By Jordyn Haime

Granite State News Collaborative

A Black Lives Matter protest more accessible to those in the disabled community is being organized for next Friday in Portsmouth.

Juliana Good, a graduate student of UNH’s Master of Public Policy Program, said she wanted to organize the event after attending several protests in the Seacoast area that were not accessible. 

“There were no ASL (American Sign Language)  interpreters, the routes were not really planned with wheelchair users in mind,” she said. “Being deaf, I miss out on a lot of the speeches and the chants and everything, so I wanted to create something that was accessible to the community,” she said.

Good is collaborating with Deborah Opramolla, co-chair of the New Hampshire Poor People’s Campaign, to host the event. Opramolla, a Black woman who is hard of hearing, said people with disabilities have been unintentionally left out of protests and conversations, and that racial justice organizers outside of the Poor People’s Campaign have yet to approach her to collaborate.

“The disability community is marginalized…people don’t think about us. People don’t realize it’s more than getting a ramp and an interpreter. It’s making it truly accessible so that all people can take part in it,” Opramolla said.

“This is our way of saying, not only are we supporting Black Lives Matter, but I’m coming to the table, and you’re going to make room for me,” she added.

“I don’t think it’s intentional at all and I know everybody’s heart is in the right place. But for most people, the disability community is an afterthought unless you know somebody who is disabled or you are disabled yourself,” Good said.

In a 2016 study by the Ruderman Family Foundation - an organization that advocates for people with disabilities - researchers estimated that anywhere from one third to one half of the people killed in the United States by police had a disability based on a three year review of media accounts of the killings.  It also found that the media often misrepresented or failed to recognize the element of disability when people are injured or killed by police. Their review included searching for both physical and mental disabilities mentioned in relation to the person killed by police. 

In addition to interpreters, the parade route for next week’s event will be shorter than previous protests. After a series of speakers outside of Book and Bar at Pleasant St., protesters will head to the African Burying Ground Memorial at State St. less than a quarter mile away, where Opramolla will read the names of Black disabled people who have been victims of police brutality.

The event has also been designed to allow people to participate from inside their cars or remotely via livestream. “A lot of disabled folks are immunocompromised and susceptible to COVID-19, so we wanted to give them an opportunity to participate from their cars,” Good said.

Good recently started a GoFundMe campaign to fund American Sign Language interpreters, as well as water, snacks, first aid supplies and a large banner. It has raised more than $500 so far. She also received a $600 grant from the New Hampshire Council on Developmental Disabilities to pay interpreters.

“The major cost is for paying interpreters because it’s a highly skilled profession and they deserve to be paid for their work,” Good said. Any leftover funds will be donated to the National Black Disability Coalition and bail funds, she said.

Good added that next Friday’s protest is not just for disabled people. “This protest is for everybody,” she said.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.