Capitalism and Disability [4-weeks, $200 Suggested]

Instructor: Madden | Sundays 7:00-9:00 PM ET | November 6-27

In “The Right Not to Work: Power and Disability,” artist Sunaura Taylor writes: “I have a confession to make: I do not work. I have very little work value (if any), and I am a drain on our country’s welfare system. I have another confession to make: I do not think this is wrong, and to be honest, I am very happy not working.” Disability experiences can sometimes resist and refuse capitalism and its definitions of work, independence, productivity, and progress. Taylor’s “confession” is an example, as are mutualist and community-oriented economies where disabled people support and learn from one another. But capitalism also produces disability: the jobs people do are often disabling, and our feminist, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist analysis show that people are not equally likely to be working in dangerous jobs. Even within fields not marked as high risk, some bodies are made to suffer at higher rates, making disability inevitable for some. During our seminar, we’ll study work by Marta Russell, who argues that “our economic system produces the state of disablement and that the prevailing rate of exploitation of labor determines who is considered disabled and who is not.” In her Marxist analysis, disability is defined by capitalism. We’ll pair excerpts from Russell’s collection of essays, called Capitalism and Disability, with writing that will help us understand the medical industrial complex and the relationship of disability justice to abolitionist organizing. Writers will include Sunarua Taylor, Marta Russell, Talia “TL” Lewis, Alison Kafer, Jina Kim, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Mariame Kaba.

Image: Sunaura Taylor’s “Wheelchairs”

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For each class, four (4) full tuition scholarships and five (5) 80% tuition scholarships are available. Due to limited scholarship funds, we are currently only able to offer one class per term at the full scholarship level to any individual student—if you need a full scholarship, please sign up for the class you most want to take and email us to waitlist for any additional classes. We will add you when funds become available. Direct student donations are a crucial aspect of our funding model, and without them, we are not able to pay instructors a living wage. We encourage you to pick the payment tier that corresponds with your needs, but ask that you please consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out or you would like to pay tuition on an installment basis, please email us directly, and we will work with you.

If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, please email us and we will reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After classes begin, we are only able to make partial refunds and adjustments.