A New International Liberation Reference Person for People with Disabilities
Hello. My name is David Ruebain, and I am the new RC International Liberation Reference Person (ILRP) for People with Disabilities.
Many of you knew the previous ILRP, Marsha Saxton, who died last year. Marsha was a brilliant, fierce, exuberant, extraordinary woman, and a leader both inside and outside of RC. Over the years, she and I spent many times together—talking, planning, discussing, agreeing, disagreeing, and having loads of fun. I miss her enormously. I hope to build on her work. Some of what I do will be similar and some different.
I’d like to say a few things about our constituency: We have many kinds of impairments. We have chronic illnesses and learning difficulties. We may be neurodiverse. Our disabilities can be congenital (present from birth) or acquired. For all of us, disability is fundamentally a liberation issue. Just saying that is an act of resistance, because disability oppression treats us as defective, wrong, and not fully human and so treats disability as only a medical issue.
There are many disabled people. In fact, everyone who lives long enough will become disabled (and in the meantime may be fearful of that happening). This means that the oppression affects us all. I want our disability liberation work to be meaningful for us all, whether we are currently disabled or not. This work is for everyone!
A bit about me: I was born and live in London, England. As a young adult, I was an activist in the UK Disability Rights Movement. I became an equality and human rights lawyer and now work in higher education, where I lead work on culture, equality, and inclusion at my university. I am very busy (so please be patient with me if you write and I don’t respond quickly), but I would love to hear from you, whether you’re currently disabled or not.
davidruebain@hotmail.com
(Present Time 207, April 2022)