17/09/2021
The Disability Law Caucus at Washington University School of Law writes today in support of our classmates and colleagues who have been made to feel unsafe on campus. We also specifically support the academic strike that took place this past Wednesday, September 15, 2021. The strike, coordinated by groups of students from across Washington University, was in response to the rise in Islamophobic, racist, and anti-immigrant hatred taking place both online and on campus. But speaking about it as a strike risks framing yesterday as solely an action intended to convey support of an idea. Some of our classmates did not come to campus yesterday out of solidarity; some of our classmates, after white nationalists made explicit threats to their safety online, did not come to campus out of fear.
We condemn the threats against our classmates and community. More importantly, we explicitly support all students — Muslim, South Asian, Sikh, immigrants, Black — as members of our community who are welcome in and belong in our school. To any student who has been made to feel unsafe or unwelcome because of these threats, past threats, or other hostile treatment from the school/student body/world: please know that members of the Disability Law Caucus are ready to support you and ensure you feel safe and welcome on Washington University’s campus. As an organization, we are available to offer emotional support, es**rt students to and from classes, offer rides to and from the school, and lift up the voices of students who need to be heard at this moment. We encourage the entire law school - leadership, faculty, staff, and students - to do the same.
We also know that these threats can intersect with disability, and some of us know firsthand the extra fear that comes from facing death threats while not being able to run away. Whether stress induced flareups, or not feeling safe using braces/assistive devices for fear of being perceived as a threat, or any of the ways this could intersect, please know again that we encourage you to contact us if you would like support.
The Disability Law Caucus does not tolerate any type of hate speech, and writes today to condemn both the specific threats against our peers as well as the rising tide of white nationalism across the country. The hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric that spread after the 9/11 attacks has once again visibly reared its head this week, but the Disability Law Caucus wants to acknowledge that this bigotry is present even when it is easy for the privileged to ignore. It is present within all spaces, including the disability community, which has made too many people feel that their only escape from ableism comes at the cost of accepting racial, religious, xenophobic, or q***r based discrimination. The tendency of disability organizations to ignore and silence voices of multiply-marginalized individuals must be called out, addressed, and remedied - and Black and Brown members of the community have been fighting this whitewashing for years*. Some of those activists have focused their work specifically on the stigma against Muslims with disabilities**. We have linked below to some of the work being done by these individuals, and we hope you will spend some time learning about the hurdles they’ve faced. As a group of disabled law students, we recognize that it is incumbent upon us to understand and address discrimination in all its forms.
We also recognize that many different groups have been impacted by post 9/11 bigotry, and the threats of this week. Muslim students facing Islamophobia; non-Muslim Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African students facing both Islamophobia and erasure; students whose home countries or families have been impacted by American military action; and those whom we ourselves have overlooked who have been impacted this week, please know that we are extending our support to all of you. We hope that the week ahead is kinder to you all than this week has been, and are here to provide support as needed going forward.
Available Resources:
*Vilissa Thompson (), created the hashtag . This hashtag serves to remind both disabled and nondisabled folks that the term “disabled” reaches across the entire world and encompasses people of all different races, nationalities, religions, etc. It is used to call out the rampant discrimination within the disability community. More of Vilissa’s work can be found here.
**Noor Pervez () is an activist in the disability rights movement and winner of the AAPD’s 2021 Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award. Noor is a q***r and disabled Muslim whose work centers on reducing the stigma towards Muslim disabled individuals both within the disability community and within the Muslim community. He is working on a plain-language translation of the Qu’ran in order to make his religion more accessible to the disability community. More about Noor and his work can be found here.
https://masjidalrabia.org/about-masjidalrabia - An organization of Muslims in Chicago working to uplift the voices of Black, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and formerly incarcerated Muslims.
https://globaldeafmuslim.org/ - An organization dedicated to making Islam more accessible to Deaf Muslims.
https://inclusivemosque.org/ - An organization dedicated to placing feminism in the Muslim space and amplifying multiply-marginalized Muslims.
An inclusive space of worship
