3 years ago on this day, my mom and I got to join Judy Heumann to witness her wit and wisdom in action at The Daily Show. Today, she is gone.

I first learned of Judy as I studied disability history, as did so many people of my generation. (1/5) As a disabled Jewish New Yorker, I saw Judy as an aspirational looking glass toward my future hopes and dreams. The words I read eventually leapt off the page when I met Judy for the first time. She took me in as part of her community, as she did so generously for so many. (2/5)

There’s an Andy Warhol quote that often runs through my mind: “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” This seems especially apt as we ring in the new year. (1/6) The change from 11:59pm to 12:00am tonight will be a welcome one, but there’s much yet to be done. An arbitrary passing moment in time won’t fix what’s broken. (2/6)

Jumping on the year-end writing thread bandwagon. My main efforts were focused on writing a book (...what?!) that comes out in 2021. Honestly, I'm so grateful because that given me a reason to look ahead. (Cover coming soon!) penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646508/d… As COVID ramped up, @HuffPost gave me the chance to contribute to the many perspectives from disabled people sounding alarms on how the pandemic would hit the disability community. Months later, it still feels like most of mainstream media isn't listening. huffpost.com/entry/coronavi…

I'm genetically disabled. Reading this was hard. But what hit me was the lack of perspectives from people with Down syndrome amid professionals & parents. Karl Emil came across as a plot device. When will journalists learn: "nothing about us, without us"? theatlantic.com/magazine/archi… As someone who has a genetic disability, if an entire feature article was written about the prospect of genetically testing people like me out of existence, I'd want my stake (and that of others with my disability) in that conversation not just recognized, but centralized.

[THREAD]
Planning an event? Cool!
Aiming to center voices of marginalized communities? Fantastic!
Not paying the people you're asking to present? Let's discuss.

I recently got invited to keynote an event at an Ivy League school & was told there's no budget for travel or a fee. The request was from an undergrad org. Apparently, this Ivy League institution's policy makes it so they're "unable to pay for any external costs."
Interesting. When I was in (a much smaller) college, I planned an event for an org & budgeted a few thousand to pay our speaker.