CLH Words

There are many reasons why I hate ICE. Many arguments can and have been made for why it should be abolished. Today I want to talk about it from a disability perspective. I have been deeply involved in the disability rights movement for almost a decade now. Both professionally and as a disabled person, a lot of my life revolves around thinking about disability. There are more qualified people to talk about most things around ICE, but I feel the need to talk to my fellow disability advocates on this subject.

               One of, if not the, core tenants of disability rights and advocacy is bodily autonomy. Simply put, people (should) have the right to do what they want to/with their bodies, so long as it does not harm others. In regards to disabled folk, this ranges from making medical decisions to being able to live independently and making everyday decisions. Bodily autonomy, the corner stone of disability rights, ties in to most other civil rights movements: abortion and reproductive rights in the feminist space and access to gender affirming care in the trans movement, to name a couple. This is pretty simple stuff in disability rights circles (not to mention disability justice groups), but I also think it is a key part of discussing immigration.

               People should have the right to live where they want. Boarders are made up lines enforced by the power of states. Being able to move across one, determining where one lives and works, and having the ability to move is part of bodily autonomy. I do not know why the average person moves countries, nor should it matter. What matters is that they do, and they should have the right to make that decision. Bodily autonomy means the right to choose how one lives.

Yet, I do not see this discussed much within the mainstream disability movement. There is little talk about intersectionality, let alone shared struggles. We as a movement need to change this. When disabled people are restrained physically, we say that their bodily autonomy has been violated. Yet, when people are restricted from travel simply because of their citizenship, it is deemed acceptable in many disability circles (and society in large). When disabled people are forced into institutions, where conditions are often deplorable, instead of being allowed to live in the community, disability rights activists, and to some extent the law,  denounce it as a violation of their rights. Yet refugee camps are a normal part of life; out of sight out of mind. Immigration rights is bodily autonomy, and we need to see it as such. We must use our understanding of our own struggles to understand, at least in part, the struggles of others.

               I am by no means the first or only person to say this. I do not mean that the conversation around these two issues does or should have perfect overlap. Nor do I think that this similarity is what makes immigrant rights important—the fact that they are people being harmed should be enough.  What I am saying is that when we fight for disabled autonomy, we must also fight for bodily autonomy for all. We must take heart in the solidarity of our struggles, and actively seek to support everyone. We must continue to see people that have been othered from us as more similar than different. We must be thinking intersectionally.

               This is not the only reason, nor even perhaps the best reason, why ICE should be abolished and immigrants be welcomed and normalized. But it is one that I think a lot of people in my circle will understand. Part of our movement needs to be thinking critically about why and how we fight for equality but also who we fight for. Fuck ICE. May we all have our right to live as we want.