For over twenty years, Dara Baldwin has often been the only person of color in the room when significant disability policy decisions are made. Disenfranchisement of people of color and multi-marginalized communities within the disability rights community is not new and has left many inside the community feeling frustrated and erased.
In To Be a Problem, Baldwin candidly shares her journey to becoming a disability activist and policymaker in DC while critiquing the disability rights community. She reveals the reality of erasure for many Black people and people of color in the disability movement and argues that, in turn, many white disabled people center themselves within the work without addressing their own white privilege.
Disability rights groups have been centering white, straight, cisgender people while racial justice groups often fail to center disabled people, leading many Black and Brown disabled people to start their own Disability Justice organizations. Drawing from her unique vantage point, Baldwin calls readers to understand the shortcomings of the disability rights movement while inspiring us to push all movements towards a more inclusive and authentic liberation.
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
Building an Activist
CHAPTER 2
Creating a Policy Maker
CHAPTER 3
Knowledge Is Power
CHAPTER 4
Direct with Great Force
CHAPTER 5
Disability in the Beltway
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
“To Be a Problem is an essential guide to how race and gender intersect with disabilities. Readers who admire the works of bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, and Alice Wong will appreciate the issues that Baldwin unravels here.” —Booklist
“To Be a Problem is a revolutionary text from a unique perspective all too ignored in our society. In a time when dehumanization is on the march, to read a book so rooted in our collective humanity is an absolute gift. Dara Baldwin is a special writer, as anyone who reads these pages will find out for themselves.” –Dave Zirin, author of The Kaepernick Effect and sports editor of The Nation
“Dara Baldwin is a visionary organizer who applies her razor-sharp intellect to the task of building movements that include the most marginalized, not as an afterthought but as the only possible route to winning the world we need. This?book?is a badly needed intervention in our times of overlapping and intersecting crises.” —Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and Doppelganger
“Discover the remarkable journey of Dara Baldwin in her manifesto, where she fearlessly challenges the disability rights movement, advocating for disability justice and amplifying the voices of disabled BIPOC. Her passionate call for change will leave you inspired to champion a more inclusive and equitable world.” —Brittany K. Barnett, author of A Knock. at Midnight
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