[Banner is a surreal digital image of a giant spoon and silver balloons that read “Dis/Rep” in a strange field with a few flowers. Planets above.]
Dis/Rep Workshop
Dis/Rep (Disability/Representation) is a yearly series of virtual dialogues focused on Disability, accessibility, and culture. It is currently co-produced by The Curiosity Paradox, Calling Up Justice, and Catalyst Consulting Associates LLC.
This is a new platform, and there are still accessibility issues we are working to repair. If you hit barriers while using the site and need support, please feel free to email us at [email protected].
Register forDis/Rep 2023
Dis/Rep 2023: Holding Us Together starts April 23rd
"I often think of cross-disability solidarity—the practice of being in solidarity with people with other kinds of disabilities than the ones we currently have—as being a process of learning a new language. There are […] so many things we don't automatically know about each other, some languages we have to learn from scratch.”
— Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha from
The Future Is Disabled
What is cross-Disability solidarity? And how do we make accessible culture and gathering spaces? Join us in a 6-week relaxed virtual space with asynchronous options to discuss ways cross-Disability communities collaboratively hold accessible gathering and cultural spaces.
Each recorded two-hour session features an embodiment warm up led by a Disabled artist, a short text read aloud by live participants, and group discussions to reflect on the reading. Each session covers different material and doesn't have to be followed in a particular order. We will also invite each participant to use their own personal bodymind experience of Disabling circumstances as a primary source of information. This is an anti-ableist, anti-racist, queer- and trans-positive space centering the needs and voices of multiply-marginalized Disabled folks, and is open to all.
Dis/Rep 2023 is co-produced by The Curiosity Paradox, Calling Up Justice, and Catalyst Consulting Associates.
Session Access
Our Zoom sessions feature baseline access of ASL by a Deaf and hearing interpretation team, as well as automated captions. Facilitators will describe visuals. It is ok to be off camera, and it is ok to arrive or leave at your comfort. Each session will cover different material and you may join as many as you want, or just access recordings to participate.
Agendas are sent at least a day before each session, and readings will be available before the session and read together. We also take at least one break per session.
Get Access to Dis/Rep
We estimate filling this out and completing registration could take 5 to 20 minutes.
Tell us who you are, where you live, and how we can make this workshop accessible for you.
After you register, you will be taken to a page with instructions on how to finish registering. You will also get two emails: the first will invite you to set up a password, the second will have more details about Dis/Rep 2023.
Support Our Present
Support Our Future
Dis/Rep is available free to members of the public living in Portland, Oregon thanks to funding from the City of Portland Office of Community and Civic Life. However, we are asking that if you live outside of Portland or want to offer more support, please pay what you can so more people can experience this important work.
This workshop series is valued between $1,500 and $10,000 per participant. We invite you to contribute at whatever level works for you.
Are you an individual or organization who wants to sponsor free participation for people who live outside of Portland? Do you work for a company or organization that pays for professional development? Are you a member of an Employee Resource Group or organization that wants accelerated learning on Disability and Accessibility? Or do you simply want to support by paying what you can?
Consider taking part in one of our tiers of support. You will be given the option to pay what you want after registering.
Please send us an email if you have any questions.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in Dis/Rep do not necessarily represent those of the City of Portland. (Regardless of how clever, accurate, or outlandish they may be.)
About Dis/Rep
Dis/Rep (Disability Representation) is a yearly series of virtual engagements focused on Disability, accessibility, and culture that began in 2020 as a relaunch of the program started by Disability Art and Culture Project. It utilizes a variety of formats, including book club-style discussions, a Discord server for asynchronous participation, web content, and remote engagement activities. The project is designed as an anti-ableist, anti-racist, queer, and trans-positive space, centering the needs and voices of the Disability community.
Dis/Rep 2020: Reading the Disability Justice Primer
Dis/Rep 2020 was produced by The Curiosity Paradox and Calling Up Justice. During four workshops, we explored the Sins Invalid Statement on Police Violence, the Principles of Mixed Ability Organizing, Disability Liberated, and Disability Justice Timelines from Skin Tooth and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People. These topics were particularly relevant at the time, as George Floyd had been murdered and the entire country was reacting to the incident and the widespread protests that followed.
Dis/Rep 2021: #AccessIsLove In Action
In Dis/Rep 2021 we discussed #AccessIsLove, with concepts such as valuing disabled expertise and expanding what “access” means. In 2021, producers from from Calling Up Justice, The Curiosity Paradox, and Rebel Black joined with creative access consultant Deanna Yadollahi and guest facilitator Jennifer Kemp. Embodiment artists Maya Johnson, Paula Rupert, Yulia Arakelyan, Sidoney O’Neal, Matthew Reynolds, and Scott Selby led embodiment exercises for the 2021 sessions.
Dis/Rep 2022: Liberating Words
Dis/Rep 2022: Liberating Words had everyone exploring ideas from National Disability Theater, Sound Theater, Claudia Alick, Grant Miller, Jonathan Paradox, Rebel Sidney Black, Sins Invalid, TL Lewis, Sunaura Taylor, Kimberly Crenshaw, Audre Lorde, Keri Gray, Imani Barbarin, Stacey Milbern, Dustin Gibson, Unsettling Dramaturgy (The Crip and Indigenous Process Design Research Colloquium), Aurora Levins Morales, Rebel Sidney Black, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Mia Mingus, John Lee Clark, and Luticha Doucette on Philosopher Éduoard Glissant. All our sessions were facilitated by experienced professionals and featured readings, embodiment exercises, group discussions, and other interactive elements. This was a coproduction of The Curiosity Paradox, Calling Up Justice, and Leaping Water Consulting, with disabled embodiment artists Anita Hollender, Luticha Doucette, Monetta Wilson, India Harville, Toby McNutt, and Carmen Papalia, leading exercises in the 2022 sessions. Luticha also joined as a guest facilitator. Dis/Rep is continuing in 2023 with Catalyst Consulting, The Curiosity Paradox and Calling Up Justice.
Dis/Rep is a valuable resource for disabled individuals and our supporters, empowering us to engage with contemporary issues and be heard and understood. It is a testament to the importance of centering disabled voices, particularly multiply-marginalized Disabled people, in contemporary discussions and events and works to create a more inclusive and accessible world for all.