy
#BlackBoyJoy
This made our world!
#MariahSZN
Your kid IS everything!!!!!! Knox, you made my day. Your JOY gives me and everyone watching JOY. THANK YOU for reminding me why I wake up in the morning and do what I do. I love you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Share these new
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
virtual protest graphics I made if you’re joining us online today! (image descriptions: 3 graphics, black and red fist raised with ND symbol next to text that reeds Black Disabled Lives Matter
My definition of Mothering as an act of Resistance means to redesign ableist visual culture. The sole intention is to empower and activate change encouraging communities to engage in conversations about acceptance, rooted in how Black Neurodivergent children are valued and seen.
Mr.
#KeivonnWoodard
Your performance on ep5
@hbomax
#TheLastOfUsHBO
was powerful. In the game Sam’s character was not deaf so to witness Black Disabled representation on screen was everything! It added another layer of cultural intersectionality to the story that is often erased!
Rest in Power
#LoisCurtis
It’s never easy losing our black disabled oracles, Especially when we wonder how many flowers they received while they were alive for bringing visibility to black disability rights. Let’s continue to uplift Lois’ legacy!
Roberta A. Drury, 32, of Buffalo
• Margus D. Morrison, 52, of Buffalo
• Andre Mackneil, 53, of Auburn, New York
• Aaron Salter, 55, of Lockport, New York
• Geraldine Talley, 62, of Buffalo
Sonya should still be here. Sending my fellow Black Disabled Women much love and solidarity as we continue to process this news. Cam footage has been released revealing Sonya’s last words: “I’m sorry.” Her life was devalued by ableism and state violence.
#SayHerName
#SonyaMassey
At a loss for words at the moment. I never had the privilege of meeting Judy in person, but we were fans of each other from afar cheering each other on. Her unapologetic brilliance set the path for so many of us disabled activists.
#JudyHeumann
May her memory be a blessing. 🕊️
• Celestine Chaney, 65, of Buffalo
• Heyward Patterson, 67, of Buffalo
• Katherine Massey, 72, of Buffalo
• Pearl Young, 77, of Buffalo
• Ruth Whitfield, 86, of Buffalo
Sending tiger power and love to my beautiful friend and fellow disabled oracle
@SFdirewolf
who turns another year older today. The world is better with you in it Alice 🐯🐯🐯
I made social media graphics for virtual protest y’all. Remember this community too. ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿⚡️⚡️⚡️
#BlackAutisticLivesMatter
#BlackLivesMatter
please share and tag me in and any other Black/Brown Autistic/ADHD body you know in solidarity!
This post is in solidarity for the
#BlackDeafCommunity
It was dope meeting Black Deaf activist and wordsmith Toyin Fasakin at today’s
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
march to the White House, play this video loud if possible to hear his interpreter speak. Any Volunteers to transcribe?
Flowers for Wadea Al-Fayoume. Only 6 years old. Brutally attacked and stabbed 26 times by his horrendously evil racist landlord. I keep reading the phrase ‘hate has no place in America’ but for decades hate has take up permanent residence around the globe.
#WadeaAlFayoume
Remember, as you continue in dialogue and solidarity with the black Neurodivergent community, true advocates and allies please take note: To be Pro Neurodiversity is to be Anti Racist. We’ve had this conversation before: For The Black Neurotribe the target of inequity is bigger.
Can’t sleep so I made this for you since you should still be here. Beautiful photo of Engracia Figueroa by Shayan Asgharnia, digital collage art by me. 🌸 You deserve all the flowers that should have been given to you.
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
…
made this collage two years ago celebrating the release of Black Panther, in tribute to my own little black super hero! Seeing T’Challa manifested on screen in such a powerful way was immense for us a family. This is too much. Rest in Power
#chadwickboseman
#WakandaForever
Words by my friend Alice: “Why should I have to opt in and request safety measures when it should be the default for everyone?” Stop what you’re doing if you can and read this now!
@SFdirewolf
for Congress! That’s all I’m saying!
In virtual protest and uprising I’ll be continuing to create artwork that ampliflies underserved Black & Brown disabled bodies. The work is for everyone. Everyone should share in solidarity to ensure this message rings loud and clear in times of unrest
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
When Alice
@SFdirewolf
asked me to create a new collage for her last November to celebrate life, she had one specific request, that it be a family portrait with Bert and Ernie! I love them both and I love you Alice! Sending you so much disability solidarity now and always! 🐈❤️🐈⬛
My sole job is to preserve my Autistic son’s present so that he can make it into the future. If our nation continues to show that our young black autistic men don’t have value what is that saying to our generation of black autistic youth? My quote ⚡️✊🏽
Raymond Green Vance, 22
Daniel Davis Aston, 28
Ashley Paugh, 35
Derrick Rump, 38
Kelly Loving, 40
My visual tribute:
They should still be here. Giving them their flowers today.
