Speaker 1: Good morning, peep Sin, Welcome to Okay f Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: you know, oftentimes when we talk about representation and diverse
Speaker 1: representation and that representation matters, we're often talking about images
Speaker 1: that display on surface different physical attributes that people have,
Speaker 1: whether it be their race or their cultural garb or
Speaker 1: what have you. But we oftentimes don't take into account neurodiversity,
Speaker 1: the diversity in the way that people think, how they
Speaker 1: perceive things, whether or not they are disabled in terms
Speaker 1: of their mental health or in their thinking right. And
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about this a lot as a person
Speaker 1: that finds and has a desire to be a constant learner, right, like,
Speaker 1: I believe that the world can be this beautiful, gorgeous
Speaker 1: place filled with people that are interested in learning about
Speaker 1: other people, the ways in which we interact with the
Speaker 1: world and are curious. Right. We grew up in a
Speaker 1: time many of us at least, grew up in a
Speaker 1: time when we were making the transition from tolerating people's
Speaker 1: differences to accepting them. Then we got into a place
Speaker 1: for a short short while where we were actually celebrating
Speaker 1: those differences, but now we are in a time of
Speaker 1: great regression where we are forcing people back into boxes,
Speaker 1: into closets, into darkness right as a way to uphold
Speaker 1: white supremacy and patriarchy. I'm really excited for you all
Speaker 1: to listen to today's episode and conversation with Jennifer White Johnson,
Speaker 1: who is an Afro Latina, disabled Afro Latina neurodivergent artist, educator,
Speaker 1: and designer. And she was brought to my attention by
Speaker 1: a series of tweets that she had done following the
Speaker 1: news that Elijah McClaine, if you remember, the young black
Speaker 1: autistic man who was murdered in police custody when they
Speaker 1: injected into his veins ketamine which forced this twenty some
Speaker 1: odd year old into cardiac arrest, all because what a
Speaker 1: white person saw him from the fucking window and didn't
Speaker 1: like his presence and called the cops and he was
Speaker 1: arrested for no reason other than being black and then killed.
Speaker 1: Jennifer had shared beautiful imagery and her heartbreak because she
Speaker 1: is the mother of an autistic black son, and you know,
Speaker 1: her tweet was brought to my attention and then I
Speaker 1: discovered what wonderful crossover we actually have and the people
Speaker 1: that we know and have worked with, and was really
Speaker 1: able then to delve into her art and her vision
Speaker 1: and her mission and her work. And so I'm really
Speaker 1: excited to bring this conversation to you on how we
Speaker 1: learn to better understand ourselves and also understand the people
Speaker 1: around us to better build community, right, particularly at a
Speaker 1: time when the opposition is so vile in their destruction,
Speaker 1: in their language, and in their presence to try and
Speaker 1: exile all of those that they deem, you know, unworthy, right,
Speaker 1: So I would be really interested share with me your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this episode via tweet, Instagram, DM in the
Speaker 1: comments section below, because I would really love to hear
Speaker 1: how this episode on neurodivergence and neurodiversity lands with all
Speaker 1: of you. The Damage Report with John Idarola is one
Speaker 1: of the most popular shows on the TYT Network that
Speaker 1: serves as your daily breakdown of the genuine threats and
Speaker 1: challenges facing our country and world. These days, we're confronted
Speaker 1: with an overwhelming sea of shocking, confounding, and devastating news stories.
Speaker 1: The Damage Report is your life raft, helping you navigate
Speaker 1: the day's news and understand the damage caused by the
Speaker 1: corrupt establishment, politicians, corporations, and everything in between. Join the
Speaker 1: Damage Reports notorious fan club the Dragon Squad, where you
Speaker 1: become part of the fantastic community of progressives. Create a
Speaker 1: fun dragon nickname that fits your personality, collaborate and participate
Speaker 1: in fun activities like voting for the Garbage Person of
Speaker 1: the Week, and much more. Listen to The Damage Report
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: so you never miss an episode. Folks, I am very
Speaker 1: excited to welcome to wok app Daily for the first
Speaker 1: time and hopefully not the last time. Jennifer White Johnson,
Speaker 1: who is a disabled Afro Latina and neurodiverse artist, designer,
Speaker 1: and educator. Her work explores the erasure of black disabled
Speaker 1: children in digital and literary media. Jennifer, you know, I
Speaker 1: am really excited to be in conversation with you because
Speaker 1: I think that oftentimes even the best of us who
Speaker 1: are advocates around representation and around inclusivity, I don't think
Speaker 1: have as expansive of an idea of what true representation
Speaker 1: actually looks like and is. We often think about and
Speaker 1: at least when I speak about it, talk about representation
Speaker 1: as it pertains to what we see on the surface,
Speaker 1: our images, as opposed to also including the ways in
Speaker 1: which we think and experience and perceive the world around us.
