Earth Day 2022
IMAGE 1 DESCRIPTION: On a light pink background, there’s a photo of different types of leaves along the bottom of the background, and on the bottom right corner leaf, there is the Critical Cripship Studies logo. In the centre of the image, in the light pink part of the background, a quote in black text says: [OPEN QUOTE] There is No Regeneration Without Disability Liberation. [END QUOTE] [DASH] Sulaiman R. Khan, FRSA.
“DIVERSITY should be a given; INCLUSION is our practice; EQUITY is our tool; JUSTICE is our mission; so that LIBERATION is our GOAL.”
— Collette Philip and Sulaiman R. Khan.
22 April 2022. We know we have not been in touch since the end of last year, but we have been resting and regenerating ourselves.
As today is Earth Day, we want to highlight the need to integrate Disability into conversations and solutions for a regenerative future. Over the last few months, we have been stepping away from sustainability towards regeneration with the lead of our Chief Cripship Critical Thinker & Community Leader, Sulaiman R. Khan, who has been doing a lot of work internally and externally on regenerative leadership and regenerative existence.
Where sustainability excludes Disabled people in many ways, regeneration breathes life into everything, and as Sulaiman says, “it’s like a hug from a cloud and a kiss from nature. It allows me, as a Disabled and South Asian man, to exist wholeheartedly in grief and joy. Regeneration is where we need to work towards and Disabled people, with our wisdom and richness, should be centred. In interdependence and love, in harmony above balance; past, present, and future. Beyond diversity, inclusion, equity and justice, without the liberation of Disability (and Disabled people), we cannot have regeneration for us all.”
We must remember that mother earth deserves our love and protection. She deserves to be cherished and replenished. So today, on Earth Day and beyond, we must remember to listen to and learn from:
Indigenous people like Jen Deerinwater and Lyla June Johnson.
Disabled people like Alice Wong and Sins Invalid.
Thought leaders such as Dr. Vandana Shiva, Laura Storm, and Paul Stamets.
Minoritised communities, especially those minoritised communities at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression.
We have the opportunity to not be bound by any Capitalist, supremacist, Ableist, Racist, Colonial, hegemonic, heteronormative, patriarchal, toxic, dated structures or practices. We have the opportunity to be healing, loving, grieving, joyous, and exist together. We have the opportunity to create something sacred and filled with love for you and me. For humanity and Earth. For fungi, plants, animals, rivers, streams, forests, and oceans. For everything and everyone. For interdependence and liberation.
Hiro Boga says it best: “There’s room for all of you, and for everything you experience—the grim and the glorious, the wounded, wounding, healing and healed.”
IMAGE 2 DESCRIPTION: On a light pink background, there’s a photo of different types of leaves along the bottom of the background, and on the bottom right corner leaf, there is the Critical Cripship Studies logo. In the bottom centre of the image, over the leaves and in the light pink part of the background, there’s a photo of Sulaiman with a real meerkat on his head. Sulaiman (wearing his Squirtle Pokemon baseball cap, his mesh short jumpsuit with gold zips in green, and his orange sunglasses his dear Dutch friend Mark got him) is sitting in a power wheelchair with an actual Meerkat standing tall on Sulaiman’s head at Paradise Wildlife Park. Sulaiman is smiling, and he is both anxious and excited.
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