On May 24 at 6.30PM, Cripps Contra Colonialism will be hosting a virtual vigil for disability solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip has disproportionately impacted the disabled of Gaza, leaving many of them without access to mobility and accessibility aids, essential healthcare services, or basic necessities like food, water, and shelter.
The ongoing violence against Palestinians has injured and disabled many, and inflicted scars, both physical and psychological, that may never heal.
This is a mass-disabling event.
Israel must be stopped: justice must be sought.
Yet we, the mad and neurodivergent, the Cripps, the disabled, cannot be an after-thought! We must remember the names of Cripps murdered in the course of this occupation; must ensure those surviving can thrive.
Yet when the disabled remain marginalised within our own mass-movement for Palestine, this cannot be possible. Many amongst us feel deeply for the plight of the Palestinian people, and are desperate to take action. Despite this, we find ourselves excluded by marches, or the banging of pots and pans, by a lack of basic consideration for accessibility and disability.
So we organise this vigil now for ourselves and others; to remember the fallen and share our grief. To become visible.