Disability

There are often great silences around disability, including within queer communities. Similarly, non-heterosexual sexualities are often left out of the discussion within disability rights organizations and elsewhere in the disabled community. Disability is a term that encompasses a wide range of differential physical, sensory, psychological and cognitive abilities and effects many folks visibly and often invisibly. Below you will find a number of resources which address the intersection of disability within the LGBTQIA community. Please note that this list is not exhaustive.  Please email Marisa at mboyce@berkeley.edu if you have suggestions for additions to this page.

On Campus

Disabled Students Program

DSP provides academic accommodations and services for UC Berkeley students with disabilities. Accommodations are made on an individual basis.

Are Cripples Screwed? 

Are Cripples Screwed holds on campus Q&A sessions for students and community members.  In their own words, “ACS will be breaking the stigma that people with disabilities are asexual as we discuss sex in the media, culture, and our own lives.”  ACS has hosted panels in the past that have focused specifically on LGBT experiences.

Local Resources

Rainbow Lambda Society of the Deaf

RLSD provides community events for folks who are Deaf, hard of hearing, and identify as part of LGBTIQQ culture, aka Deafqueer culture. Join our Group to receive updates about upcoming social events, workshops, and fundraisers!

Berkeley Free Clinic Peer Counseling

This free, confidential service for individuals is provided by lay volunteers trained in active listening skills: this is the basic, "talk therapy" approach. 

Drop-in peer counseling is available Monday through Friday starting at 6:30pm. Appointments may also be made outside of these hours by calling (510) 548-2744. 

Ongoing scheduled individual counseling may be set up through drop-ins. 

We also offer group counseling every Monday night from 6:30 to 8:30. The group is called The Radical Mental Health Group. Topics are open and decided on by the needs of the group present.

The Icarus Project

The Icarus Project envisions a new culture and language that resonates with our actual experiences of 'mental illness' rather than trying to fit our lives into a conventional framework.

We are a network of people living with and/or affected by experiences that are often diagnosed and labeled as psychiatric conditions. We believe these experiences are mad gifts needing cultivation and care, rather than diseases or disorders. By joining together as individuals and as a community, the intertwined threads of madness, creativity, and collaboration can inspire hope and transformation in an oppressive and damaged world. Participation in The Icarus Project helps us overcome alienation and tap into the true potential that lies between brilliance and madness.

National & International Resources

BENT: A Journal of CripGay Voices

BENT is an archive of the now out-of-publication journal of true stories by disabled gay men.  

Blind LGBT Pride International

“The purpose of Blind LGBT Pride is to provide for the betterment of the lives of those who are visually impaired and who are LGBT By providing a forum for the views and concerns of visually impaired persons interested in issues facing those who are LGBT; By providing information about publications of interest to members that are produced in accessible format and by encouraging the production of such material in accessible format; & by providing education on accessibility awareness.”

Disability Rights Advocates

DRA is a non-profit law firm working to secure the civil rights of people with all types of disabilities. They provide legal services free of charge.

Passing Twice

“Passing Twice is an informal network of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender stutterers and their friends.  Passing Twice meets every year at the NSA convention, and also holds workshops at other stuttering conferences around the world.”  They also have a quarterly newsletter, e-mail list, and an annual mailing list.

Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf

RAD is a non-profit organization working “to establish and maintain a society of Deaf GLBT, to encourage and promote the educational, economical, and social welfare; to foster fellowship; to defend our rights; and advance our interests as Deaf GLBT citizens concerning social justice; to build up an organization in which all worthy members may participate in the discussion of practical problems and solutions related to their social welfare.” 

ReachOut USA

“ReachOut USA focuses on the intersection between disability and LGBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) concerns. ReachOut USA seeks to influence the disability community to be more responsive to LGBT individuals, and at the same time it seeks to influence LGBT individuals and organizations to be more accountable to people who have disabilities. 

Regard

Though Regard based in the UK, they are one of the most established organizations working to raise awareness of multiple sexualities within disabled communities. Regard also works, “to combat social isolation amongst our membership, and to campaign on issues specifically affecting disabled LGBT people”