Speaker 1: And so your work really does delve into that, and
Speaker 1: so I wanted to give you an opportunity to explain
Speaker 1: to the wok F audience just the idea and the
Speaker 1: terminology around neurodiversity and what that means and an example
Speaker 1: of how that shows up. Yeah, thank you, and I
Speaker 1: want to say thank you so much for holding space
Speaker 1: for this conversation and for you know, and as you
Speaker 1: were saying, I do identify, as you know, someone living
Speaker 1: with ADHD and so full disability access disclaimer. You know,
Speaker 1: I tend to fidget a lot, I tend to move,
Speaker 1: I tend to you know, talk with my hands. I'm
Speaker 1: very expressive, and so as much as it as much
Speaker 1: as being you know, disabled and neurodivergent is very much
Speaker 1: a part of my thinking and a part of my being.
Speaker 1: It is very much a part of like my surface
Speaker 1: and the way that I act, the way that I move,
Speaker 1: you know, which is often you know, invisible or maybe
Speaker 1: seen as something else. Especially as an Afro Latina woman.
Speaker 1: You know, physical disabilities are very surface based and and
Speaker 1: it's very apparent. And then there is the invisible disability
Speaker 1: element of non apparent disabilities, which is what neurodivergent folks
Speaker 1: often are, you know, are are grappling with you know, um,
Speaker 1: things like ADHD. You know, things like anxiety that often
Speaker 1: you know look a certain way, but on the inside
Speaker 1: or maybe in other ways. You know, we can kind
Speaker 1: of channel and we can kind of um not apparently
Speaker 1: showcase our anxiety. UM. Yeah, and so neuro you know,
Speaker 1: the actual term neurodivergent is has actually been used within
Speaker 1: the disability community for quite some time to to basically
Speaker 1: uplift you know, body minds that are um that are
Speaker 1: you know living you know as you know, fully disclosed
Speaker 1: autistic people. You know, folks that are dealing with you know,
Speaker 1: possibly anxiety UM disorders or living you know as bipolar
Speaker 1: or living with other kind of you know, social anxiety elements.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just very non apparent and we operate
Speaker 1: in a really beautiful way. You know, as someone who
Speaker 1: has ADHD, I tend to hyper focus or I tend
Speaker 1: to um you know, wait until the very last minute
Speaker 1: to like work on projects because it gives me that
Speaker 1: spark of energy. But then I also don't give myself
Speaker 1: the opportunity to rest as much as I as I should,
Speaker 1: because you know, the weight, the pressure of all of
Speaker 1: that is very much on me. You know, that false
Speaker 1: expectation that all I have to do is exist in
Speaker 1: order to be seen, versus being a body that is
Speaker 1: meant to produce constantly along the lines of very ablest expectations.
Speaker 1: And so, in a nutshell, I mean neurodivergent people are
Speaker 1: all around you. I mean we we exist, you know,
Speaker 1: as artists, as creators, as activists, as parents, as writers
Speaker 1: that are constantly you know, wanting to to just you know,
Speaker 1: be ourselves and represent all of the ways our body
Speaker 1: minds are divergent in terms of thinking. You know, it's
Speaker 1: funny because obviously maybe not obviously, but I'll speak for
Speaker 1: myself that when I hear the term divergent, right like,
Speaker 1: it goes to the Movieum, which was not that great Um,
Speaker 1: But but I have a point here, it goes my
Speaker 1: mind goes to the movie because when you think about
Speaker 1: I guess, in in in political contexts, when I think
Speaker 1: about what is divergent. It is operating outside of the norm,
Speaker 1: right which was or operating operating against the status quo.
Speaker 1: And that was essentially, you know, the part of this film.
Speaker 1: It's like it was, you know, here's the way to think.
Speaker 1: This is how you should think, and if you move
Speaker 1: outside of this, then literally we're going to eliminate you.
