This Disability Pride Month and with the 34th anniversary of the ADA coming up, we must stand in solidarity with disabled Palestinians. President Biden continues to use our tax dollars to fund Israel's mass bombardment, expulsion, disablement, starvation, and genocide of the Palestinian people.
Sign on by July 26th, alongside the Students with Disabilities Advocacy Group and disabled community members globally, to demand President Biden end the utilization of "dual-use" labels on medical aid, assistive aids, and technology.
Alongside calls for ceasefire, the asks outlined by BreakingTheSilenceOnGaza.org (website linked) highlight the devastating reality faced by our disabled siblings in Palestine.
Access to assistive technology can mean the difference between life and death, being able to flee or being trapped, living with dignity, or being left to suffer. Eyeglasses, wheelchairs, canes, prosthetics, walkers, crutches, incontinence pads, catheters, hearing aids, and more have been lost or left behind when people were forced to flee. Without their assistive aids, people with disabilities are struggling to survive, left isolated, with no independence or sense of autonomy or dignity. The psychological torture of feeling like a burden is unbearable and degrading.
The trauma of this only compounds on the existing chronic trauma seen in Palestine today. Dr. Samah Jabr, chair of the Palestinian ministry of health's mental health unit, explained this best in an interview with the Guardian (article linked): “Giving people who lost their humanity, people were reduced to nothing, giving them their dignity back … Psychologists can’t do that alone. We need responses at state and international level. We need the rest of the world to stand with us.”
The Sameer Project, an aid organization led by four Palestinians in the diaspora, is proud to announce our first tent encampment project that will provide shelter and specific support to families in Gaza. This first encampment will serve perinatal and neonatal females, children with physical or mental disabilities, and families with adults with special needs and mobility issues.
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