{"id":488942,"date":"2023-01-07T20:20:13","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T04:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/?p=488942"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:18:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:18:41","slug":"shoved-from-the-ivory-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/2023\/01\/07\/shoved-from-the-ivory-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoved From the Ivory Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shoved From the Ivory Tower: Disabled Graduate Students Crushed Between the University of California & Their Union<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Heather Ringo and Julia M\u00e9traux<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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On November 29<\/span>th<\/span>, 2022, over 200 disabled union workers and allies gathered on Zoom to beg members of the UAW 2865 Bargaining Team (BT) not to drop the core demands of our <\/span>Access Needs Article (Article 23)<\/span><\/a> in their labor strike and negotiations with the University of California (UC). We shared the challenges of acquiring medical documentation and how multiple COVID-19 infections could force us out of our jobs or kill us, how removing mask mandates during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic makes our workplaces inaccessible, and the horrific ways ableist bullying manifests in our labs and classrooms. Some shared how ableism at the UC and within the union led to suicidal ideation. Later that night, the BT voted in a private session \u2014 where rank and file members<\/span> (non-leadership members of an organization or company) <\/span>were excluded from attending, despite our repeated requests for inclusion \u2014 to gut the core demands of our Access Needs article. Most BT members who voted to drop these demands skipped the disability-centered caucus entirely. They couldn\u2019t even be bothered to listen to us.\u00a0 On December 23<\/span>rd<\/span>, union members ratified a contract that abandoned us, with some claiming that the Americans with Disabilities Act is enough to create equity for disabled workers (spoiler alert: it\u2019s not).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When journalists wrote\u00a0 about the UC-UAW strike, they parroted the words of union leadership, calling it \u201cgroundbreaking\u201d and \u201chistorical.\u201d These words sting because the contract leaves so many of us behind. We, as disabled union members, wanted to remember this strike as a historical solidarity movement in which we collectively fought to support our most marginalized colleagues. Instead, union leadership tells us we\u2019re anti-union for demanding access.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Many,
Many, many workers with picket signs reading “UAW: On Strike: Unfair Labor Practice”. They are crowded together outdoors and in the sea of faces there appears to be only one worker wearing a surgical mask. Photo by: Ian Castro. 2022. Provided on FairUC Now Website for Press Use<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The truly historical<\/span> Access Needs Articles<\/span><\/a> our union chose to gut would have included the following access-by-default demands written by and for disabled workers at the UC:<\/span><\/p>\n