Speaker 1: We're kind of living in a society right now. That
Speaker 1: is that we have two forces at play, one that
Speaker 1: is trying desperately to hold onto a status quo that
Speaker 1: eliminates any difference whatsoever. And so I want to get
Speaker 1: your thoughts on, you know, where I feel like we're
Speaker 1: living in these in these multitude of layers of being
Speaker 1: an existing and thinking where in one frame your work
Speaker 1: and the multilayeredness of us as as as body mind, people,
Speaker 1: humans exists. And then at the same time we have
Speaker 1: the powers that be the establishment trying to trying to
Speaker 1: compress us all into this one image and identity of
Speaker 1: what it means to be an American, what it means
Speaker 1: to be human. And so I want to get your
Speaker 1: thoughts on how we how how people express the kind
Speaker 1: of complexity of where we are and how we hold
Speaker 1: true to this the more that we know, the better
Speaker 1: we can think, and the more our society can expand
Speaker 1: in really incredible ways. And then this fight on the constriction.
Speaker 1: How do we exist? How do you exist in in
Speaker 1: that in that fraught space. I mean, I really just
Speaker 1: have to be authentic to myself, UM and authentic to
Speaker 1: you know, my own lived experience and realizing that UM,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't necessarily try to perform or try to adhere
Speaker 1: or comply to these very ableistic um societal norms. You know,
Speaker 1: as an Afro Latina woman, you know, we're packaged and
Speaker 1: constantly being boxed in to perform or to act a
Speaker 1: certain way, specifically to conform to societal norms. Like you
Speaker 1: stay over in that space, but on what you know,
Speaker 1: don't come over into my space unless you're ready to
Speaker 1: like adhere to like the white gaze of what accessibility
Speaker 1: may mean or equity may mean. It's like they really
Speaker 1: want to uphold like our like our blackness, our brownness,
Speaker 1: but they're not necessarily ready to like uphold all of
Speaker 1: the ways that we can exist authentically within spaces, academic spaces,
Speaker 1: community spaces, in the home, on the media, and so
Speaker 1: we're constantly at war with the media for not necessarily
Speaker 1: portraying us in a very positive, uplifting light. Oftentimes, you
Speaker 1: don't even herald or honor or celebrate anyone who's disabled
Speaker 1: until they've been shot, or until they've been murdered, until
Speaker 1: they've been eliminated from the picture, until they've taken their
Speaker 1: own life, which is what I really talk a lot about,
Speaker 1: like in my own personal work. You know. You know,
Speaker 1: Isabel trician Or from Utah last November, only ten years old. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: you know, was a victim of racism, you know, within
Speaker 1: her school system, and we barely heard about it in
Speaker 1: the media, you know, en you know, the fact that
Speaker 1: her family really had to fight year after year to
Speaker 1: make sure that she had the resources that she needed
Speaker 1: within the school system, to kind of make sure that herself,
Speaker 1: as an autistic little girl, was being honored and you know,
Speaker 1: celebrated or just being accepted for just coming to school
Speaker 1: as an autistic kid and not necessarily being victimized by
Speaker 1: constant bullying to the point where she just felt less
Speaker 1: than less than human. You know, she didn't feel value
Speaker 1: for being you know, an amazing person, and the fact
Speaker 1: that she felt that she had to completely you know,
Speaker 1: erase herself from the equation UM was really heartbreaking because
Speaker 1: you know, I am a mother of an autistic kid,
Speaker 1: and so a lot of what I do and what
Speaker 1: I talk about is making sure that you know, our
Speaker 1: kids are being uplifted because we know that they are
Speaker 1: subject to erasure even while they're alive. You know, we
Speaker 1: there's there's there's this very kind of like one model
Speaker 1: of what an autistic hid is or what a neurodivergent
Speaker 1: person is, and it's a very white, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of supremacist space where we only think that white autistic
Speaker 1: people can uplift these spaces, and we think that they're
Speaker 1: the authority, or maybe doctors and clinicians versus community organizers
Speaker 1: versus families versus actual autistic people and actual neurodivergent people,
Speaker 1: like they are the authority, like they are the true
Speaker 1: experts to uplift what they're experiencing in their everyday lives.
