I was originally going to write about something;however, I felt that this was more important especially in today's climate. As you know, because I have literally talked about it every story I wrote since joining WRICO. I am a Disabled Advocate, whose primary disability is Hearing Loss and my Disability Title is Hard of Hearing(comment, if you wanna about Disability Title, because I will use it throught this story). My religion is Pagan Agnostic, whose sexuality and gender identity is Vexisexual(more than happy to explain if anyone ask in the commits) and my Race/Ethnicity is Colombian Jewish Ukrainian American Swede(White-Passing, I don't identify as White even though I am of European Descent, please respect that). Yes, I use the WHOLE thing when referring to my Racial and Ethnic Identity. That is who I am, and the person I have come to be and I am proud of that. But, I started advocating for the Disabled Community back in 2010, I have noticed a trend in these past tens years I can no longer ignore it. So, now, I am going to talk about it, and hopefully by the time I am done writing this, I have done good enough job of explaining it and educating you about it(fingers crossed). I will say what I am about talk is HIGHLY TRIGGERING!!!even more so than my last story. So, feel free to leave and stop reading because it will be very emotional for some people. It's emotional for me whenever I talk about it. So, I am WARNING YOU NOW!! Also, I like to say I have DONE my research on the topic a lots of it, because 1. I love doing research and lots of it, I give my OCD and ADHD credit for that. 2. I wanna be factual and VERY accurate on the subject matter especially when talking about other communities from beside own particularity Black, Indigenous and People of Color. I will use BIPOC from now on. My job as Disabled Advocate is to advocate for everyone include Disabled BIPOC. Oh, remember in beginning how I said I was going to use Disabity Title later in the story? Well, now I am going to use it for remainer of this story. You see, we The Disabled Community us IDENTITY FIRST Language not PEOPLE FIRST let me be very clear on that. Identity First Language is our way of taking our Disability which was seen as a negative and turn it into something to be proud of. It's our way of saying I like my Disability, it is apart of me and there is nothing to be ashamed about it. That being said, I will now get to the point. Like, I said I started to notice trend in my work of being a Disabled Advocate. At first, I didn't really see it, nor did I pay to much attention to it, but as the years went by it got to the point where I could no longer. By the time 2016 Presidential Election rolled in and The Black Lives Matter Movement started gaining world wide attention. I said "enough was enough, I can no longer ignore it, something has to be done and nobody is talking about it, nobody is seeing it, yet it's right there, you just have to look for it". There actually people out there who have been talking about for years and decades, but nobody is listening, and because so, they are forgotten, and will longer exist within their Legacy even though it was such HUGE part of their lives"! So, what am I talking about? What do I keep on referring "IT" too? I am talking about DISABILITY RACISM!! Yes, that right Disability Racism, Disability Racism is not only the number one killer for BIPOC here in The United States and I sure other parts of the world, but the MOST VIOLENT type of Racism that BIPOC have to go through. I found this out after doing some research to verify the accuracy of an article I had read on twitter from a Disabled BIPOC group in D.C who posted it online. The information, I read not only made me cry, but has been bugging for the last couple years, so I decided to see if it was true, and sadly not only was it true, but it exactly everything I have been saying since 2016. Before, I continue on, I want to explain what Disability Racism is, because I didn't explain it when I introduced it above. Disability Racism is when Disability and Racism intersect! For the longest time, we have been seperating the two, but no longer! In fact, if you read between the line you will find it, you just have to look it. Now, I am sure by now, your asking yourself what is a WHITE-PASSING talking about Disability Racism! Because, like in everything involving BIPOC people aren't listening, aren't being heard, and it only during election time is when Politicians seem to care about BIPOC. The people who listened, who heard and who society likes to play favorites too, Are people who are WHITE/WHITE-PASSING like myself. Not only do Disables White/White-Passing, get listened and heard when is already difficult enough, but they also get all the credit even if it was originally started or done by Disabled BIPOC Disabled White/White-Passing jump in with no regards for others and steal all the glory, whether that be a TradeMark like DeafTalent started by Jada Bryan a DeafBlack Film Maker from New York or Representing the Disabled Community as a whole its people like me who get the platform. So, I will use that platform, and I hope while doing so I shed a light on the situation and get enough people to talk about it where the term Disability Racism becomes mainstream. So, that is why I am talking about it, because I know people will listen which is very unfortunate, and a fine example of Disability Racism. Not acknowledging the existant Disabled BIPOC Community as whole and as an equal part of the community, but also being completely racist like in everything else. If this doesn't help explain what Disability Racism is, and that they intersect in everything, then from here on out I will give you examples, and hopefully that will make you want to start a conversation. Remember the HIGHLY TRIGGERING part at the beginning? From here on out, I will be giving examples of Disability Racism. So, now is where your gonna want to leave, and remember I did the research, and I know the facts which have been verfied as accurate. Earlier, I told you I read an article that bothered me, so I had to verify it. I was talking about the story that many of you know, or at least I hope you know and that was Emmett Till, yes, Emmett Till the 14 year old who was falsely accused of whisling at a White Woman in 1955 then Lynch by a violent white supremacist, yea that one. What many of you don't know was Emmett Till was Disabled, in