Divinely Disabled: an interfaith writing workshop with Julia Watts Belser

 Join us for a two part workshop to more deeply imagine a liberatory relationship between religion and disability through writing!

Disabled people often have complex relationships with religion and spirituality. Religious texts and traditions sometimes portray disability as a trial or a tragedy. They often envision healing in ways that rub hard against lived disability experience -- or imagine disability as nothing more than a "challenge" to overcome.  For many disabled people, religious communities can both be a source of solace and a site of pain.

But when disabled people center our own lives and lived experiences, we often tell very different stories.  In this writing workshop, we'll explore these possibilities with Rabbi Julia Watts Belser, a disability theologian and disability activist who is the author of Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole. “The book paints a luminous portrait of what it means to be disabled and one of God’s beloved. Loving Our Own Bones invites readers to claim the power and promise of spiritual dissent, and to nourish their own souls through the revolutionary art of radical self-love.” (from the publisher)

Shaya and R, two disability community organizers, are hosting a two part workshop on January 26th and February 2nd (2-4 pm PST/5-7 pm EST) to more deeply imagine a liberatory relationship between religion and disability. Rabbi Julia will join us for the first session. This workshop will provide an opportunity to put your personal experiences of disability and having a bodymind in conversation with religious passages and spiritual practices. This space is for people who consider themselves to be disabled or are questioning if they’re disabled. We are excited to have people from a variety of religious and spiritual backgrounds and welcome feedback on how to make the space and prompts relevant for your tradition. 

In the first workshop, we will open the space, Rabbi Julia will speak, we will discuss writing prompts and then have some time to write. We will come back and do a small group share, take a break, and then do some large group sharing before closing up. The second workshop will be led by Shaya and R and include more prompts and a space to continue thinking deeply and writing about these topics.

Please contact R and Shaya about access needs asap.
Note: this workshop is two sessions. It is two Sundays in a row: January 26th and February 2nd, and is happening at the same time on both days: 2-4 pm PST/5-7 pm EST. This platform won't let us do two separate events with only one ticket, which is why it only displays the first date. Sorry for the inconvenience!

FAQs: 

How are you defining disability? 

We welcome folks with all kinds of disabilities including mental health, chronic illnesses, developmental, visual, auditory, physical, and mobility disabilities. We also welcome people who are questioning if they might be disabled. We know that there are many people who have experiences of disability but don’t use the label “disabled” for themselves. If you think this might be the space for you, we welcome your participation and we trust you.

What if I’m not a writer?

You don’t need to be a writer! You don’t have to write! There’s space for you to draw, collage, think, or imagine, if that works better for you. We do invite you to try writing, even if it isn’t something you feel “good at”. One of us (R!) is not a writer, but has come out of previous events like this feeling excited and proud of trying something new. We expect we will have some people who are very comfortable writing, and some who haven't tried to write creatively.

Why are you charging?

We want this to be a space accessible for all. We need to be able to pay an ASL interpreter or captioner if any participants request them.
Please pay the level that makes sense for you. We know that disability is expensive, and that many of us are un/under-employed, or living on benefits that barely cover necessities.