Speaker 1: You know, I it's so important to show the diversity
Speaker 1: within our within you know, the BIPOC community, because I
Speaker 1: think that to your point, when we talk about mental
Speaker 1: health in general, when we talk about UM different abilities
Speaker 1: and or disabilities, it is always framed in the context
Speaker 1: of being white, right. And it was my sister, my
Speaker 1: both my sister and I m. One of our degrees
Speaker 1: is in early childhood education, and we had both gone
Speaker 1: into special education many many, many years ago. My sister
Speaker 1: is still an educator. I use my degree differently now,
Speaker 1: but you know it, the whole point of our of
Speaker 1: our master's program was to figure out how to best
Speaker 1: work with families who are not represented like in their
Speaker 1: community at large, which meant, you know, children of immigrants,
Speaker 1: which meant um, you know, children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, um,
Speaker 1: but that were that had that were differently abledum. And
Speaker 1: what I found is that even in those conversations and
Speaker 1: resources that we were looking for at that time, and
Speaker 1: this is this is you know, decades plus ago, it
Speaker 1: was very white centered, right. It was like in the
Speaker 1: white mommy group, you know, talking about um, you know,
Speaker 1: autism in a way that was very exclusive right to
Speaker 1: in a certain elite class of people. And so you know,
Speaker 1: for those parents and caregivers of UM, of children that
Speaker 1: are differently able, who are also children of color, how
Speaker 1: do you speak to them about how they how they
Speaker 1: can act with their children, on how society sees them
Speaker 1: and how they see themselves. I mean, the story that
Speaker 1: you just told is heartbreaking, right, because that all anybody
Speaker 1: ever wants that I understand, is to be heard and
Speaker 1: to be seen, just to be valued by virtue, not
Speaker 1: by what we produce, but just by virtue of our existence.
Speaker 1: And so how do you deal how do you help,
Speaker 1: you know, through through your work or you know, by
Speaker 1: virtue of your art, but also in conversation parents that
Speaker 1: are struggling with their children that have that live at
Speaker 1: the intersection of multiple identities that are discriminated against. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's such an important question. And first of all,
Speaker 1: I when I'm chatting with parents, or even when I'm
Speaker 1: chatting with you know, my own son, I let him
Speaker 1: know right away that disability is not a bad word.
Speaker 1: And we don't we don't necessarily have to dance around
Speaker 1: trying to come up with terms that erase the word
Speaker 1: disability completely. And you had said differently able us And
Speaker 1: it's a way, it's it's almost like a way of
Speaker 1: sure where you're you're trying to acknowledge that they operate
Speaker 1: in a different way and that they still have abilities.
Speaker 1: But the word disability itself needs to continue to be
Speaker 1: reclaimed by the actual disability community so that we can
Speaker 1: uplift it. I mean literally, the word is written into
Speaker 1: law so that disabled folks won't face that discrimination. So
Speaker 1: we can say it, we can we can actually uplift
Speaker 1: it and declare it as a call to action. You
Speaker 1: know that I am black and brown, disabled and powerful
Speaker 1: and beautiful and almost you know, affirming that within ourselves
Speaker 1: for those who identify as having a disability, and affirming
Speaker 1: that within our kids. The minute that they step out
Speaker 1: of the home every single day to go into that
Speaker 1: war zone and when they come back, you know, from
Speaker 1: that war zone into the home, what are they experiencing.
Speaker 1: Are they experiencing acceptance? Are they experiencing, you know, a
Speaker 1: space where they feel whole and not broken and not
Speaker 1: necessarily you know, you know, I'm a broken human. I'm
Speaker 1: a broken being because I'm not like everyone else. Therefore
Speaker 1: I need to be fixed. Because that's constantly what my community,
Speaker 1: what my family is telling me that I need to
Speaker 1: be fixed, unbroken, I need to be cured. And those
Speaker 1: are the constant dialogues that I'm having with parents, with educators,
Speaker 1: and I really felt the need to continue to author,
Speaker 1: to write, to create acts of creative resistance. So whether
Speaker 1: it's you know, posters that can be used at protests,
Speaker 1: language justice based graphics and designs that can be you know,
Speaker 1: shown in classrooms or or maybe even taken into IEP meetings.
