How “Disability Visibility” Strengthens Every Liberation Movement
Celebrating Alice Wong's life and legacy
We’ve produced countless episodes on disability justice over the years, but Alice Wong was the guest that got away. Although I never got to speak to her, she often became a part of the conversation. Her work as a disability justice activist was radically intersectional, and overlapped with many of the causes we’ve discussed on the show.
Wong believed that disability justice was integral to all liberation movements. Anti-racist activists, anti-genocide activists, feminists — everyone had something to learn from Alice Wong, and they did. When she died last November at the age of 51, the outpouring of grief and respect for her work was a testament to her intersectional life. Wong has been called an oracle, visionary, unapologetic and fearless, and she will be remembered that way for generations to come.
My guests today are Sandy Ho and Steven Thrasher, two of Wong’s friends and collaborators working to keep her legacy alive. Sandy Ho is the Executive Director of the Disability & Philanthropy Forum and partner with Alice Wong and Mia Mingus in the Access is Love campaign, which “aims to help build a world where accessibility is understood as an act of love.” Steven Thrasher is an acclaimed journalist, professor and author of “The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide”. His next book “The Overseer Class: A Manifesto” is coming this spring.
Ho and Thrasher each have beautiful memories of Alice Wong to share on today’s show, from her activism around Gaza to empowering other disabled Asian-American women. Tune in on YouTube, and find us on your favorite podcast platform to receive the full, uncut conversation with Ho and Thrasher.
And for my Substack community, here is my latest commentary on teachings from Venezuela for the U.S. Subscribe if you haven’t already to receive commentaries like this in your inbox every week.
Stay kind, stay curious,
Laura
You can listen to new episodes, commentaries, and more on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe and get the full, uncut conversation from this week’s episode in your feed. You can also listen to the show on a community radio station near you.
This week’s commentary