Here are some weekly news, events, and opportunities for you to check out, DEC Community! Please see below and join us. You are all amazing and loved! 
Speaking of love, please don’t forget about DEC’s upcoming Valentine’s Party Dance and Fundraiser! We will meet at C3 in Corvallis in the ballroom on Sunday, February 12 from 3-7pm. There will be ASL and Spanish language interpretation. Please come hang with everyone! See the attached pictures for access to this information in a different way.
Also, February is Black History Month! Our NAACP Linn Benton Branch has lots of amazing events this month and DEC wants to amplify their crucial work. Please check out all the learning and social justice opportunities they are creating here: https://linnbentonnaacp.com/Events
Health, Wellness, and Navigation Support
Here is some information on SNAP benefits and food security: More than 720,000 Oregonians rely on the federal food Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to eat. In April 2020, after the pandemic hit and many people lost wages and jobs, federal authorities increased monthly SNAP benefits by nearly 70% to an average of nearly $450 per household a month. But in March, those monthly emergency funds will go away, reducing the average benefit to nearly $270 a month for about 410,000 households.
To sign up for SNAP, go to benefits.oregon.gov or call 800-699-9075 or TTY 71, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
To find food resources go to or call:
· Foodfinder.oregonfoodbank.org
· www.caporegon.org/find-services
· www.211info.org (211)
· www.adrcoforegon.org (855-673-2372)
Our Wednesday Wellness support group that happens each week from 5-6pm is currently full. Stay tuned for other online opportunities for art and mindfulness.If youneed some community and support to feel more connected, grounded, and loved, you can still connect with DEC. Please email corvallisdisabilityjustice@gmail.com or text 404-825-4524. We are here for you!
The Corvallis Clinic Foundation Hosts Weekly Online Mental Wellness Groups for Youth, Parents and Guardians on Monday nights starting at 6:00pm, 4x per month. No cost. No pre-registration needed. Drop-ins welcome. Click on the links at CorvallisClinicFoundation.org/youth-mental-wellness to join a session. You will be asked for your email address and name, but you can remain anonymous. Register here: Community Webinar Registration (English)
*Please Note: Once you’ve registered, you will receive the zoom link to join. If you require any accommodations to fully participate in these sessions, or have any other questions about this webinar, please contact
OHA.therapeutics@dhsoha.state.or.us
or Gregory.Desrosiers@dhsoha.state.or.us.
Disability Culture and Pride Building
This article talks about how disability justice advocates stirred things up at a film festival lately! Sundance Jury Walks Out After Festival Fails to Provide Captioning – Variety
Lisa Freeman is tired of having to speak up when people refer to her as “a wheelchair” — the inanimate object she uses. Lisa writes about why language and treatment of people in wheelchairs matters. Read about her experience and ideas here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/wheelchair-language-first-person-1.6712291
Check out this cool, free, streamable film by disabled activist and filmmaker Reid Davenport! It is called “I Didn’t See You There”: I Didn’t See You There | POV (pbs.org)
From our friends at Cornerstone:
Winter Greetings… its chilly and rainy outside but Living Studios affiliated artists are heating up the art world!
First, a huge thanks to the Corvallis Museum and all those who attended “unfold your book , hold each page” a performance inspired by our own Pierre Pyke!
On the horizon we are a part of an inspired exhibit called “A COMMUNITY IS A SMALL TOWN” at the Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton. This exhibit opens TOMORROW February 3rd and will be followed by an exhibit called “Walk This Way” opening in April at Western Oregon University’s Cannon Gallery. This exhibit will include all Living Studios affiliated artists.
From bird watching at Finley to creating at our studio to working on large scale community murals… Living Studios affiliated artists play an important role in our community. We program Monday- Friday 9am-12pm and 1pm- 4pm. We currently have openings, get in touch with us for more information. Bburris@cornerstoneassoc.org
You can make some noise with DEC’s Magic Luscious Spirit Sounds Music Collective!