Speaker 1: Things that I've created, Things that my son and myself
Speaker 1: that we author together to take into the first day
Speaker 1: of classes, that he can give to his school, that
Speaker 1: he can give to his teacher, he can give to
Speaker 1: his school counsel or his special educator. And it's really
Speaker 1: nice because what I do is I create like these
Speaker 1: fun little zines. And so I've been making these since
Speaker 1: Knox was in the first grade. When he was diagnosed
Speaker 1: as autistic, I knew right away, Okay, so how are
Speaker 1: we going to help to reframe this message of autism
Speaker 1: knowing that, you know, educators already have stigmas and they
Speaker 1: have their very clinical idea of how to interact with
Speaker 1: these students, But how do we also interact with them
Speaker 1: as human beings, you know? Period. Yeah, And so what
Speaker 1: this zine says, and it's like a little four by
Speaker 1: five booklet, and on the front of it it says, HI,
Speaker 1: my name is Kevin, and you can call me Knox.
Speaker 1: And on the inside it, for it has a basic
Speaker 1: little manifesto that you know, like very intentionally declares, I
Speaker 1: hope this book helps you get to know me. I'm autistic.
Speaker 1: I was diagnosed when I was three. I'm very happy
Speaker 1: and full of energy, and I tend to speak very fast,
Speaker 1: and essentially I'm talking about myself because my son and
Speaker 1: I were both neuro divergent. So it was very easy
Speaker 1: for us to come together to write this because essentially
Speaker 1: I was it was helping me learn so much about
Speaker 1: myself in ways that I was not given the authority
Speaker 1: to uplift when I was a kid because ADHD autism.
Speaker 1: It looks very differently a little black and brown girls oftentime.
Speaker 1: You know, if we're not over exuberant and full of
Speaker 1: energy and very colorful, maybe we are very literal and
Speaker 1: very exact and very bossy and very much you know,
Speaker 1: we have like a little bit of that fire and
Speaker 1: a little bit of an attitude that's always misinterpreted or
Speaker 1: very you know, we have to constantly be redirected instead
Speaker 1: of being put in places of power and being put
Speaker 1: in places of love. And so this book really gave
Speaker 1: me an opportunity to talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: things that he loves, understanding the way his body moves,
Speaker 1: Understanding the way that we speak to him at home,
Speaker 1: Like we encourage, you know, stimming, which can often be
Speaker 1: like a very kind of actionable behavioral response to maybe
Speaker 1: helping to kind of not necessarily cope, but maybe to
Speaker 1: kind of, I don't know, maybe like react in an environment.
Speaker 1: So sometimes you may see a lot of autistic people
Speaker 1: or folks that are neurodivergent, or folks that are dealing
Speaker 1: with some sort of anxiety, like they move and it
Speaker 1: gives them the opportunity to kind of like exhibit their
Speaker 1: energy in a different way, and it's all so very calming,
Speaker 1: and it's also a way of self regulation. And so
Speaker 1: as long as he's not harming anyone when he's kind
Speaker 1: of rocking and moving, we let him do it. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: if that's like his way of calming, if that's his
Speaker 1: ways of showing some excitement, we do it. And sometimes
Speaker 1: I find myself doing that, like I kind of move,
Speaker 1: I lean over a little bit, or I fidget a
Speaker 1: little bit with like my hair, or so I try
Speaker 1: to have like stem toys around me, like fidget toys.
