Homeless in Berkeley



Diwali w Veena

Celebrating Diwali with my Veena Athai and Tilak Atimber
Except she does not want to be called Athai
She's too young she says.
Not the generation of my Dad!!




Limits to No Limits



I spent almost two months working on this article with documentation help from the Disabled Student Advocates on Campus and interviewing users of the program and faculty. 

No Limits was the name of individualized personal training offered to disabled students by the Rec Center at UC Berkeley. 

To summarize: 
Old No Limits Program = Free + Unlimited number of sessions of personal training 
Replacement Program being offered = Subsidized + limit of 16 sessions per academic year.

The history and politics of it all. 

Shutdown of Recreational Sports Facility’s No Limits program leaves disabled students with ‘new limits’

Kittu's Birthday

Attending my friend Kittu's Birthday. Was good to see him. Been a while.

Deej

I attended the screening of documentary Deej at UCSF and got to meet DJ Savarese too.
It is quite the journey. The second time I'm seeing the movie. It was screened at Berkeley the first semester I was there. I had reached late so it was nice to see the beginning this time.

PG&E Games

PG&E Games

Power going off. Power going off
Definitely at midnight
No, its 8am
At noon, maybe 1pm.
A game of anticipation... prep for a blackout, high winds and wildfire.
College shut down.

Not gonna happen. No winds to speak of
Just the boy crying wolf.
... 8pm campus blackout
College shut for another day.

36 hours to turn it back on!!
College closed for a 3rd day.

What is this game?




Enjoying Tacos on Thursday with my Calbear buddy David
Unexpected holiday due to the power outages at UC Berkeley. Ridiculous that Cal was forced to shut down for 3 days due to PG&E's ambiguity about its actions and inefficiencies. 


Disability Justice Movement

The disability justice movement is a social and political movement led by disabled individuals, aimed at challenging ableism and promoting the rights and inclusion of disabled people in society.

These are some of the ideas around disability justice that I admire, laid out by Sins Invalid, a disability justice organization.

  • Leadership of the most impacted: emphasizes the importance of centering and prioritizing the voices and experiences of disabled individuals who are most marginalized and impacted by ableism both inside and outside the disability community. The leadership of these individuals is critical for creating effective and inclusive solutions to issues affecting the disability community.
  • Interdependence: This principle emphasizes the importance of recognizing and valuing interdependence, where disabled individuals and their allies work together to meet their collective needs. This challenges the idea of independence as the ideal and recognizes the importance of community support and mutual aid.
  • Recognizing wholeness and worth: embracing the diversity and complexity of disabled experiences and that their lives have "worth" whether or not they are able to contribute to the economy. 
  • Sustainability and collective care: valuing rest, self-care, and community support, and recognizing that disability justice work is ongoing and requires long-term planning and sustainability.
  • Cross-Disability and Cross-movement solidarity: recognizes the  solidarity and support across all types of disability. Disability justice work must be inclusive and accessible to all. It also emphasizes that disability justice work must be in solidarity with other movements and actively work towards building cross-movement relationships and collaborations.
  • Collective access: recognizes the importance of access as a collective responsibility, rather than an individual burden. This means creating accessible spaces, practices, and policies that benefit everyone, and not just disabled individuals.
  • Recognizing the legacy of systemic injustice: This principle recognizes the long history of systemic injustice and oppression faced by disabled individuals, and the need to acknowledge and address this legacy in disability justice work. This includes recognizing and addressing the role of eugenics, institutionalization, and other forms of ableist violence and oppression in shaping the experiences of disabled individuals today
  • Intersectionality. recognizes and addresses the ways in which ableism intersects with other forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and colonialism. Disability justice work must be intersectional and actively work to dismantle all forms of oppression.