fact not only was he disabled but a Survivor of Polio! Which is how he developed his Disability. Because, of getting Polio as kid, (which is one reason why you need to get Vaccinated) Emmett Till developed a Speech Disability, which made it hard for him to speak and he struggled a lot with it as kid. So, Emmett's mother like so many Parents of children with Disabilities took it upon herself to teach him some coping methods that would help loosen the vocal cords, because there is no way especially back then would they have accessed to a Speech Therapist or even Speech Therapy for that matter, thanks to Ol' Jim Crow Laws. One of the coping methods that would help loosen the vocal cords was, wait for it, WHISTLING, yep the thing that got Emmett Till in trouble and later violently murdered was a coping method for his Disability that his mother taught him. This is what is known as the Instigator and the Escalator(sp) meaning one will instigate the situation and the other will escalate the situation. It can be either the Disability or Race that initiates the situation then escalate the situation or vise versa. In Emmett Till's case it was his Disability that initiated the false accusations, and his race that escalated into Murder! Emmett's Disability got him in Trouble and his Race got him killed. This is Disability Racism, there is no other explanations for this. Yet, for some reason the term Disability Racism doesn't exist! The two are seperate when they shouldn't be. If that wasn't a good enough example of Disability Racism, then here is another one. On July 17, 2014, on Staten Island, in New York City, Eric Garner a beloved father and husband was put into a choke-hold. We all know, the rest of that story, but what most don't is Eric Garner was Disabled! He was living with a heart condition, had diabetes and had Asthma! People with Asthma in general have a hard time breathing, now you put one into a choke-hold you better believe they "Can't Breath". I don't if the asthma played apart in his death, but what I do know, is since then over half of all POLICE RELATED SHOOTING involved a Disabled BIPOC. I could give you so many othersexamples, but I have other things I need to talk about that will help or at least explain Disability Racism. Let's start with the numbers shall we? There are over 61 million people living with a Disability in the United States alone, and the majority of Disables are BIPOC. Here are the demographics by race and ethnicity of Disabled Community. At 22% we have Indigenous people, this is in large part to all the treaty violations, racism, lack of health care, list goes. At 20% which are just about tied with another group you have Blacks/African-Africans yet they only represents 13% of the population as whole, but make up 20% of the Disabled Community. Then, you the White/White-Passing who are nearly tied at 18-19% after that you have Latinx at 15% API at 10% and others account for the rest. As you can see, BIPOC make up the majority. Yet, it's the 18-19% that get all the credit and the one's who everybody listens too. Other instances of Disability Racism. Mass Incarceration, 75% of all those incarnated have a Disability and a majority of are Black and Latinx. Take in point, if you are a Survivor of Domestic Violence, and you defend yourself no matter what the outcome is your going to get incarcerated while your abuser gets a slap on the wrist. There is NO WAY your not coming out of that with some kind of trauma! You will for the of your LIFE being living with PTSD from that abuse, it's a given fact. But like in everything else BIPOC survivors get harder and more sever punishment, yet once they get out the likely hood of them treatment is seldom to none, and the worse part is that only 2% of Therapist in the Nation identify as Black or African-American, 5% for Latinx and Unknown or N/A for Indigenous and AAPI. Folks of Middle Eastern Heritage are classified as White. These are the numbers, yet Mental Heath is in Crisis, and thanks to the Pandemic it is only getting worse especially in communities of color, where Police calls respond to Mental Health at 40% of the time and if you are a BIPOC it oftens ends in tragedy! If Mental Illness wasn't was a factor then you bet believe especially if your a BIPOC it will be after such is the case with Breonna Taylor! You see, after she was killed the internal investigators asked as ONE of their FIRST QUESTIONS after the shooting was did Breonna Taylor have a Mental Illness?! Now, Breonna was killed in her bed, so what does Mental Illness have do with her death? I am only speculating, but thoughts are they wanted to use the "Suicide by Cops" scenario as a back up plan! This is Disability Racism, there is no word for it. Now in the case of George Floyd, not only was Disability Racism used in the autopsy and in the report but also in court! You see, the Defense tried to say that it was George Floyd's addiction that killed him not have having a police officer's knee on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. What many don't know is addiction is classified as Diseases and therefore is referred as a Disability! Now we all now race played a factor now on top of that you put Disability. The defense tried to use George Floyd's disability as an excuse for his death and if George Floyd was any other Race there would be no questions or doubts. The Defense clearly used Disability Racism, the media used Disability Racism, there was Disability Racism written all over that trial! But, no body is calling it that, now I don't if I am doing a good job explaining Disability Racism, but I want you to know that it Exist, that kills in the most violent way possible! I want you to that Disability Racism happens everyday and that we need to call it for it what it is. Talia A. Lewis, who wrote the article on Emmett Till and his Disability calls it Race-Disabilty, but if going with the Identity First Language then the proper term is Disability Racism! Now, I may have done a terrible job at explaining Disability Racism, but I am telling you that it exist, and if you look for it, you will find it and challenge you to start calling it for it is and stop separating the two and finally intersect the two words and make them one! Disability Racism Exist! So lets, start calling it that!(P.S I have been sitting on this story for months and finally decided to finish what I was orginally interrupted from finishing).