Speaker 1: And you'll see a lot of actual autistic folks within
Speaker 1: within the creative community, you know, creating kits like stem
Speaker 1: kits and things that they can use to kind of
Speaker 1: provide some sort of calm when they're in a very stressful,
Speaker 1: heavy situation, or maybe they're in allowed situation, or maybe
Speaker 1: they're in an overstimulating situation and they need things to
Speaker 1: be able to hold on to. But those things are
Speaker 1: almost are also calming mechanisms for neurotypical people too, people
Speaker 1: who don't necessarily identify as neurodivergence. Like we all need
Speaker 1: like calming techniques. All, That's all. I was speaking as
Speaker 1: you were saying that, I was just like, no, there
Speaker 1: are that that that I do that I have rituals
Speaker 1: that I've created in order to you know, come back
Speaker 1: resenter to a place of calm. Right, And so the
Speaker 1: book continues to talk about his challenges um you know,
Speaker 1: things that you know, like dark and closed spaces with
Speaker 1: loud noises and needing to use his noise cancelation headphones,
Speaker 1: and and even when people are speaking with me, I
Speaker 1: always there's like a disclaimer. I'm like, will you please
Speaker 1: provide transcripts or captions to this talk? Will you allow
Speaker 1: UM can you help redirect me so that I can
Speaker 1: stay focused. Um, can you? Sometimes I can be impulsive
Speaker 1: or very hyperactive and get easily distracted, but please don't
Speaker 1: be necessarily offended by by by that behavior. It's just
Speaker 1: very much rooted in like my body mind and the
Speaker 1: way that that I responded and react. Um. And then
Speaker 1: it includes ways that you know, he can be helped
Speaker 1: in the classroom, like he needs breaks, like sensory breaks,
Speaker 1: movement breaks. You know, make sure that you're very direct
Speaker 1: and simple sentences, give him visual cues. He responds really
Speaker 1: well to like folks that are very positive and full
Speaker 1: of energy, you know, because neurotypical people, I mean, we
Speaker 1: get there's the stigma that you know, we can't read
Speaker 1: in between the lines and that we don't understand sarcasm,
Speaker 1: but we do understand when someone is very angry and
Speaker 1: when someone is very sad, and when someone's happy, and
Speaker 1: those things fuel us, you know, which is why you know,
Speaker 1: there's the stigma that we're not friendly, and you know,
Speaker 1: we're very kind of standoffish, but making friends and being
Speaker 1: in community with other folks that are similar to us
Speaker 1: is really like our safe place, and it's really like
Speaker 1: our happy space where we can have conversations. Sometimes we
Speaker 1: talk too much, and and we love being around people
Speaker 1: so much that it that sometimes we need to give
Speaker 1: ourselves a little bit of a room to breathe and
Speaker 1: like kind of be by ourselves for a little minute
Speaker 1: so that we can kind of collect collect our energy
Speaker 1: and not give so much of it away, but you know,
Speaker 1: learning how to actually channel their energy. Yeah. Indisputable with
Speaker 1: Doctor rashad Ricci is one of the latest shows on
Speaker 1: the TYT Network and also the fastest growing news show
Speaker 1: in America. On his show, Doctor Ricci plays no games
Speaker 1: regarding policy, delivering a heavy dose of fact based truth
Speaker 1: and penetrating analysis on all the top news stories, focusing
Speaker 1: on racism, criminal and social justice, politics, police brutality, parents,
Speaker 1: and much more. Listeners can also expect interviews with fascinating guests,
Speaker 1: political leaders, commentators, and even fiery debates with conservatives on
Speaker 1: a wide range of policy topics in the Bullpen. It
Speaker 1: is an indisputable fact that you will love this show.
Speaker 1: Listen to Indisputable with Doctor rashad Ricci on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what
Speaker 1: you hear, be sure to subscribe so you never miss
Speaker 1: a new episode. You have said so much, and I
Speaker 1: want to thank you for the what I will refer
Speaker 1: to as like a redirect. I'm always searching to use
Speaker 1: a language that will be as inclusive of people as possible.
Speaker 1: And it was like really interesting the other day I
Speaker 1: was reading something and recognize that a term that I
Speaker 1: was using not being you know, it has been expanded upon, right,
Speaker 1: and recognizing you know that I want to move and
Speaker 1: I know that people who listen to my show and
Speaker 1: who follow me want to move in a way that
Speaker 1: is open, that is inclusive. And I also say that
Speaker 1: is nimble, that is intellectually nimble, that allows us the
Speaker 1: space to stumble, but also the space to be able
Speaker 1: to grow U. And so I just want to say
Speaker 1: that I appreciate you, you know, saying like, no, it's
Speaker 1: okay to say disabled. It's okay. It's the it's a
Speaker 1: term that's written that there's policy around for that reason, U,
Speaker 1: that it doesn't need to be excluded or nuanced in
Speaker 1: in any way. UM, So I really appreciate that. And
Speaker 1: then just also you know, to your point around providing
Speaker 1: people like you did with your with your son and
Speaker 1: teachers and administrators with the tools to be able to
Speaker 1: best engage with you, right, And I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 1: I'm like, my goodness, you know, how better the world
Speaker 1: would be if we all had those booklets, if we
Speaker 1: all were like when we were going into new jobs,
Speaker 1: when we were going in to new schools, that we
Speaker 1: were all able to, you know, figure out how to
Speaker 1: best engage and create community with um with different people, right,
Speaker 1: and be excited by that. And so I guess you know, Um,
Speaker 1: my last question for you is that I know that
Speaker 1: we are living in a time again that is just
Speaker 1: filled with such strife, such anxiety. There's there has been
Speaker 1: an increase off the charge UM in depression, in anxiety,
Speaker 1: in ADHD, in young people as well as adult in
Speaker 1: trying to deal with our new normal, living inside of
Speaker 1: a global health pandemic, living inside of climate change, living
Speaker 1: inside of the rise of you know, racism and misogyny
Speaker 1: and white supremacy, all of these things. Um, what is
Speaker 1: your advice for people? And you kind of mentioned it
Speaker 1: in talking again about your son, about the ways you
Speaker 1: know you look to calm yourself, the ways you look
Speaker 1: to you know, reconnect when you feel disconnected and discombobulated.
