University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa – “Weaving Our Stories: Navigating Disability from an Abolitionist Framework and Championing Dignity and Collective Care in Hawai’i”
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Luanna will reflect on raising a young person with a disability during the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing the lack of resources firsthand and realizing the crisis did not create these gaps so much as expose and accelerate a system already broken. Grounded in Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s abolitionist framework, Luanna will name “abandonment” as policy: the erosion of support infrastructure (adequate staffing, disability services, accessible programming, family respite, and culturally responsive care) is not an accident but a set of budgetary and political choices that determine whose lives are treated as manageable rather than worthy of sustained support. Carrie Ann will examine public policy advocacy within Hawai’i, addressing systemic failures across carceral systems – specifically the complexities of undiagnosed disabilities, dual diagnosis, solitary confinement, the urgent need for Compassionate Release reforms, and the intersection of disability and chronic houselessness. She will conclude with a practical, strategic overview of disability discrimination complaints in employment and housing in Hawai’i, and offer insights on effective advocacy and the advancement of collective care.
For accomodation requests, please contact Katharina Heyer at heyer@hawaii.edu