These thoughts are not endorsed by Accessible Yoga. I am sharing my personal thoughts that have arisen during classes. Any direct quotes from teachers in class will be clearly credited! Assume otherwise, that anything written here is my own interpretation.
Class 2: Accessibility
Word count: 161
Reading time: <1 min
Forcing a body invalidates a body
Students determine whether something is accessible to them, not the teacher.
Challenging ableism and “including” disabled people are not equivalent, and neither of these are the same as centering disabled people
This is true of any -ism. For example, “letting” Black people into a white dominant studio or trans people into a studio obsessed with cis-womanhood very often is equivalent to inviting vulnerable people into violent spaces (i.e. racist, cisheterosexist) and forcing them to either:
pretend they’re fine when they’re harmed
to be labeled as difficult when they point out sources of harm
to be thrust uncompensated into the role of educator
There are some people we cannot successfully create community for.
It is critical to recognize when this is the case, acknowledge our limitations (a practice in cyclical ego dissolution), and bring in people whose lived experience allows for that community to be created.
This means regularly hiring disabled yoga teachers is critical
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