Speaker 1: What advice do you have to people that may not
Speaker 1: have been diagnosed in any type of way, but they
Speaker 1: don't feel right, They feel different than they did before,
Speaker 1: the world is impacting them, and the trauma is impacting
Speaker 1: them in a way that they haven't discovered language for.
Speaker 1: What advice do you have for those people that find themselves,
Speaker 1: whether they they consider themselves to be disabled or not,
Speaker 1: but are struggling right now in how they can use art,
Speaker 1: use music, build community to move forward. Yeah, excellent question.
Speaker 1: And I really I always really rely on you know,
Speaker 1: my disabled ancestors and my disabled you know leaders, especially
Speaker 1: you know, black and brown and Latino Asian. Like, there's
Speaker 1: so many of us that have already been living in
Speaker 1: this quote unquote new normal because as disabled people, neural
Speaker 1: divergent people, remember, long before the pandemic, a lot of
Speaker 1: us were living in isolation. For those of us who
Speaker 1: you know couldn't always get to the voting polls because
Speaker 1: you know, mail and ballots were stunted to like our
Speaker 1: particular demographic or our care home or you know, wherever
Speaker 1: we resided, or because there weren't you know, perfectly pathed
Speaker 1: ways for our wheelchair or our mobility devices to be
Speaker 1: able to get to the polls. So remember, there were
Speaker 1: so many people who were already in isolation, students as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, who were dealing with anxiety ADHD. The classroom
Speaker 1: wasn't always a safe space for them, you know, where
Speaker 1: higher ED doesn't always acknowledge an uplift disabled kids within
Speaker 1: the classroom. So there were a ton of kids who
Speaker 1: preferred to work in isolation, who were like literally screaming
Speaker 1: from the rooftops for the kind of accessibility that was
Speaker 1: finally given to a lot of them during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: You know, Quoa, like I can actually learn from home.
Speaker 1: I can actually you know, like be in community with
Speaker 1: students and still and still feel connected but all through
Speaker 1: you know, zoom and remotely like this can actually happen.
Speaker 1: These are types of accommodations that I had been wanting
Speaker 1: for so long, but never given to me because they
Speaker 1: always said that they were no, it was too much work.
Speaker 1: So I would say, lean on the wisdom of the
Speaker 1: actual disabled community to you know, talk to them about
Speaker 1: their lived experiences, you know, talk to us about how
Speaker 1: we used art and creative resistance long before the pandemic
Speaker 1: came and as a way to communicate what our lived
Speaker 1: experience is meant to us you know a lot of folks.
Speaker 1: And that was one of the things that the pandemic
Speaker 1: brought to life was, oh wow, black artists exists black.
Speaker 1: You know. It's like we've been putting in the work.
Speaker 1: We've been authoring our stories. We've been you know, creating
Speaker 1: spaces of freedom and liberation through our work, like I
Speaker 1: mean long before the pandemic came, and it was you know,
Speaker 1: and we were just noticed, like because our struggles were
Speaker 1: really brought into the limelight and into the forefront. And
Speaker 1: and my thing is, you know, support us, continue to
Speaker 1: follow our work, continue to uplift us, um, and to
Speaker 1: just continue to listen to us and see how we
Speaker 1: can you know, co collaborate, you know, stop designing for
Speaker 1: disabled people. Design with us, you know, see how you
Speaker 1: can actually you know, lean, how we can lean on
Speaker 1: each other for wisdom, for love, for liberation. UM. That
Speaker 1: would be my advice, like, continue to be in community
Speaker 1: with us. Don't just put us a part of you know,
Speaker 1: one little Disability Awareness Month or Autism Awareness Month every April.
