Global Disability Dialogue
Global Disability Dialogue was organized in December 2022 by Miyuki Tanaka, Yan Grenier, and Sasha Kurlenkova, three international disability activists, researchers, and nondisabled allies (from Japan, Canada, and Russia) affiliated in different capacities with the Center for Disability Studies at New York University. Global Disability Dialogue is an informal space for disabled people and allies. Activists, students, scholars, and artists are invited to bring and discuss their work, research, art, and initiatives. We hold virtual meetings once a month (based on the needs and resources of the group), and plan to do activist events outside when it’s warmer in New York City. We welcome non-academic event ideas, coming from people’s lived experiences and advocacy work, if you think our collective can support you and your project. We also welcome students and people from non-american settings to share their ongoing disability- and access-related projects and receive feedback on them. All our events have ASL interpretation thanks to the support of the Center for Disability Studies. If you are interested in joining the Dialogues as a presenter or participant, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/otNMmqpWPSf66jP97
This picture is the work ‘Mycelium Rhizome’ by Richard Giblett, 2009, pencil on paper. It shows a network of black-and-white mushrooms of various forms: small, big, with stems and heads of different thickness and shape. The mushrooms are interconnected through mycelium, a root-like structure that has no central point, no origin, no particular form or unity or structure. This is a rhizomatic structure which embodies the philosophy of Global Disability Dialogue’s meetings: each participant gets connected with the ‘mycelium’ through their own tie ; each contributes (orally, silently, multimodally) to the ‘mycelium’ from their local situation, their bodymind, life and socio-political experience, at whatever time they feel like doing so.