S1 E2: DEVVA’s Room: The History of Disability Studies & Ableism and Acitvitism at the Founding of America

Welcome to DEVVA’s Room — a new interactive media series and public community experience, hosted by LEAD On! co-founders Susan Fitzmaurice and Gordon Fuller, and proudly powered and produced by The Force for Health® Network. Live comments are welcome.

This series is a living tribute to the late Dr. Devva Kasnitz — whose passion was to bring the conversation around disability history, pride, and justice out of the ivory towers and into the hearts of real communities, featuring her friends and colleagues to help carry her torch and continue her legacy.

• Part 1: “Disability Studies in a Time of Chaos: Why It Matters More Than Ever”.  Mark Friedman and Ruthie-Marie Beckwith will explore how Disability Studies is more than a theory—it’s a movement. Come learn how it challenges ableism, transforms institutions, and centers disabled voices

• Part 2: Ablism and Activism during Founding of America, Laurel Daen will discuss the first American disability rights movement in the decades just after the American Revolution. During this period (approx 1775-1840), disabled people used the powerful language of liberty, equality, rights, and citizenship, which had gained power and purchase in the recent conflict, to demand greater access and autonomy

Public Viewing Links

• Facebook Force for Health –https://www.facebook.com/events/1762700447935556
• You Tube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-H9_w27Kd4
• Linked In Force for Health – https://www.linkedin.com/events/7338287246942318593/comments/

Link to LEAD On BASICS Community – https://theforceforhealth.com/groups/lead-on-basics-community/

Special, private LEAD On! Zoom Viewing Room, for those who prefer to watch and interact from zoom – https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/dXAWysjrTlCVTxZIobmaeA