Speaker 1: That's actually that those types of spaces are really toxic
Speaker 1: to the actual you know, disabled community, because for one
Speaker 1: day or maybe one month, that's when you talk about everything.
Speaker 1: It's like, how can we have this conversation year around,
Speaker 1: which is why I start off the school day or
Speaker 1: the school year on day one, you know, providing letting
Speaker 1: my son know, look like you have these resources that
Speaker 1: you can take into the classroom so that all of
Speaker 1: your educators know from jump like wow, like this kid
Speaker 1: is actually comfortable with self advocacy, with self care, with
Speaker 1: self love because that's just his own personal practice of joy,
Speaker 1: you know, so autistic joy. You know, that was like
Speaker 1: a phrase that really that we learned to uplift, like
Speaker 1: even before the pandemic came, you know, the minute that
Speaker 1: he was diagnosed as autistic, you know, we I was
Speaker 1: very uncomfortable with what other black and brown parents were
Speaker 1: saying about their autistic kids. It was very much a
Speaker 1: space of you know, oppression and heaviness. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but that that's not the world that I
Speaker 1: want for my family to exist in. When it comes
Speaker 1: to someone that I love and that I honor and
Speaker 1: that I respect and that I know is a leader,
Speaker 1: you know, even if he's not meant to be the president.
Speaker 1: Of the United States one day, or an astronaut, He's
Speaker 1: still going to be a leader within his community and
Speaker 1: letting folks know I'm autistic, I'm here, you know, and
Speaker 1: I'm and I'm powerful. And so the last thing that
Speaker 1: I leave with with the audience is something that I
Speaker 1: recently created, which is the anti ablest Art Educator's Manifesto,
Speaker 1: because I knew that I had to continue to kind
Speaker 1: of author and make very impactful declarations specifically for art
Speaker 1: eduction caters. And it's great because I was able to
Speaker 1: speak and present this at the Adding Voices conference this
Speaker 1: past weekend in Philly at the More College of Art
Speaker 1: and Design. And as a part of my presentation and
Speaker 1: for all of the bipoc art educators that we're gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, be their sharing space with each other. And
Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna read this really quickly kind of
Speaker 1: just like as as a like, you know, as the
Speaker 1: final point of advice. It's like, this is what we
Speaker 1: need to do for ourselves as educators, as community organizers,
Speaker 1: organizers that are constantly trying to kind of you know,
Speaker 1: navigate through spaces of inclusivity and equity. So this is
Speaker 1: the anti ablest Art Educators Manifesto. So number one is
Speaker 1: show up. Number two is eradicate ableism. Number three uplift acceptance.
Speaker 1: Number four create with and not for. Number five, Our
Speaker 1: differences should embolden us. Number six disability is not a
Speaker 1: bad word. Number seven value all bodies and minds. Eight
Speaker 1: allyship is sacrifice. And number nine our art is our survival. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it so much. And this
Speaker 1: is actually available today on on my website at gen
Speaker 1: Y Johnson dot com. Um. I had print printed copies
Speaker 1: available at the conference so that you know, all my
Speaker 1: favorite art educators could take them back into the classroom
Speaker 1: and like post them up and so that when their
Speaker 1: kids pop into classroom it's like wow, Like you're advocating
Speaker 1: for someone who exists like me, Like you want to
Speaker 1: show up, like you want to uplift acceptance, you want
Speaker 1: You're you're encouraging me to use my differences to kind
Speaker 1: of embolden you know, everything that that I can be
Speaker 1: and that I already am. Um. So yeah, this is
Speaker 1: just my my little piece of of of creative resistance
Speaker 1: to kind of say look, we're here. Um. And ultimately,
Speaker 1: to practice inclusivity, you have to you have to make
Speaker 1: space for us to take up that space. Absolutely. Jennifer
Speaker 1: White Johnson, thank you so much for making the time
Speaker 1: to join woke app. Thank you so much for your
Speaker 1: work and for your art and for your voice, and
Speaker 1: I really do hope that you will come back and
Speaker 1: join us again soon. We appreciate I would love to you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for holding space. This was beautiful
Speaker 1: and it's such a pleasure to meet you. It really is.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today, dear friends on woke app.
Speaker 1: As always, power to the people and to all the people. Power,
Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck.