RACE + DISABILITY Upcoming Programs
Please join us for upcoming programs!
FISA Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation are excited to announce new programming exploring the intersection of racism and ableism.
March 2024: Free RACE + DISABILITY Webinar
Reproductive Justice and Disability Justice: The Intersectional Struggle for Autonomy and Equality
Date: Thursday, March 14th, 2024 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
No cost, but registration is required
Individuals with disabilities should have control over their bodies and sexualities and be entitled to love, choice, and pleasure. Access to high-quality healthcare and family support is also important. Reproductive justice necessitates acknowledging a range of historical and current injustices, including policies that undermine sexual education, eugenics, forced sterilization, high rates of sexual abuse and human trafficking, the Medicaid marriage penalty, lack of access to quality family planning, prenatal care, and more. It is critical to recognize how disability justice and reproductive justice are interconnected and essential in combating these injustices. Discrimination based on disability is intertwined with other forms of oppression, including racism, sexism, and heterocentrism. Join us for a conversation with Disability Sexual and Reproductive Health Educator Robin Wilson-Beattie and Michelle McMurray, Vice President, Program and Community Engagement at The Pittsburgh Foundation, to recognize the profound connection between reproductive justice and disability justice.
Why focus on the intersection of race and disability?
Disability is a common human experience, 20% of Americans have some type of disability. Many disabilities are hidden (such as mental health, intellectual disabilities, autism, chronic illness, traumatic brain injury…). And many people acquire disabilities at some point in their lives through accident, illness or aging. Every organization and group includes people with disabilities.
Dr. Kimberle Crenshaw coined the term “Intersectionality” to describe the experience of living with multiple identities (gender, race, culture, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, etc). We recognize that while there has been more conversation about some intersections (like race and gender) there have been other experiences that are often overlooked, even in conversations about equity (such as the experience of people of color who have disabilities). There is a growing body of research illustrating specific disadvantages experienced by people of color with disabilities.
FISA Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation are partnering to strengthen our work at the intersection of race and disability, and to better address the needs of people of color with disabilities.