Izzy Laderman | Minnesota
This interview was conducted by Aletta Brady in 2020. Angel Nwadibia, Abigail Haley, Khari Slaughter, Amaya Sangurima-Jimenez, and Talia Fox contributed to the production of this story.
Izzy Laderman is a 17-year-old disabled activist. She works to ensure people with disabilities are a part of the conversation, whether in relation to the climate crisis or sex education, as too often disabled people are left out. This is her story.
“My name is Izzy Laderman. I use she/her pronouns and I am currently 17 years old and live in Minnesota. I am disabled. I have a condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which means that my body doesn't produce the protein collagen correctly. All of my connective tissue is really loose and that causes a whole range of problems. The biggest one for me is that I have really bad chronic pain. The most debilitating pain that I have is in my hips, which causes a lot of mobility issues. My mom has a milder version of it and my grandma has a more severe version. I'm really grateful that I have family members who have some of the same experiences as me. And it can also be frustrating because we tend to think that our experiences are exactly the same. My mom will think I can do something just because she can, but I can't—everyone’s experience with disability is different.
“...everyone’s experience with disability is different.”
Key Facts
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is an umbrella term that describes a group of genetic diseases dealing with the body’s connective tissue. These diseases are characterized by the hyperflexibility of joints and the hyperextensibility of skin. This manifests in an overall difficulty in body mobility (The Ehler-Danlos Society).
My medical journey to get the Ehlers-Danlos diagnosis was three to four years long. In the process, I had so many different diagnoses that didn't wind up working out. While that journey was happening, I didn't identify as disabled because I didn't have an official diagnosis to necessarily prove my disability. I had a really hard time even though I definitely was disabled. But once I was diagnosed, I finally started saying I am disabled. I accepted the fact that I need accommodations to be able to do the best I can, specifically in school.
One pivotal moment for me was when I really wanted to go meet with my therapist and the night before there had been a huge blizzard. I remember sticking my cane in the snow just to see how high it was, and it was almost all the way to the top of the cane. The issue with the roads was not only that they were snowy, but they were icy, too. And there was an advisory not to go out, but I really needed to go talk things through with my therapist. So, I got in the car with my mom and I just remember slowly going along. I remember slipping on the ice in our car.
This made me feel really hopeless because I thought, if I'm experiencing such difficulty getting there while having my privilege, then other people are having it so much worse. After talking with my therapist, we got home, and we saw many people digging a car out. We found out that we had a neighbor who needed to get liver dialysis. It was a life-and-death thing for him, and my community came together to dig his car out from four to five feet of snow so that he could get to his dialysis.
I'm sure if my family wasn't able to take me to the hospital, the community would do the same for me, and I am incredibly lucky that I have that. I know that having those support networks as people with disabilities is important.
That also made me think about people who don't have support networks, or people who are disconnected from their support networks. That really pushed me to action. I felt the need to create action steps for people who could potentially become those support networks for people with disabilities. I wanted to make people aware of the issues, so they can help others in the future. You cannot rely on policy, because that will not always be inclusive of everyone, and it might not even happen in the first place. We need to rely on each other.
“I know that having those support networks as people with disabilities is important... I felt the need to create action steps for people who could potentially become those support networks for people with disabilities.”
So, I wound up creating an informational page called Disability Awareness Around the Climate Crisis, or DAACC, where we create informational graphics, an in-person lesson plan, and webinars. When people share the information, others can learn and work to make things more inclusive for people with disabilities. Because right now, we have people who are disabled trying to fight for things in the climate movement. But fighting by yourself can be really really hard, and people might not take you as seriously. You need your friends to help you out. You need your neighbors to help you out every once in a while, and that's okay. It's really important to have those support networks. My family is my support network.
Key Facts
Crip-Camp: A Disability Revolution is a 2020 documentary that debuted in the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Audience Award for US Documentary. The movie chronicles the lives of the attendees of Camp Jened, a summer camp for diabled youth in the 1970s, as they grew into disability rights activists (Crip Camp).
The American Disabilities Act, also known as ADA, was passed in 1990. ADA is a civil rights law that prevents the discrimination of disabled persons in every aspect of public life, including transportation, the workplace, and schools (ADA National Network).
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was an amendment introduced by the Amendments Act that was signed into law in 2008. This amendment to the American Disabilities Act further reinforces the rights held by disabled persons, particularly children in the school environment (US Department of Education).
