Zoeglossia and Conferences for Writers with Disabilities

When this blog began in 2005, there were few resources for writers with disabilities. There were two literary journals dedicated to disabled writers, Kaleidoscope and Breath and Shadow.  AWP was resistant to accommodations at their annual conferences and the Deaf and Disabled Writers Caucus advocating for writers accessibility there did not exist. Literary anthologies - Beauty is a Verb, The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked, Stairs and Whispers, Structuring the Fractured Selves or those put out by John Lee Clark and Raymond Luczak such as Deaf Lit Extravaganza - that gave writers the chance to acquaint themselves with the range of writers working in Deaf and disability literature had not been published. There were no Presses like Handtype or Reclamation Press and the Disability Literature Consortium that distributes the published books of  writers with disabilities had not even been thought of. There was the annual Society for Disability Studies Conference but this was oriented toward scholarship and activism, not toward literary work.

Thirteen years later, there are many more opportunities for Deaf and disabled writers and much has changed.  One thing that has not changed, however, is that there are still no conferences or writers retreats dedicated solely to the work of disabled writers.  That is, until now.

Zoeglossia began two years ago as the brain child of writers Sheila Black, Jennifer Bartlett and Connie Voisine acting on a suggestion by poet Kathi Wolfe.   It set as its goal “to pioneer, a new, inclusive space for poets with disabilities.”    It’s vision was to set up a series of retreats for writers with disabilities that would allow “poets from all backgrounds will have the opportunity to learn and develop from prominent, established writers who also have disabilities,”  modeling itself on organizations like Canto Mundo and Cave Canem. 

Bartlett, Black and Voisine have been joined by other disabled writers at poetry readings and conferences to put out the word about Zoeglossia.  They’ve established a website and Facebook page for interested writers and this year they have a chance to see the concrete results.  Two Zoeglossia generated conferences are in the works.  Both are still in the planning stages.  The first will take place at the University of Pennsyvlvania on October 16 of this year. Three panels and a reading are already set and more information will be coming out soon.  In the second instance,  Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio has agreed to provide their campus as a location for our conference, scheduled for May 20-23, 2019.

The realization of these two conferences will be an important achievement for disabled writers and disability literature, but, of course, anyone reading this knows the punch line.  It takes money to make these things happen and in the political climate funding for things like the arts and disability, not to mention their intersection, are incredibly hard to come by. Zoeglossia needs as much financial support as it is able to get to provide these opportunities. They are glad for whatever you can give.    You can help out by donating on the Zoeglossia website at zoeglossia.org.