To make real social gains for disabled populations, laws alone are insufficient. Throughout the disability rights movement, disabled people who experienced other forms of marginalization (e.g., racism and heterosexism) have criticized relying on rights-based frameworks; however, their voices were often sidelined or ignored. Recognizing that the power of ableism, or the oppression of disabled people, could only be genuinely eroded by focusing on the experiences of disabled people who face multiple forms of oppression, activists like Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, Stacey Park Milbern, LeRoy Moore, came together to form the basis for understanding and acting against ableism known as Disability Justice. Kara Mannor, MPH ‘21, a Ph.D. student in epidemiology at U-M, discusses the history of the disability justice movement and its implications on public health today.