My grandpa is an immigrant from the Philippines, My mom is half Filipina and I am a quarter Filipina, and while I do not identify as a person of color because I have the immense privilege of being white, it is still something I very much culturally identify with. I’ve seen issues of racism and xenophobia first hand. My mom is a teacher, my dad is a history professor, so I had a lot of education going on in my house, and that has helped me know what I want to do with my life for a very long time. I wanted to be a disabled politician who kicks butt and fights for people with disabilities. But then I realized that that’s a lot of work and my condition is most likely going to get worse, so I wanted to do something that will not stress me out that much that will still help people.
After watching a movie called Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, I learned about disability justice history that I had never learned about in school. I had no idea that so many people fought for things like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and for Section 504. This is something that definitely affects me because I have a 504 plan in my school, which allows me to have accommodations that are absolutely necessary for me. Watching this movie, I felt like, extremely empowered learning about these incredible badass people. That inspired me to want to be a history teacher. I want to teach disabled history. I want to teach Black history. I want to teach Latinx history. I want to teach queer history. I want to teach Asian history. I want to teach Indigenous history. I want to decolonize history.
“I want to teach disabled history. I want to teach Black history. I want to teach Latinx history. I want to teach queer history. I want to teach Asian history. I want to teach Indigenous history. I want to decolonize history.”
After watching a movie called Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, I learned about disability justice history that I had never learned about in school. I had no idea that so many people fought for things like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and for Section 504. This is something that definitely affects me because I have a 504 plan in my school, which allows me to have accommodations that are absolutely necessary for me. Watching this movie, I felt like, extremely empowered learning about these incredible badass people. That inspired me to want to be a history teacher. I want to teach disabled history. I want to teach Black history. I want to teach Latinx history. I want to teach queer history. I want to teach Asian history. I want to teach Indigenous history. I want to decolonize history.
Key Fact
Following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the body of Ethel Freeman, a disabled black woman, was discovered outside one of New Orleans’ hurricane shelters. Her son, Herbert Freeman, Jr., had attempted to wait for the emergency buses to carry him and his mother to safety, but they never came. When the buses finally arrived days after, she had already been dead for four days. Ethel is a symbol of the rampant government neglect for disabled people in society (NBC News).
I saw how people with disabilities are displaced by the climate crisis, especially in coastal communities, and how their experiences can be so much worse than those who are able-bodied because of lack of accessibility and lack of medication access.
There was a woman in Hurricane Katrina who drowned in her own bed because she was unable to evacuate. I read about how people with more severe disabilities are having their human rights grossly violated when being institutionalized against their own will as they attempt to evacuate these storms. As I was reading these things, I wondered why I had never heard about this, and I made it my personal mission to make sure that it was talked about.
I think that what able-bodied people need to do in the climate movement is include people with disabilities—not only as members, but as leaders. Nobody knows disabled issues more than someone with a disability. I think that disabled leadership is so incredibly important because disabled leaders understand that you do not need to be productive 100% of the time—people need breaks. Disabled leadership ensures that a lot more things will be inclusive, as people with disabilities understand that accessibility is not just one solution, but it is multiple solutions.
The Black Lives Matter movement is a great example of multiple, accessible solutions. You can protest, you can provide supplies to protesters, you can sign petitions, you can make calls, you can write emails, you can donate, you can do all of these things! And all of them are solutions. Include people with disabilities, learn about the issues, educate yourself. Make sure that all of the stuff that you're doing is accessible and inclusive.
Even in spaces like the climate movement, people with disabilities were really never included. They would talk about a just transition to green energy, but they wouldn’t consider how many people with disabilities rely on medication and that medication comes in plastic bottles. And then you have me, who is very reliant on my medication, and that's not something to be ashamed of. I need it to be productive. I need it to help me throughout the day. But that medication comes in a little plastic bottle, right? To place the blame on individuals is not only ableist, but classist. We should put much less stress on individual action, and rather on systemic change.
“We should put much less stress on individual action, and rather on systemic change.”
I’ve definitely seen so many spaces in climate movements and others where I’m used as a token. I’m that “disabled climate girl” and people can say they’ve talked to me and then look inclusive, even if they don’t do anything different afterwards. It’s very frustrating because I take time and energy, both things I don’t always have a lot of, to educate people about basic decency towards me and my community, and they just don’t do anything. I’ll be scrolling through Instagram and just see like “BIPOC, queer and working class people…” and it’s like didn’t we have a conversation a week ago about how disabled people are affected by that and need to be included? Especially when disabled people can be and are a part of all of those communities. I think this is something a lot of other people can relate to, is being used as a token and not ever taken seriously. Which is a form of ableism in itself.
