Disability Archives Lab

ALT 6 glittery purple stickers lay on a bright blue background. Two show the Disability Archives Lab logo, with a squiggly pencil, folder and paperclip; one says “I’d rather be archiving disability”; one says “disabled archivist”; one is a squiggly iridescent pencil; and one is a glittery paperclip.

ALT Purple and black text on a light purple background that says “DONATE TO GAZA TO GET DISABILITY ARCHIVES LAB STICKERS How it works: 1. Donate $30 or more to any of the fundraisers listed in “Stickers 4 Gaza (Donate)” section in our linktree (linktr.ee/DisabilityArchivesLab) 2. Send us a screenshot of the receipt that shows the amount & fundraiser            - via DM (@DisabilityArchivesLab)            - via email ([email protected]) 3. We mail you this set of 6 Disability Archives Lab Stickers! Limited to US and Canada (for now)”

ALT a photograph of Gracen, a white non binary person with a brown bowl cut and clear glasses, overlaid with an orange circle containing the following text: Cripping Absence: Thinking through the archival erasure(s) of disability Gracen Brilmyer McGill University, Canada Friday October 13, 3:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. North Quad Space 2435 and online Register to attend online umsi.info/events

ALT yellow text on a purple background with an illustration of a folder, paperclip, and pencil that says: “archival work is incredibly personal because of the people that we are losing because of institutionalization, because of lack of medical and financial support, access to care, and those who are just aging. So yeah, that's one of very many emotional parts of thinking about archiving with other disabled people.” Gracen Brilmyer on Librarypunk

ALT White text highlighted in blue: re/recordings: The Disability Archives Lab Blog; Crip Aesthetics, Art: An Interview with Nat Decker by Sam Pappas. The text is over an image of a sculpture with pink, orange and white twisted tubes of metal weaving together to create an impression of a rollator walker-like device with chrome wheels and a large chrome ball suspended in the center. The sculpture sits on a concrete floor in a gallery room with white walls.

ALT black text on a grey background: SP: How would you define the expression “disability aesthetics?” ND: I’m still figuring this one out. I think of the early days when I was thrust into this very recognizable experience of disability, and was in the hospital and taking in the appearance of these various objects around me and these textures of sensation, objects which were so coded as medical, unwell, disabled. I started to notice their unique beauty as an act of resistance, and they became a visual language I began to relate to in my work. They became tools of building this visual world and narrative of how I was creatively interpreting, processing, and archiving what I was going through. It’s telling an intimate story.

ALT A screenshot of a 3D CG animation of an abstract green sinewy figure walking with arms that reach forward, intersecting with many tubes and forming two front appendages which take steps in tandem with the legs. Tubes repeat and flair off the back of the figure which floats on a white background.

ALT A screenshot of the collaborative and iterative process of designing the Disability Archives Lab Logo: A digital collage of wiggly 3D blue and purple folders, pencils, and paperclips that Nat produced mixed with other illustrations / images such as neon signs, tied rope, notes, and digital drawings on top of them. They show the evolution of the Disability Archives Lab logo with different shapes and colors and inspired by other imagery.

ALT A blonde wire haired dog with big ears is in a lavender tote bag

ALT White text highlighted in blue: re/recordings: The Disability Archives Lab Blog, Beyond Ramps in our era of COVID-19 and Beyond By Beatrice Adler-Bolton & Sabrina Ward-Kimola

ALT A close up of a pile of iridescent rainbow purple stickers of the disability archives lab logo

ALT We dream with others: We have lots of collaborative projects in the works & are open to new ones too! We are currently seeking funding for new collaborative archival projects to pay disabled people. Check back for opportunities to collaborate or contribute!

ALT What we do: We talk to disabled ppl: We love highlighting disabled people’s perspectives! We have a few projects that use interviews with disabled people to think about what it feels like to be in archives. We’ve interviewed disabled archival users and disabled archivists about their experiences in the past and their desires for the future.

ALT We talk to disabled ppl: These conversations help shape publications where we call attention to issues around archival representation, accessibility, and labor. And we highlight interviewees’ words on public platforms (like here!). Visit our Projects page for descriptions of some of our work that uses interviews. Check out our Resources page for a list of publications, presentations, and other places to find our work.

ALT We build stuff: We recently launched our blog, re/recordings, to create a space for disabled people to tell their stories. We are currently working on building a disability digital archive! This digital archive will feature historical records and also fund the digitization of new work, oral histories, and other materials from disabled people today! The archive’s design will be shaped by interviews we’ve done with disabled people about the way they want to use and access archives.

ALT We build stuff: Our hope is that this archive can be a place to host (and fund) different archival projects and collections from many disabled people! Check out the “Crip Futures Archive” on our Projects page for more info!