“The Future is Disabled”: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

“At the core of my work and life is the belief that disabled wisdom is the key to our survival and expansion,” shares Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, a writer, disability, and transformative justice movement worker. Laura speaks with Leah about her newly-released book of essays, The Future is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs. The book, published by Arsenal Pulp Press, an independent queer of color-led press, was written during the pandemic and documents two years of “disabled” isolation. Among the grief and despair came essential organizing from the Disability Justice movement - and we should all take notice. And what about joy? Disabled pleasure activism, disabled art and culture-making brought hope in a time of crisis. Leah has joined Laura twice previously to talk about their work and read their poetry. In her new book, Leah asks: What if, in the near future, the majority of people will be disabled-and what if that’s not a bad thing?
“When I say the future is disabled, I mean that as disabled people . . . we are imagining, in the worst conditions, futures where not only do we exist but we are thriving, we are in leadership and we are sharing the tools that everyone's going to need to survive.” - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
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GUEST:
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: Writer, Disability/Transformative Justice Movement Worker; Author, The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs
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✏️ EPISODE NOTES:
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📺 RELATED EPISODES:
Mutual Aid Justice: Beyond Survival: • Mutual Aid Justice: Be...
Design for Justice: Disabled Hackers are Leading the Way: • Design for Justice: Di...
Beyond Disability Rights; Disability Justice: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: • Beyond Disability Righ...
📚 Book of the Week:
The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: bookshop.org/a/22992/97815515...
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ACCESSIBILITY
This episode is closed captioned.
CREDITS
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Senior Story Producer: Sabrina Artel
Director of Development: Alicia Duque
Consulting Producer: Rory O'Connor
Editors: Nat Needham, David Neumann
Radio & Podcast Producer: Jeannie Hopper
Communications Manager: Janet Hernandez
Motion Graphics: Nat Needham
#DisabilityJustice #DisabilityJusticeMovement #TransformativeJustice #TheFutureIsDisabled #DisabledPleasureActivism #DisabledArt #Covid19 #Pandemic #Tridemic #PublicHealth #QTBIPOC

[@HoangVietNguyen-sc7lv]

Thank you Leah for your wisdom. I learned a lot from your work.

[@eaesteve]

The Present is Disabled

[@alan2102X]

Love that.

[@KristineMaitland]

I have not seen Leah in ages!!!! Will buy her latest book from an independent bookstore in Toronto.

[@11kindpunk11]

A great conversation! Thanks so much.

[@christophermacdonald4223]

Fan tastic show