The Existence of Disability Culture: Implications for Clinicians and the Therapeutic Space

Positionality statement of the Trainer:
I am a cis, Mexican, queer/straight-passing, immigrant woman who is sick and disabled with chronic, mental, and sensory conditions. I am blind which is my apparent disability. I have a LCSW and helped co-create a disability cultural center at a university in Chicago. Much of this training comes from my knowledge of working in disability cultural spaces and participating as a peer and performer. I have been practicing therapy for 2.5 years but have been out of grad school for eight years. My advocacy work began over 12 years ago, but I do not know everything nor should I. This training is an invitation to continue learning from other sources, experts, and experiences.

Objectives:

• Teach the ways ableism shows up in our field and own practice and how we can start engaging with disability culture more actively.
• Taking disability culture further than only access.
• Learning a brief history of disability: including the vision of disability justice.
• Questioning how we can learn more about disability culture and incorporating cultural elements in our practice.