But we’ve quite undeniably built up a mythology that there’s a linear progression in activism. And in reality, that myth is itself ableist, classist, racist, and capitalist because it implies that we’re all on an upward progression - the same language that white supremacy uses to say colonialism needs to civilize Brown people.

Resistance must work to transform the conditions that created the need for that resistance in the first place.

Stacey Milbern is a disability justice thought leader with twelve years of experience incubating leadership programs, managing services programs, and providing technical assistance to organizations wanting to increase their capacity around disability and diversity. She is a queer, mixed race, disabled woman of color and is passionate about

If autism is being presented as a curable or preventable negative trait, something to “[s]ave our children & their future[s]” from, then what incentive do non-autistic people have to respect their autistic children as human beings?

What is hope? Hope is the act of wanting something to happen or to be true. Hope means that we are not giving up on our country or ourselves.

The idea of autism as undesirable defect is so widespread in society, but if somebody says that, they will be yelled at for being self-hating.

I feel a little bitter that most non-disabled people do not have this dilemma of whether they will exchange their privacy to be seen as human.

We talk about how we can make events more accessible, and we absolutely need to be having that conversation more frequently and seriously than we already do. But aside from events, what does it mean to make your organization, Facebook group, or house accessible? What does that mean for those of us who are on a fixed income or have no income, or if

Hope gives us the strength to resist, to take action. With hope, we believe - we know - that we can stop or change things. Hope leads those of us who can, to act.