Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · Jul 12

Thinking of Sharon Kowalski today and saw that she died in October 2023. She and her partner Karen Thompson were such forces in the queer and disability worlds of the 80s/90s. I don't see many markers of her passing online. Remembering Sharon Kowalski:
www.danielfuneralhome.com/obit/sharon-...

Sharon K. Kowalski - Daniel Funeral Home & Cremation Service

www.danielfuneralhome.com

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Reposted by Mara Mills

NYU Center for Disability Studies @center4ds.bsky.social · Jul 8

NYU’s Center for Disability Studies is honored to co-present a screening of the Sundance-award winning documentary LIFE AFTER at NYC’s Film Forum on July 23 at 7:10pm.

Over an orange background, black text: “Multitude Films. Life After. July 23. 7:10PM. Film Forum NYC. Co-Presented by ReelAbilities Film Festival. Tickets at filmforum.org/events/event/life-after-july-23. Introduced by Mara Mills of NYU’s Center for Disability Studies, followed by talkback with director Reid Davenport, activist and author Emily Ladau, and comedian Maysoon Zayid.” In the middle, an archival image of a disabled Black man with crutches protesting next to a large pink sign that says “Not Dead. We want to live!” At the bottom, symbols at the bottom for Audio Description, Open Captions and ASL, followed by logos for Film Forum and NYU’s Center for Disability Studies.

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Tricia Ghoulish 👻📚💻🇵🇭🇺🇲 @trishgreen.bsky.social · Jul 7

"... I am honored to join the Mellon Foundation as a senior fellow. Together, we will work to strengthen the public knowledge ecosystem and ensure that the transformative power of information remains accessible to all..." - Dr. Carla Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress

Mellon Foundation

The Mellon Foundation makes grants to actively unlock the power in the arts and humanities that helps connect us all.

www.mellon.org

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) @autisticadvocacy.org · Jun 30

ASAN mourns the loss of Patricia "Patty" Berne, co-founder of Sins Invalid and a trailblazing leader in the Disability Justice movement. #PattyLivesThroughUs

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · Jun 20

& enjoy the most abundant seating in the V&A museum at the Design and Disability exhibition:

Photograph of two rooms in the Design and Disability exhibit at the V&A museum. One is painted bright orange, the other lime green, with a blue wall and large doorway connecting them. Wooden benches with listening and reading material are shown against the orange wall and near the passageway connecting the two rooms.

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · Jun 20

tomorrow! (hybrid)

Louise Hickman @louhicky.bsky.social · Jun 16

Come by next Saturday if you are interested in crip authorship, including histories of subtitling, visual description and plain language writing workshop.

Co-hosted with @center4ds.bsky.social

Natalie D Kane @ndkane.bsky.social · May 29

Crip Authorship comes to the V&A! Pleased to host @maramills.bsky.social and Rebecca Sanchez on 21st June for a special event with @louhicky.bsky.social Kelsie Acton and Georgina Kleege. Tickets to the in person event and workshop here, online stream below: www.vam.ac.uk/event/135rMr...

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Louise Hickman @louhicky.bsky.social · Jun 11

Labs for Liberation are running a great program of learning and engagement this summer!

Critical Design Lab @criticaldesignlab.bsky.social · Jun 11

Free and open to the public, with ASL and CART: Summer lecture series on disability and design. Register at: labsforliberation.org/2025/05/30/l... [image description: labs for liberation logo, a circuit board-style sun, with text summer institute on disability and design, june 9-july 18, 2025]

Labs for Liberation Summer Institute Lecture Series

Dates: June 9-July 18, 2025. All sessions are online. ASL and CART available. Summer Institute directors: Moya Bailey and Aimi Hamraie Accessibility coordinator: Angela Stanley Funded by: The…

labsforliberation.org

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · Jun 9

With an excerpt from How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic (NYU Press 2025). Wisdom and disability expertise from my many coauthors: a collective of disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and nondisabled scholars, students, activists, lawyers, journalists, artists and librarians.

Truthout @truthout.org · Jun 7

White House rhetoric dehumanizes disabled communities, but activists continue to organize for access, care and justice.

Disability Activists Bring Wisdom From the Pandemic to New Struggles Under Trump

White House rhetoric dehumanizes disabled communities, but activists continue to organize for access, care and justice.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · Jun 8

Just to recap, Trump has taken the extraordinary step of federalizing 2000 member of the California National Guard — over the objections of the state’s governor — in response to a protest that currently involves A FEW DOZEN PEOPLE AT A HOME DEPOT

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Ingrid Burrington @lifewinning.com · Jun 6

Many congratulations to the excellent @ndkane.bsky.social for what looks like a terrific new exhibition at the V&A and this glowing review of it www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Design and Disability review – ‘A world-shaping, boundary-breaking joy of a show’

From self-tightening shoes to an all-purpose hands-free vibrator, this superb exhibition demonstrates that disability-led culture and design is about so much more than ramps

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Communication, Culture & Critique @ccc-journal.bsky.social · Jun 4

Our June issue is now live! It kicks off with a forum on Media and Fascism, featuring a star-studded list of contributors.

Get started with this introduction by forum editors @paulachak.bsky.social and @ajbauer.bsky.social!

academic.oup.com/ccc/article-...

