Disability Pride Panel: Clarkisha Kent & Bianca Laureano with Virgie Tovar

As part of Disability Pride Month, authors Virgie Tovar, Clarkisha Kent, and Bianca Laureano chart the connections between disability, body politics, and identity. 

This July, join NYPL for a virtual panel program exploring the intersection of race, gender, body positivity, and disability.

"Often times, disabled people have the solutions that society needs. We call it crip — or crippled — wisdom," said disability rights activist, Stacey Milbern. This panel is a celebration of crip wisdom in all of its manifestations. Moderated by Virgie Tovar, author of The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color, the panel will explore themes of ritual, intimacy, access, ancestors, embodiment and joy through the lens of disability justice and pride. Tovar is joined by the authors and activists Clarkisha Kent and Bianca Laureano.

This program will be streamed live on Zoom. You must register with your email address above in order to receive the link to participate.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided for this event. Real-time CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning will be provided for this event.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Clarkisha Kent is a Nigerian American writer, culture critic, former columnist, and author of Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto. Her writing has been featured in outlets like Entertainment Weekly, Essence, gal-dem, PAPER, BET, HuffPost, MTV News, The Root, and more.

She is also the creator of #TheKentTest, a media litmus test designed to evaluate the quality of representation that exists for Black women and women of color in film and other media. Additionally, she co-created a more recent media litmus test—with fat liberation activist SydneySky G—titled The Kelli & Kat Test. The test was crafted in order to analyze the caliber of media that exists for fat [Black] women and/or non-men.

Bianca I Laureano is an award-winning educator, curriculum writer, facilitator, and sexologist. She is a Foundress of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WOCSHN), The LatiNegrxs Project, and ANTE UP! Virtual Freedom Professional Development School for Justice Workers. She has written several curricula that focus on communities of color: What’s the REAL DEAL about Love and Solidarity? (2015) and Communication MixTape: Speak On It Vol 1. (2017) the sexual and reproductive justice discussion guide for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene published in 2018, the curriculum for the Oscar-nominated Netflix film Crip Camp (2020), PBS / POV film I Didn’t See You There (2023), and Sex is A Funny Word (2023). Bianca has been on the board of CLAGS, the LGBTQ Center at CUNY, The Black Girl Project, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, and is currently an advisory board member for the San Francisco Disability Cultural Center. She received an honorary PhD for her work of justice, equity, and inclusion in the US sexuality field May 2020, won the inaugural Vi Johnson Liberation Award offered by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom in 2023, and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion award from AASECT in 2024.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Virgie Tovar is a plus-size Latina and leading expert on weight-based discrimination and body positivity. Tovar holds a Master's degree in Sexuality Studies with a focus on the intersections of body size, race and gender. She is a contributor for Forbes.com where she covers the plus-size market and how to end weight discrimination at work. Tovar is the author of three books, including her 2018 manifesto You Have the Right to Remain Fat. Virgie has been featured by the New York Times, Tech Insider, BBC, MTV, NPR, and Yahoo Health. She lives in San Francisco.

DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH AT NYPL

The New York Public Library is celebrating Disability Pride Month throughout July. Discover a wide array of accessible resources, including book recommendations, accessible technology training, braille study groups, and more. Plus, join us for free events for all ages—this month and all year long! To learn more and see what's coming up, please visit: https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/disability-pride-month.