The disability community has a homelessness problem, the Freedom Church of the Poor at the LCC this Sunday, and watch last week's recording of framing disability the LCC way:
www.loiscurtis.org/so/c5PXHMxHM...
*SPOILER ALERT: MCO DISABILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEES WILL NOT SAVE YOU*
(Part 2) As Medicaid gets chopped and screwed, folks aren't talking enough about who's going to be doing the "screwing": MCOs and other profiteering contractors who states contract out the administration of Medicaid to.
As Medicaid gets chopped and screwed, folks aren't talking enough about who's going to be doing the "screwing": MCOs and other profiteering contractors who states contract out the administration of Medicaid to.
Part One of our unpacking of this issue (link to Part Two in the description):
This is the opening plenary from the NCIL 2021 Annual conference, as given by then-NCIL ED, @reymamccoyhyten.bsky.social. In it, she clearly articulates the systemic gaps that both #IndependentLiving and #BigDisCo grapple with and offers solutions:
Plenary begins at 11:07.
The ADA Avoids the Intersection of Systemic Racism and Disability Trauma causes disability. Trauma exacerbates disability. And many Black and Brown people who find themselves at the intersection of systemic racism and trauma find themselves facing a door to the disability community that is seemingly locked shut.
This exclusion has led to the significant skewing of understanding regarding the disability experience that is at the core of disability research, policy, legislation, service provision, and advocacy. It ensures that Black and Brown people with disabilities, particularly those grappling with cPTSD and/or other trauma-induced disabilities, are woefully pathologized and criminalized by #BigDisCo and society, as a whole. The preschool to prison pipeline, police violence, and exploitative prison subminimum wage practices are, therefore, disability issues, whether decisionmakers within #BigDisCo want to acknowledge them or not as such. (They don’t)
The ADA Didn't Save Lois... and #FreeOurPeople Didn't, Either.
Read this week's blog here:
www.loiscurtis.org/post/the-ada...
The ADA Didn't Save Lois, framing disability the LCC way (this Wednesday!), and a throwback from #ADA2021 from the Washington Post featuring our co-founder, @reymamccoyhyten.bsky.social :
Four years ago, a DEI consultant and her cohort blackmailed the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) for $30,000, payable to her.
Tomorrow, she'll give the opening plenary at #NCIL2025.
We discuss:
Framing Disability the LCC Way, take a virtual tour of our resource room, and navigating community abuse: this week from the Lois Curtis Center-
Is Easterseals about to help create the newest stop on the preschool to prison pipeline? We ponder further about the "Helping Communities with Better Support (HCBS) Act", which was signed into law underneath the umbrella of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on 7/4:
www.youtube.com/live/SwMsoZQ...
Anyone with a vested interest in disability rights, criminal justice, labor exploitation, systemic racism, the preschool to prison pipeline, and/or “at-risk” youth should, at least, have a passing curiosity about “wellness farms”, about which RFK Jr proudly stated: “Wellness farms are my ‘Peace Corps’… they are going to be my major program.”
The prospect of developing a community-based wellness farm system as a Home and Community Based "alternative" for children should be incredibly alarming to advocates who for years have pushed for de-institutionalization and control over decision-making for disabled people. Unless, of course, #FreeOurPeople doesn’t apply to these people.
Read- and share!- this week's blog, "The HCBS provision #BigDisCo isn’t talking about, or, did the federal government just create a funding stream for the newest stop on the preschool to prison pipeline while nobody was looking?":
www.loiscurtis.org/post/the-hcb...
Funding for a new stop on the preschool to prison pipeline?
RFK Jr said WHAT about Bird flu?
People actually have fun at the LCC?
It all in this week's newsletter:
loiscurtis.org/so/74PVbjXdD...
Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask died in an institutional setting on July 3rd, 2021. We discuss her life, as well as the circumstances around her institutionalization, during this livestream:
www.youtube.com/live/MLe3G9k...
CALLING BLACK NONPROFIT LEADERS- the Giving Gap wants to hear from you about challenges you/your organization are experiencing. Consider filling out this Google form and sharing with your colleagues:
As someone who was tossed and turned through many of the same systems Lois Curtis navigated through her life, Alyze Chicago recognizes how art and a place of support for expression through art can offer a way to survive and a pathway to thrive:
Meet our new artist in residence, our ASL interpreter kicks off a new series, and the latest letdowns from the Supreme Court: this week from the Lois Curtis Center-
loiscurtis.org/so/31PV13KKo...
Nearly any attempts by Black and Brown people to speak about racism in disabled/ity spaces results in disciplinary action (if they are employed in the space), alienation (if they are seeking community), gatekeeping from racially marginalized peers, and demonization. This was the case when there are no melanated people at the table. it is the case when DEI has resulted in superficial changes to the racial makeup at the table. And, as long as #BigDisCo joins the rest of society in upholding and maintaining the oppressive system by merely working to make it wheelchair accessible, it will remain the case.
