My Week With @WeAreDisabled: 2nd Thread from 18th August
A couple weeks ago, I took part in my third time hosting the twitter account @WeAreDisabled, which invites guests to host on a rotating basis. Given the ephemeral nature of Twitter, I’ve decided to re-post much of that writing here (as well as some thoughts from previous times I’ve hosted), as well as the Wakelet links to the original tweets. Tweets are reproduced as-is:
While I have this platform, I’d like to spotlight an amazing student-led initiative — a student-led class grounding us in abolition, community care, and autonomy. [Quoted tweet embedded below]
One of the most wonderful things about this class is that there’s the option to join as a community member OR to enroll as a student to obtain credit, through the Social Justice Work Experience program in the interdisciplinary studies department.
I’ve done the SJWE before, which actually lead to my current position at the QRC, so I’ll be joining this course as a community member, but it fills my heart with joy that we can join each other in learning and building community and have that effort recognized.
Something I’m told as a student worker in some contexts is to not put “too much” weight on student organizations that haven’t been formally recognized as a student club or similar organization. Fuck that: student organizing is what builds us up and sustains us.
Community colleges are a really wonderful place: the kind of student that many four-year colleges would call “nontraditional” is in fact the tradition at many CCs. I’ve known classmates who are formerly incarcerated, veterans, first-gen, disabled. Nontraditional IS our tradition.
We often come into classrooms and log onto class websites with enough experience and knowledge to teach classes of our own. Many of us do — I’ve even taken courses with people who are literal professors and high school teachers, both at CCSF/SFUSD and other schools.
In the broader education world, community colleges and the people who learn and work there are devalued and underestimated. I’ve found that, unfortunately, a lot of administrators and even some instructors in the community college system seem to have internalized that.
The formal recognition and hierarchy becomes everything. If you don’t have an approved place in the system, you may as well not exist, or if you *do* exist you’re seen as a menace and a troublemaker. Sometimes it feels like school administration is at war with the school itself.
Despite all of that, autonomous student organizing has established itself on-campus and in the community, and has pushed forward many of the changes that have improved the college over the decades.
Community college students are ready to take charge of our learning, and it *thrills* me to help take part in building this course from the ground up. Many of the students (including me) will give talks ourselves during the semester. We lift each other up as we learn.
The community is what keeps City College thriving, and if you’re able to join us in this effort (whether locally or from a distance), I’d love to build that community with you.