#ClubQ
#ColoradoSprings
#MyDisabledLifeIsWorthy
this hashtag needs to be plastered for all the world to see. Made this quick design in solidarity with the
#DisCo
movement’s need to be seen, heard and respected. ID: Words
#MyDisabledLifeIsWorthy
on a Purple paper cut heart on pink background 💜⚡️💜
I definitely shed a few tears while making this because bell hooks is everything and has been instrumental in my teaching and community work. If you know you know. This is tough.
#bellhooks
🕊✊🏾🌸
Been playing with this design since last year ⚡️Create More Anti Ableist Spaces stickers are now in my shop! To my fellow disability community, Let’s act to hold ALL spaces accountable for providing care and access to disabled folks with all types of bodies and minds.
My
@TheAmandaGorman
visual tributes! This quote by Amanda rings true for so many disabled artists and creatives: ‘But I don’t look at my disability as a weakness. It’s made me the performer that I am and the storyteller that I strive to be.’ (Image Descriptions in thread)
Daniel Davis Aston, 28 was a bartender at Club Q, a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community. According to articles I’ve read and info shared by the family, He loved poetry, the arts and culture, He was a sacred trans man and had spent his life being loved by his family.
#ClubQ
@quitafor
@kaetertot
That’s why I also made a graphic that said ‘remember their names’ Please don’t misinterpret my tribute as act of erasure. Not my intent to co-opt! Many of these folks could have easily been my parents, aunties or uncles. By saying their names aloud I hope to honor them. 🙏🏽
They are considered disposable and not our problem. Neely was unarmed and was a threat to no one. He was only on this earth for 30 years. America has a problem. Collage tribute to
#JordanNeely
should still be here.
#CollagesForTheCulture
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
Rest in Peace to Alexandria, Arielle, and Brian. 🕊️
Today marks the beginning of the funeral services for these 3 beautiful lives that were stolen from us. As a mother and educator my heart continues to break for the families as they try to move forward during this heaviness. 🤍
I’m so disheartened because I’ve loved
@Sia
music for over 15 years, her music moves me to a place of reckless abandon even her concerts are super stimmy. I’m Neurodiverse, my son is Neurodiverse. We make our own ‘music’ everyday, but it’ll be overshadowed by this tired imitation
Walter Wallace Jr., 27, a twin, father, son, and disabled man was shot 10 times by police, in front of his family and community in West Philly. I wish I hadn’t watched the video. Black Disabled people don’t mean a thing to folks who view their lives as immediately disposable.
So glad that we’re able to honor and celebrate Ralph Yarl’s recovery. He’s home now and the journey of his recovery begins. I believe if we can continue to rally behind eradicating the reason he was shot in the first place, justice can truly be amplified.
Flowers for Judy today and always! 🌸🌷🌸
Today is the 1st anniversary of the passing of Disability Rights advocate and icon Judy Heumann. I decided to revisit the collage tribute I made in her memory one year ago today. May her memory continue to be a blessing.
#JudyHeumann
I’ll be posting a lot of documention of our
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
march to the White House throughout this weekend and next week! It was an honor to hold space today with so many beautiful disabled folks amplifying black disabled lives lost to police brutality.
Disability Solidarity Update: I'm happy to announce that I'll be partnering with
@keri_gray
& the National Alliance of Mutlicultural Disbaled Advocates to create a
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
LivesMatter Mural - in tribute and in celebration of ADA 30th anniversary! (A Thread)
Since feedback has been overwhelmingly supportive I made additional creative resistance social media graphics for sharing on IG & Twitter. Thank you for staying in solidarity with BIPoC Neurodivergent voices! (A visual thread)
#BlackAutisticLivesMatter
The Disability Community, co-conspirators, and advocates have spoken! Pre-Orders for the Black Disabled Lives Matter T-shirts are available! Only 100 have been printed so order before they sell out! Available in both Adult and Youth sizes. Link in Bio!
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
Juneteenth is upon us and I’m trying my best to continue celebrating liberation in artistic expression. To be honest my art is the only thing keeping me going this week. That art includes my family, especially my Autistic son Knox. He is my greatest lyric, melody, and then some.
