Plain Language: Disability Divest

Definitions

Ableism*:

  • Valuing people without disabilities more than people with disabilities. 
  • Favoring people's bodies and minds that are more "normal", productive, desirable, smart, and strong. 
  • What is considered "normal" or 'productive" was made up by someone, and it can change based on who has power. 
  • "Normal" was created based on bad intentions, mistreatment, and violence.
  • Ableism and the ideas of being "normal" hurt people with and without disabilities. People are judged and viewed less than because of their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, "health/wellness", and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, "excel" and "behave."
  • *This definition of ableism is a plain language version of TL Lewis' definition.

Apartheid:

  • Separating people based on race. The people who are separated experience social, political, economic harm. 

Ceasefire:

  • A ceasefire means that Israel will stop shooting and bombing people in Palestine.

Colonialism/Colonists:

  • Stealing another country, area, culture, and other things that are not your own. The taking is done through force and with violence. People who steal countries, areas, and cultures that are not their own are called colonists or colonizers.

Disability Justice:

  • The belief that everyone is unique and very important. Everyone has strengths and needs that must be met. We are powerful, not despite our disabilities, but because of them. Intersectionality is important. Intersectionality means we cannot separate disability from our race, gender, sexuality, class, nation state, religion, and more.

Displacement/Displacing:

  • When people are forced to leave their homes because it isn't safe to stay.

Divest:

  • No longer supporting a bad company or product because they support colonialism or war. Someone can divest by not buying from a company that supports war. Someone can also divest by not working with companies that support war.​​​​​​​

Genocide

  • Killing an entire group of people on purpose because of where they are from or because of their identity. Identity can mean someone's race, gender, sexuality, disability status, religion, or culture.

Global North & Global South: 

  • A way to label different countries around the world based on economics, politics, and social factors. 
  • The divide does not mean the top half of the world and the bottom half of the world.
  • Global South: Countries in the world who have been colonized. These countries have previously been called 'underdeveloped,' 'developing,' or 'Third World' countries. 
  • Global North: Countries that have colonized other countries. These countries generally have more money than other countries.

Indigenous:

  • The people who have lived in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists.

Occupy:

  • Occupying means that the Israeli military is staying in Palestine, even though Palestinians do not want the Israeli military to be there.

The United Nations (UN):

  • The United Nations is an international organization who fights for worldwide peace and security. The UN helps countries work together.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF):

  • A part of the United Nations that provides aid to children worldwide. 

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

  • A part of the United Nations that helps organizations that prevent and/or help people facing human suffering in armed conflicts.

Turtle Island:

  • A name for Earth or North America, used by some American Indigenous peoples. 

Disability Divest Demands Disability Organizations End Their Relationships with People and Companies who Make Money off War

We are a group of disabled people. We are working together to demand that disability rights organizations in the United States stop working with companies that support genocide. 

Some of us work with disability rights organizations in the United States. Some of us do not. Some people think that if someone works for a disability rights organization, that person's opinion is more important. We are working together because we do not believe that is true. 

July is Disability Pride Month. We want disabled people to know that disability justice and disability pride cannot happen if Palestine is not free and safe.

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah is a surgeon in Palestine. He has had to perform many amputations on children who have been hurt by Israeli weapons. Amputation means removing a limb, like an arm or a leg, that no longer works. Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah says that Palestine now has the biggest group ever of children who have gone through amputation.

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs thinks that more than 1 million people in Gaza will starve or die by the middle of July. 1 million people is more than half of the total number of people that live in Gaza.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says that Israel's attacks in Rafah (a part of Palestine where many people live now) stopped over 3,000 children from getting treatment for malnutrition. Malnutrition is when someone gets very sick because they are not able to eat. The children who can't get help for their malnutrition will most likely die soon.

Israel has blocked medical supplies and assistive technology from getting into Gaza for 16 years. Not being able to get medical care has hurt disabled Palestinian people for a long time. Disabled Palestinian people are more likely to die now because they have not been able to get medical care for so long. Now, Israel has blocked even more kinds of supplies from getting into Gaza, like food, water, medication, and assistive devices. 

People with all kinds of disabilities may not be able to evacuate Gaza. This means they will mostly likely become more disabled or die.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Israel's military, have bombed a lot of important buildings in Gaza on purpose. The IDF have bombed hospitals, schools, and roads. The bombs have destroyed Gaza's health care system and education system.

Many people who lead disability organizations have chosen not to talk about Palestine. Many people in Palestine are becoming disabled because they are getting hurt and sick. Many people in Palestine are dying. Israel has been attacking Palestine since October. People who lead disability organizations must talk about the ways Israel is hurting Palestine.

Some companies make money from people dying and getting hurt in Palestine. The names of some of these companies are Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen, Boeing, RTX/Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Motors, and Google. The companies make money from selling weapons and supplies to Israel. Then, Israel uses those weapons and supplies to kill and hurt Palestinians. The United Nations said that companies who make weapons need to stop selling weapons to Israel. If the companies do not stop selling weapons to Israel, the companies might get in trouble for breaking human rights laws. 

Some disability organizations in the U.S. work with companies selling weapons and supplies to Israel. The companies selling weapons and supplies to Israel give money to some disability organizations in the U.S. One disability organization that gets money from companies that sell weapons and supplies to Israel is called Disability:IN. Disability:IN gives awards to some companies that sell weapons to Israel and calls them the "Best Places to Work" for disabled people. The names of some of the companies that Disability:IN gave awards to are HP, Siemens, Barclays, Chevron, and Intel. It is wrong for Disability:IN to give awards to companies that make money from killing and hurting disabled people in Palestine, and in other countries like Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. These are other places where wars and genocides are happening. These wars are killing and disabling millions of people. They are also displacing millions of people. When someone is displaced, they are forced to leave their home because it isn't safe to stay there. 

Disability:IN has a program for disabled college students called NextGen Leader Initiative. The NextGen Leader Initiative pairs disabled college students with mentors from big companies. Some of the companies sell weapons and supplies to Israel. This means that Disability:IN is helping disabled college students in the U.S. work with employees of companies that are killing and hurting disabled people in other countries like Palestine. Disability:IN and many other disability rights organizations in the U.S. have relationships with the companies that are killing and hurting disabled people in other countries. This is wrong. It is not okay for disability rights organizations to say they are helping disabled people in the U.S. while working with companies that hurt disabled people in other countries.

July is Disability Pride Month. Disabled people should be fighting for the freedom of all disabled people in the world. We cannot let disability organizations make money from companies that help to kill Black, Brown, and Indigenous disabled people in Palestine, the Global South, and at home on Turtle Island. 

We do not support our government's actions. We support people living in Palestine.

We have 3 demands.

  1. We demand that disability organizations refuse donations and partnerships with companies that make money off of war. 
  2. We demand a ceasefire. A ceasefire means that Israel will stop shooting and bombing people in Palestine. Israel must also stop occupying Palestine. Occupying means that the Israeli military is staying in Palestine, even though Palestinians do not want the Israeli military to be there.
  3. We demand that disability organizations stop giving disability inclusion awards to companies that make money off war. It is not okay for disability organizations to give people the idea that disabled people are okay with companies killing and hurting people in Palestine just because those companies let disabled people work for them.

We need to listen to disabled people in Palestine and the Global South. We need to let them lead.

 

A better world is possible. Our experience as people with disabilities is connected to other people with disabilities around the world.