To Be a Problem: A Black Woman's Survival in the Racist Disability Rights Movement

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A searing critique of the disability rights movement from within, and a call for collective liberation that is pro-Black and centers disabled people of color A searing critique of the disability rights movement from within, and a call for collective liberation that is pro-Black and centers disabled people of color For over twenty years, Dara Baldwin has often been the only person of color in the room when significant disability policy decisions are made. Disenfranchisement of people of color and multi-marginalized communities within the disability rights community is not new and has left many inside the community feeling frustrated and erased. In To Be a Problem, Baldwin candidly shares her journey to becoming a disability activist and policymaker in DC while critiquing the disability rights community. She reveals the reality of erasure for many Black people and people of color in the disability movement and argues that, in turn, many white disabled people center themselves within the work without addressing their own white privilege. Disability rights groups have been centering white, straight, cisgender people while racial justice groups often fail to center disabled people, leading many Black and Brown disabled people to start their own Disability Justice organizations. Drawing from her unique vantage point, Baldwin calls readers to understand the shortcomings of the disability rights movement while inspiring us to push all movements towards a more inclusive and authentic liberation.

Reviews

To Be a Problem is an essential guide to how race and gender intersect with disabilities. Readers who admire the works of bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, and Alice Wong will appreciate the issues that Baldwin unravels here.
Booklist

A frank critique of the disability rights movement. Recommended for readers interested in activism and social justice.
Library Journal

Will leave you inspired to champion a more inclusive and equitable world.
Brittany K. Barnett, author of A Knock. at Midnight

Dara Baldwin is courageous, committed, the definition of intersectional, and a fierce movement builder. We can learn much from her.
V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of The Vagina Monologues and Reckoning

A badly needed intervention in our times of overlapping and intersecting crises.
Naomi Klein, author of Doppelganger

To read a book so rooted in our collective humanity is an absolute gift.
Dave Zirin, author of The Kaepernick Effect

Read this book.
Zach Norris, author of Defund Fear

Daras voice, and this book, is so unique and criticalin this moment.
Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage

This book reads like a freedom song for these overlooked segments of the disability rights movement(s), with Dara Baldwin crafting lyrics that speak hope and courage to readers.
Khaled A. Beydoun, author of Islamophobia

A tireless disrupter who wears her scars proudly, she knows that movements steeped in whiteness will not get us where we need to go.
Laura Flanders, author and host of The Laura Flanders Show

Will hopefully lead to reflection and transformation, not only in that movement but in all of our movements that continue to be plagued by elitism and white privilege.
Medea Benjamin, peace activist and cofounder of CODEPINK

A testament to Baldwins family, faith, courage, and the many times she has brought race into necessary rooms.
Sunu P. Chandy, author of My Dear Comrades

An incisive book.
Thenmozhi Soundararajan, author of The Trauma of Caste

Uncovers the problem and points to its resolution: BIPOC disabled people need to be at the heart of disabilityjustice.
Zillah Eisenstein, author of Abolitionist Socialist Feminist

Dara Baldwin is a movement warrior for justice.
Heather Booth, American civil rights activist

Author Bio

Dara Baldwin is an activist, scholar, and author with over twenty years of experience in policy and social justice work. She currently runs her own equity consulting firm DMadrina, LLC. She formerly held the position of Director of National Policy for the Center for Disability Rights, Inc. (CDR). Baldwin has led multiple national and international advocacy campaigns as an expert in disability laws and policy. She works on Housing and Transportation equity, Criminal Justice, and many other issue areas.