When: The first and third Monday of every month from 2-4pm
Where: In-person at Turn, Turn, Turn (8 NE Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97211)
AND Virtually over Zoom (click here to join)
Meeting ID: 814 6878 7797
Passcode: 053972
For more info, email Scott at music@disabilityequitycenter.org
Check out DEC’s Moth Dreams Collaborative Art & Zine, an art meet-up and zine collective
When: The first and third Wednesday of every month from 2-4pm
Where: In-person at the Kennedy School in Portland, 5736 NE 33rd Ave, Portland, OR 97211
AND Virtually over Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/97490882507
Meeting ID: 974 9088 2507
For more info, email Kate at kate@disabilityequitycenter.org
Opportunities for Learning and Social Justice
The Center for Applied Philosophy, Politics, and Ethics is hosting a series of monthly online talks on disability politics. These will take place on Wednesday evenings 6pm-7.30pm (PLEASE NOTE: this is UK time. PST in the USA will be at 10am). On Wednesday the 8th of February listen to Lucy Burke, ‘Genetic Fictions: Imagining Disabled Lives in Contemporary Debates about Prenatal Diagnosis’
This talk will explore the complex entanglement of new reproductive technologies, genetics, health economics, rights-based discourses and ethical considerations of the value of human life with particular reference to representations of Down’s syndrome and the identification of trisomy 21. Prompted by the debates that have occurred in the wake of the adoption of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), the talk will consider the representation of Down’s syndrome and prenatal testing in bioethical discourse, feminist writings on reproductive autonomy and disability studies and in popular fiction. Burke will argue that the conjunction of neo-utilitarian and neoliberal and biomedical models produce a hostile environment in which the concrete particularities of disabled people’s lives and experiences are placed under erasure for a ‘genetic fiction’ that imagines the life of the ‘not yet born’ infant with Down’s syndrome as depleted, diminished and burdensome.
Please contact z.sutherland@brighton.ac.uk with any accessibility requirements.
You can join this month’s talk using the Zoom link (click here to join)
Meeting ID: 836 4888 6512
Passcode: 859591
Please find a copy of the keynote flier for this year’s 38th Annual Pacific Rim International Conference and Disability and Diversity: here. And text-only version here.
Check out this opportunity to work towards disability justice at the Paul Longmore Institute in California! https://mailchi.mp/sfsu/marchcafecrip-15114283?fbclid=IwAR3ubJv7NKqRSzI6lIeQ-TMzIEvM5k0rE3Ell4iK9VX3LBQhWfl69XE_lk8
One of our disability justice allies just started the petition “Tell AT&t to Reinstate 411 Directory Assistance service.” This petition especially supports access for elders and people with disabilities. Their goal is to gain even more support. You can read more and sign the petition here: https://chng.it/GjwskzsD9X
这 Disability Health & Employment Equity Coalition of Oregon is a group of stakeholders personally invested in the health and prosperity of the disability community. They need your help championing Senate Bill 576 during the 2023 legislative session by spreading the word and sharing your story.
As many of you know, Medicaid and the Americans with Disabilities Act help people with disabilities but also create a cycle of poverty and exclusion that contributes to poor health. Through state-level system and policy changes, Disability Health & Employment Equity Coalition strives to create equity in health and employment so the disability community can thrive and prosper in health and wealth.
Please join by supporting this legislation!
Share their work with your networks and request their support of this legislation.
Share your story of how systemic barriers have prevented you from health and prosperity.
Schedule a visit with your legislators and attend hearings to provide your testimony during the 2023 Legislature Regular Session.
If you have questions, please email info@disabilityequitycoalition.org. And join the monthly coalition meeting on the 2nd/4th Tuesdays of the month from 4pm-5:30pm.
Please see this call from OSU student, Meghann Fenn!
I am a doctoral candidate in Human Development and Family Studies. For my dissertation I am seeking current OSU students who are; at least 18 years old, and identify as having a physical disability to participate in a research study. The purpose of this research study is to assess how Oregon State University’s response to the pandemic affected the experiences of students with physical disabilities. For more information about this study, please contact me at: