#10 COVIDCalls 3.27.2020 – Disaster & Disability

Why were tools of accessibility, like video conferencing and live transcription, only embraced by institutions in response to COVID-19, despite being denied to disabled people pre-pandemic? What can disability studies add to our understanding of COVID-19 and society’s response to the pandemic? Dr. Aimi Hamraie an assistant professor of Medicine, Health, & Society and American Studies at Vanderbilt University and Dr. Amy Slaton, a professor of History at Drexel University, discuss how disaster, and COVID-19 in particular, reveals how society routinely devalues disabled people. Both experts in disability studies, Slaton and Hamraie discuss how extractive capitalism creates violent systems of value, to what extent disabled people are included in disaster planning, and the tradition of mutual aid in disabled communities. They explore what the pandemic means as a moment of great danger but also possibility for disabled people, disability justice, and disability studies.  For further reading: Crip Camp What is History? Critical Design Lab