Key Facts
Ecofascism is the ideology that authorizes both the state and its citizens to use whatever means necessary to curb environmental degradation. Celebrating and promoting the role of pandemics like COVID-19 in curtailing population growth and mitigating environmental pollution, is an example of eco-fascism. This is an ideology grounded in white supremacy (New Statesman).
Disabled workers are less likely to receive the same wages as an abled person who works the same job. In turn, disabled people are more subject to poverty. Poverty is also a factor in the development of disabilities. Low-income individuals often face difficulties accessing adequate healthcare and may be unable to treat conditions that would be otherwise preventable, leading to the development of disabilities (Talk Poverty).
A really great example of the interconnection between social justice issues is the coronavirus pandemic, the climate crisis, and disability. More specifically, ecofascism, which is the idea that people dying for the environment is a good thing, is so wrong, especially because the people dying are going to be minorities and people with disabilities. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a decrease in air pollution which is great, don't get me wrong. But not when it comes at the cost of people's lives due to a pandemic. And we've already seen that it's communities of color that are dying at higher rates.
That in itself is connected to the climate crisis because pollution disproportionately affects communities of color. That pollution causes individuals to have predispositions to diabetes and asthma, which make coronavirus worse. Those people have disabilities because of the climate crisis.
Additionally, people with disabilities experience disproportionate poverty because it's legal to pay us under minimum wage. That means we may not have the financial ability to pay for air conditioners. Some people with disabilities have difficulty regulating their body temperature, and they overheat more easily. A solution for a lot of people was to go out to public places like a library or a grocery store to use their free air conditioning. These individuals are therefore at increased risk of being harmed by the coronavirus because they cannot go into public spaces to regulate their body temperature and not overheat.
Key Fact
Disaster-impacted people with disabilities are often institutionalized during and after natural disasters. A 2019 study of disabled persons displaced after Hurricanes Florence and Michael found that a multitude of disabled persons in disaster-impacted areas are placed into long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes and psychiatric institutions, against the provisions outlined in the American Disabilities Act. The disaster relief system resorts to the ease of institutionalization rather than tailoring their care towards disabled victims. (National Council of Disability)
A final example of it is institutionalization. People with disabilities, especially POC people with disabilities, are institutionalized. People with more severe disabilities especially are institutionalized against their will during an extreme weather event because the government doesn't know what to do with them. A lot of institutions are not required to disclose how many people in the institution have coronavirus. A lot of them are closing down to visitors from the outside, which means that there's no witnesses to see or prevent abuse.
Racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, all types of bigotry are extremely interconnected because they're all perpetrated by colonialism and capitalism. Capitalism perpetuates the idea that one's value is based on how productive they are, which is inherently ableist. We are considered to have less value, and that is why people can get away with institutionalizing and abusing us. We are seen as being less than because we are not as productive. Racism and ableism are also intertwined because there’s this racist idea that people of color have less value. These issues are all intertwined, and they are all perpetrated by things like capitalism and colonialism.
Izzy at the ocean.
Educating people about these issues and what they can do about them gives me the most hope. I hope that others have the same privilege that I did, where my mom drove me to the hospital, and then the same privilege my neighbor had of his community digging him out from the snow. I'm not helpless and I can do something. And what I can do is do my best to ensure that people have support networks. Climate justice is not just about the climate crisis. It's also racial justice. It's also disability justice. It's also queer justice. It’s also gender justice. All of these issues are interconnected.”
Ready to take action? Here’s what you can do:
Include disabled people. For example, if you have a list of communities affected by something, make sure disabled people are added.
Educate yourself, check out @DAAClimateCrisis on Instagram and other accounts.
Elevate disabled voices, in your personal life and also within organizational spaces. Ensure disabled people are heard (but never speak over us).
Financially support places like the World Institute on Disability and other organizations that help disabled people, but research them first to make sure they’re actually run by disabled people and aren’t able bodied saviors. Better yet, financially support disabled people directly
SOCIAL DISTANCE AND WEAR A MASK. The pandemic is killing the disabled community. You can’t call yourself an ally if you’re not social distancing or wearing mask and not going out whenever possible. Obviously, if you have no choice but to go out due to work or something, that’s different, but always be as safe as you can.
If you’d like to support Izzy and her upcoming journey to college, you can Venmo her @izzyladerman, but donate to those who need it more first.