How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic: A Disability Pride Panel in Collaboration with the NYU Center for Disability Studies

As part of Disability Pride Month, essayists Aiyuba Thomas, Chancey Fleet, and Harris Kornstein, all featured in a new book, How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic (NYU Press), discuss their experiences with disability in New York City during the Covid-19 lockdown. This program is presented as a collaboration between the New York Public Library and the NYU Center for Disability Studies. How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic is available to borrow through NYPL, and an accessible e-book can also be downloaded for free via NYU Press Open Square.

To join the event online | This event will be streamed on Zoom. To receive a Zoom link, please be sure to register! The link will be shared with registrants shortly before start time.

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

Aiyuba Thomas is a justice-impacted researcher and activist dedicated to addressing issues that impact marginalized communities, especially those affected by mass incarceration. Aiyuba co-authored Abolition Labor: The Fight to End Prison Slavery (OR Books), offering insights and a national inquiry into prison labor, and most recently served as the Project Manager for Movements Against Mass Incarceration, an archival oral history project that aims to span the nation. He is a MA graduate from NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and an alumnus of Columbia JIE and NYU PEP.  

Chancey Fleet is a Blind tech educator and activist based in Brooklyn. She is the founding Assistive Technology Coordinator at the New York Public Library, where she runs a free peer-powered tech coaching service that connects library patrons with print-reading disabilities to one-to-one coaching and runs the Dimensions Lab for free and open tactile graphics creation. Chancey is a 2017 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, and serves as President of the National Federation of the Blind’s Assistive Technology Trainers’ Division. Check out Chancey’s library at: talkingbooks.nypl.org.

Harris Kornstein is a scholar and artist whose work focuses on queer play through contemporary technologies and digital cultures, media art/activism, and disability and queer/trans studies. Their current book project considers what we might learn from drag performers to creatively counter many of the harms of digital technologies, and they co-edited the anthology How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic (NYU Press). Harris is currently Assistant Professor of Public & Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona and earned a PhD in Media, Culture & Communication from NYU. 

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Quemuel Arroyo is the MTA's first agencywide Chief Accessibility Officer, where he leads the implementation of policies, initiatives, and programs that advance accessibility throughout the organization. Prior to joining the MTA, Arroyo served as Interim President and Global Head of Community at Charge, an e-scooter charging and docking company, and previously as the first Chief Accessibility Specialist at the New York City Department of Transportation, where he helped settle the largest accessibility claim in the nation. 

ABOUT THE NYU CENTER FOR DISABILITY STUDIES

The NYU Center for Disability Studies promotes disability scholarship, artistry, and activism at NYU and beyond through research and publishing, a disability studies minor, a public event series, and collaborative programming with arts and other organizations internationally. 

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ACCESSIBILITY NOTES

Online

• Real-time CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning will be provided for this event. 


• American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided for this event

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