Check out this week's blog, "White Supremacy on Wheels":
www.loiscurtis.org/post/white-s...
Did u know that we're named after the person whose efforts led to the Olmstead Decision, which affirmed that disabled people have the right to live in the community? In honor of the 26 anniversary of that historic Supreme Court ruling, we want to send u a copy of our comic book about Ms. Curtis:
FREE!
The Strategy and Solidarity 2025 Global Summit is generously allowing folks to drop in on a session for FREE and we'd love for you to join ours, "White Supremacy on Wheels", on Wednesday, June 25th at 1pm Pacific!
Juneteenth, nationwide listening tour for Native Hawaiians, and the LCC at the Strategy & Solidarity 2025 Global Summit: this week from the Lois Curtis Center-
loiscurtis.org/so/f0PTutBjR...
WHITE SUPREMACY ON WHEELS Reyma McCoy Hyten and Ami Hyten Topeka, KS Join the co-founders of the ONLY disability service provider in the US that is openly and freely operating at the intersection of systemic racism and disability in a presentation on the manifestation of white supremacy that nobody wants to talk about. June 25, 2025 STRATEGY AND SOLIDARITY 2025 GLOBAL SUMMIT
"Join the co-founders of a pioneering organization as they shed light on the often-overlooked manifestations of white supremacy and inspire us to work together towards a brighter, more inclusive tomorrow."
Register at:
strategyandsolidarity.com
#strategyandsolidarity #disabilityjustice
Why we do what we do, our new inclusive immigration information hub, and Juneteenth fun: this week from the LCC:
loiscurtis.org/so/43PTL3bsI...
#BIGDISCO 's "inclusive" disaster strategy, unpacked:
youtube.com/live/OwJ3qA8...
LCC's own Ami Hyten recently brought our mission and story to FOX 43 AM Live- catch that interview here:
www.ksnt.com/video/fox-43...
If George Floyd’s murder has revealed anything, it’s this: the Powers That Be, including #BigDisCo leadership, in a moment of perceived loss of control in 2020, made promises that threatened the status quo. They then spent the Biden years refortifying the status quo- including making it slightly more racially diverse in the interest of giving melanated people who are more invested in their careers than in their communities the incentive to uphold and maintain the oppressive system (“It’s not racism if the one doing the oppressing on behalf of the oppressive system is a member of the oppressed class…”)- to ensure that the powerlessness they felt in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder would never, ever, befall them again.
Their efforts have ensured that there will never be another George Floyd. Not because the oppressive system has been dismantled and police have stopped killing Black people- that’s happened hundreds of times since May 25th, 2020. But because, as we saw with the 2023 murder of Tyre Nichols by five police officers- all of whom were, like Tyre, Black men, the oppressive system is now more Diverse, Equitable, Inclusive, and Accessible than it’s ever been.
It takes a village to uphold and maintain the oppressive system.
Read this week's blog from the LCC, "There Will Never Be Another George Floyd", here:
www.loiscurtis.org/post/there-w...
Why wasn't George Floyd's murder enough for you?
It's a simple question.
And we discuss it here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N4K...
Beauty (lots of art stuff in the works for us), and the beast of systemic racism: this week from the LCC-
DO YOU USE IN-HOME SERVICES FOR SUPPORT WITH DAILY LIVING? If you use a program where you select your worker, schedule their shifts, tell them their tasks, and have the ability to fire them, you are an employer and your home is a workplace. If the person or people who provide services in your home immigrated to the US, they may be at risk for detainment/deportation. It does not matter if the person is in the United States “legally” or not. It does not matter if the person has all necessary work permits or has been naturalized. Any person who was born in another country, especially if that person has brown or black skin, may be impacted by immigration enforcement activities. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU? It means that immigration enforcement can come to your home and try to take action against your worker. It may mean that you or your worker may be questioned or detained by immigration enforcement officers. It may mean that the friends or family members of your worker may be questioned or detained by immigration enforcement officers. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN YOUR HOME IS THEIR WORKPLACE Your home is a private space, not a public space. Immigration enforcement officers can only come into private spaces if they have a warrant. - Keep exterior doors locked at all times - Do not open a door to speak with any officers - Do not allow any officer into the home without a court warrant signed by a state or federal court judge, NOT an immigration officer. - If they have a warrant, have them slip it under the door, or leave it in the door while they move far away from the door so you can retrieve it and review it behind your locked door - You and your worker do not have to answer any questions from the enforcement officers - You and your worker have the right to an attorney and can refuse to talk to officers without one present - Video or audio record the encounter if possible If a worker leaves the home (tries to run or escape), they can be immediately arrested. RESOURCES TO …
HCBS is an immigration issue.
Download "Self Direction and Immigration Enforcement Guide" here:
www.loiscurtis.org/resources/48...
