The Neoliberal Assault on Disability Rights

A Public Forum

The Neoliberal Assault on Disability Rights

Thursday, October 4, 2012 7:00pm
New York University
Room 803, Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, Manhattan

sponsored by New Politics, Radical Film and Lecture Series(RFLS),
and Campaign for peace and Democracy (CPD)

Articles based on the talks:

• Nadina LaSpina, Joining Forces to be Stronger
• Paula Wolff, Beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Ravi Malhotra, Theories of Disablement
• Jihan Abbas, The Unpaid Labor of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in Institutional and Community-based Disability Services.

Thanks to Beth Haller and Mark Schwartz for producing the video.

Featuring Speakers: Nadina LaSpina, Paula Wolff, Ravi Malhotra, and Jihan Abbas.

• Nadina LaSpina is an activist for social justice and in particular for disability rights. She has been arrested countless times for civil disobedience and is an organizer for American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), Not Dead Yet and the Disability Caucus of Occupy Wall Street.
• Paula Wolff is President of Disabled in Action and active in Occupy Wall Street. She has participated in the disability rights movement for more than 35 years. She is a social worker and direct services supervisor at the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York.
• Ravi Malhotra is a disability rights advocate, a sponsor of New Politics, and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada. He has published widely on disability rights and serves on the human rights committee of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities.
• Jihan Abbas is a Vanier Canada Graduate scholar and PhD candidate at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Her research interests include disability and the labor market, social policy, and inclusion.

Co-Chairs: Joanne Landy and Adaner Usmani.

• Adaner Usmani is a member of the New Politics editorial board, a graduate student in Sociology at NYU, and a member of the Radical Film and Lecture Series.
• Joanne Landy is a member of the New Politics editorial board, Co-Director of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy, and former Executive Director of the NY Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Click here for an audio of WBAI's "Largest Minority" program from Sept. 26, 2012, which includes an interview with Ravi Malhotra, Jinan Abbas, and Anne Finger.

The October 4, 2012, public forum was inspired by a special section in New Politics #53, edited by Ravi Malhotra. The section brought together four contributions: from Chris J. Ford, a New Zealander, on neoliberalism and disability rights, Anne Finger on Antonio Gramsci, Jihan Abbas, a Canadian, on intellectual disability and labor who is here with us today in Manhattan and Rachel Garaghty on cuts to attendant services in Minnesota. Malhotra and Abbas also participated in the forum.