Cruel capitalism: a forum on media and fascism

Abstract. This article introduces a forum on “Media and Fascism” by reading tech oligarch and right-wing political operative Elon Musk as a nexus of intern

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Mara Mills

National WIC Association @natwicassoc.bsky.social · Jun 5

‼️(THREAD) Today, Chairman Harris openly said that cuts in the House Appropriations proposal are only the FIRST STEP in cutting WIC fruit and vegetable benefits by up to 75%. 🗣️🗣️🗣️ We MUST oppose this. >> bit.ly/nocuts26

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Reposted by Mara Mills

NYU Center for Disability Studies @center4ds.bsky.social · Jun 2

Today! ADA at 35: Navigating Accessibility in the Hybrid Interior from 6-8PM at Center for Architecture and Zoom! calendar.aiany.org/2025/06/02/a...

ADA at 35: Navigating Accessibility in the Hybrid Interior - Calendar - AIA New York / Center for Architecture

calendar.aiany.org

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Natalie D Kane @ndkane.bsky.social · May 29

Crip Authorship comes to the V&A! Pleased to host @maramills.bsky.social and Rebecca Sanchez on 21st June for a special event with @louhicky.bsky.social Kelsie Acton and Georgina Kleege. Tickets to the in person event and workshop here, online stream below: www.vam.ac.uk/event/135rMr...

Crip Authorship: Disability as a Method for Creativity - Special event at V&A South Kensington · V&A

An afternoon of talks, a screening, and a workshop exploring disability, authorship, and access.

www.vam.ac.uk

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · May 23

So excited for your talk, Louise! (And to see you in person again after WAY too long.)

Louise Hickman @louhicky.bsky.social · May 23

I'm giving a new talk on *"Subtitles on Fire"* at the V&A for the Design and Disability show. Featuring a screening of *Captioning and Captioning* — celebrating all things crip authorship with @maramills.bsky.social and Rebecca Sanchez
#DesignAndDisability www.vam.ac.uk/event/135rMr...

Crip Authorship: Disability as a Method for Creativity - Special event at V&A South Kensington · V&A

An afternoon of talks, a screening, and a workshop exploring disability, authorship, and access.

www.vam.ac.uk

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · May 22

Congratulations Patrick! No doubt, the first of many honors for this groundbreaking book on disability, labor, and performance:

Patrick McKelvey @pmckelveyphd.bsky.social · May 22

Excited to share that “Disability Works” received the Working-Class Studies Association’s CLR James Award for the best book published for academic or general audiences!

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · May 15

Exhibition review by Charlotte Strange for those who missed it:
www.screenslate.com/articles/car...
And by Lili Tóth:
impulsemagazine.com/symposium/ca...

Carolyn Lazard: Two-way

Carolyn Lazard’s new exhibition at Artist’s Space is full of blue.

www.screenslate.com

Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · May 15

Made it to Carolyn Lazard's Two-Way at Artists Space before the exhibition closed: two experimental films about race, childbirth, and healthcare, set in the Elmhurst Hospital simulation center. (Both are fictional: one is a fictional documentary, the other is a documentary of a medical simulation.)

Photograph of the Artists Space gallery entryway. A wall painted tomato red features the words Two-Way in white across the center. A windowed door to the left looks out on a 19th century cast-iron building of Soho New York. To the right a black pole and corridor lead to the exhibition space, a darkened set of two rooms where two films by Lazard are being screened on a loop.

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · May 15

excited to (remotely) participate in Kampnagel's Performative Book Fair again. The fair opened this year with a talk by Sami Schalk on disability in Octavia Butler's Kindred:
kampnagel.de/en/productio...

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · Apr 28

so excited to pay a studio visit to Finnegan Shannon at EFA today!
www.studios-efanyc.org/member-artists

photograph of a blue wall with black lettering that says EFA Studios 7, next to which is a paper floorplan of the artist studios, including Finnegan Shannon's on the 7th floor.

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Reposted by Mara Mills

Alt National Endowment for the Humanities @altnehgov.altgov.info · Apr 24

Missing grant money? Found it! It looks like the remaining grant funds for FY2025 have been reallocated here.

We have nothing good to say about this.

www.neh.gov/news/neh-ann...

NEH Announces Grant Opportunity to Create Statues of Iconic Americans for the National Garden of American Heroes

www.neh.gov

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · Apr 26

having been on the advisory committee for one small part of this project, I can attest that it's an essential resource. Check out the timeline page to see how immigration, race, and disability segregation--& protest--are interwoven in the history of NYC schools: nyccivilrightshistory.org/timeline/

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Mara Mills @maramills.bsky.social · Apr 25

As usual I loved the gorgeous sound descriptions by
@charleseppley.bsky.social last night at Air Change Per Hour, Anna RG's sold out performance at ISSUE on sound & accessibility "in the context of airborne safety." Compositions sculpted from air filter sounds, the breath of sick artists, and more.

Photograph of a darkened performance space, ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn. One performer is lying on the floor in the far right corner and only part of his head and torso can be seen. Photo is taken from the second row, with a row of people sitting in front of the camera and others sitting on cushions on the ground. On the white wall in the background are screened two lines of text, describing sounds presumably being played in the room at the time. They state, "A second deep tone joins the first to create an unstable dissonant harmony. Higher whistle tones emerge in tone clusters, providing a chromatic glint. The white noise continues unabated."

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