With all of the heaviness happening in the world today, especially within disabled communities of color, celebrating my disabled family is paramount and frames all that I do.
A thread and read more:
We’re not always safe, understood and accepted by many. This fist integrated with the Neurodiversity symbol is the first step of an anti racist artist/advocate/ally collective I’m building to amplify BIPOC. I am half Puertorrican so Latinx, Caribbean voices must be included.
CW: Because she should still be here. Ableism and Racism has no place in a 10 year old’s classroom. She was Black, Beautiful and Autistic.
#StandForIzzy
#IsabellaTichenor
Please support the family’s funeral and memorial Go Fund Me
Celebrating the words and wisdom of bell hooks on what would have been her 70th rotation around the Sun. I’m Giving her flowers today while she rests in the stars. Happy birthday to bell hooks.
#bellhooks
#Juneteenth
is rooted in Black Liberation! This includes the many Black Disabled bodies and minds that were still enslaved after emancipation and that are still enslaved today while incarcerated. An Art & Freedom thread:
it’s so important to honor black and disabled change makers that have paved the way for us! Give them their flowers while they are still here! There is no
#BlackHistoryMonth
without Black Disabled History and the present! Honoring
@adaptanita
Anita Cameron today and always
We finally have our copy of Alice Wong’s
@SFdirewolf
Disability Visibility! I want my 7 year old Autistic son to continue reading and seeing disabled folk taking up space to write, edit and say whatever the heck they want, chew toy and all!
#AutisticJoy
Made this for Empress
@Tinu
I’m giving her her flowers today while she continues on a path towards COVID recovery and care. Make sure you share and show some love today by donating to her medical funds here:
#ForTinu
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
Find someone who can love you like Knox loves his
#Grogu
. He was over the two moons on Tatooine when he found
#BabyYoda
under his tree!
(Image descriptions: (Image descriptions, a happy little black/puertorrican autistic boy smiling with his Grogu plushie)
#AutisticJoy
In watching this video of Idaho folks burning masks, I just keep thinking of all the disabled folks who couldn’t afford masks and still can’t. And how these masks (if they weren’t used) could have easily been donated to countless homeless folks affected by the pandemic. Think.
The state AG ordered a new autopsy which found these results, the state then concealed it for 3 years. He should be alive today. Many of us knew
#ElijahMcClain
was murdered, this confirmation is horrific. Elijah was deprived of his rights and ultimately his life.
@mayatcontreras
He was so happy to wear his crisp
#BlackDisabledLivesMatter
shirt on his first day back! Let’s continue to declare justice, access and accommodations for our disabled + Neurodiverse kids in academic spaces! We deserve freedom + radical joy in spaces that are meant to lift us up.
Practicing our Stim stepping with tongue clicks for our future stim teacher
@lilririah
make sure you check out her
#Stimtober
posts and other Autistics embracing the soulfulness of their bodies now and forever!
#AutisticJoy
It’s been 24 years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case
#Olmstead
v. L.C. – establishing disabled people’s legal right to live in their community rather than segregated in nursing homes, and to receive supports and services at home. Honoring
#LoisCurtis
💜
Today marks 24 years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case
#Olmstead
v. L.C. – establishing disabled people’s legal right to live in their community rather than segregated in nursing homes, and to receive supports and services at home.
CW: This is hitting me so heavy. This is about the survival of our community. This is about the care and support for one another against these systems of racism, ableism and oppression our disabled kids face daily for just existing.
#IsabellaTichenor
My
#BlackHistoryMonth
Collage series continues with a tribute to
@DrSamiSchalk
Bodyminds Reimagined through collage and visual activism is my love language. This collage represents the radical softness and sacredness of black disabled women. We are powerful, fierce and lovely.
Honored to have my essay: From the Black Anti-Ableist Diary: Tribute to my Black Disabled Son from a Black Disabled Mother included in new Publication: The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection
So dope that I can cite and reference some of my fav books on disability culture and justice throughout the semester! As an Afro-Latina Neurodiverse and Disabled Professor this is pretty monumental for me so please drop some love and encouragement in the comments!
This is a high anxiety time for me. As many of us are because of
#Omicron
I just had to cancel my Family Holiday trip to Orlando, which included seeing my Mom and Dad. I cried on the phone to my Mom for 30 min as I told her. I’m not ok. Please drop me cute animal gifs and vids.
🧡 Posted with consent 🧡 and in honor of Knoxtober and
#Stimtober
this is for
@lilririah
and all Autistic bodies! We wanna see more stim vids!
#AutisticJoy
video description: 6 year old Black Puertorrican Autistic boy dancing to his hearts content to Toto’s Africa!
Being a Black woman in America has never been easy, but with racism in America hitting a fever pitch, stress is at an all-time high. Finding peace is more important now than ever. Here's how Black women are taking care of themselves right now. (THREAD)
Happy Black History and Futures Month to
@kriphopnation
and
@dasoultoucha
we can’t celebrate black history or futures without honoring and acknowledging our Black and Disabled cultural makers! Today’s collages are dedicated to Uncle Keith and Leroy!
My work explores the erasure of black disabled children in digital and literary media, visuals I make using photo and design are my own reflections that amplify conversations with the Disability community. It ignites the continued need to develop anti-racist, anti-ableist media.
‘When people with disabilities are not at the center of the conversation, its harder to build understanding and make change. Outstanding article with quotes and Black disability justice gems from
@talilalewis
@habengirma
@BlackDisability
✊🏽⚡️
Just gonna drop this right here on my timeline. Thanks for the follow
@BarackObama
(Image Description: Screenshot of Obama’s twitter account following yours truly. Regardless of how you feel about him, at least he’s not being banned by twitter like our current president. ⚡️
Released.
#BrittneyGriner
You can’t keep our spirits and bodies locked in cages. Decarcerate. Depoliticize. Dismantle. Deliver. "I'II tell you what freedom is to me:
No fear."
-NINA SIMONE
Just in case you need to see a very cool black and Autistic kid standing next to a
#USPS
mail box in his neighborhood here you go! We’ve sent out countless stickers and poster prints to our friends all over the world and we ain’t about to stop now!
#FundUSPS
Posted with consent!
Happy Birthday to the High priestess of soul Nina Simone
#BlackHistoryMonth
digital collage series 🌸 with hues of blues, pinks, purples. She deserves her flowers today, yesterday and forever.
#BlackDisabledHistory
#NinaSimone
Black Mamas People's Assembly! Black Joy was present and will continue to sustain us in times of unrest. This moment was special, I'm emotional from the day and from seeing my beautiful black mamas, aunties, community builders gather for justice, unity and restoration.
When black+ brown disabled bodies continue to be taken from us willfully disposed of by state violence again+again, we consistently undermine the disability community, burying them in graves of injustice reminding them that their value, and humanity doesn’t deserve to exist.
Continuing to hold my NeuroFam close tonight. I want to be clea, the graphics I've created are for all Autistics, Advocates, Families and Allies to share in virtual solidarity as we continue our uprising. I'm sharing FREE Printable Graphics here! Thread:
Fatties For A Free Palestine! finally rocking my new favorite crop top in solidarity! celebrating the mama bod I’ve come to embrace. Don’t let anyone question these curves! ? 100% of the profits will go towards supporting Middle East Children's Alliance.
This is the narrative many ND families are touted. It’s toxic, tiring and furthers the stigma that being Autistic is considered less than. I can’t wait until my Autistic/ADHD son goes to college or travels the world knowing that he doesn’t have to mask they way I did!
Twitter
#DisCo
community! I got my FIRST anti anxiety/anti depressant meds today! I’m taking 10 MG of Citalopram! Drop y’all med solidarity support and love in the comments.
💊💊💊
In Pro-Black and Disabled Solidarity, Happy Juneteeth! We have along way to go but I’m celebrating Black liberation today by announcing new sticker creations and additions to my Disability Advocacy shop! Check them out:
🕊️ This is so heavy. Her unapologetic brilliance set the path for so many. We have definitely lost an icon, her hard work will continue through us. 🕊️
#JudyHeumann
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Judy Heumann, known by many as a mentor, friend, and “the mother” of the disability rights movement.
Judy was 75 years old.
I remember when I first began to find support & solidarity with the Black Autistic Community!
@BeingKaylaSmith
was one of the first to reach out to me, sharing my work, shining a light on what type of mentor my Autistic son needs! I’m grateful to this day ⚡️ Pay attention folks!
To my new followers & fellow allies! Our journey began when my son was diagnosed as Autistic 5 yrs ago! Last year I decided to reclaim the narrative of what I didn’t see much of in black/brown Autistic communities. I published a 68 pg. FotoZine for my son entitled ‘KnoxRoxs’
For Ming Wei Ma, known as Mr. Ma to the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in
#MontereyPark
Ma was a staple of the dance community and “beloved and respected” by those who were a part of it, A beloved dance instructor who was the “heart” of Star Ballroom.