Ep. 206: Protecting Disability Rights in Tumultuous Times with Carrie Griffin Basas
EQ: How is the current political, legal, and social climate in Washington State and across the U.S. shaping the future of disability rights — and what must advocates do to protect and advance justice for disabled communities today?
In this episode, we reconnect with Carrie Griffin Basas, attorney, organizational consultant and the founder of CoDesign Works. In episode 18 “Save your Hemorrhoids Story for Facebook”, we considered how disability justice and racial justice are intertwined. For both IWLs, this conversation shifted our perspective on disability justice. Carrie has had a full circle journey since our last conversation—moving away from Washington State and then returning. We get an update on life including their work in the 2023 Rooted in Rights series Parenting Without Pity, and the founding of their new organization, CoDesign Works PLLC. As a woman- and disabled-owned firm, CoDesign is focused on centering community expertise in designing solutions for the social impact sector—offering both legal and strategic support to tax-exempt organizations. We talk about what it really means to “champion inclusive solutions across sectors” and how that shows up in practice. From there, the conversation moves into the current landscape of disability rights in Washington State—what’s working, where the gaps are, and how the state compares nationally. We also get into the bigger picture: emerging legal battles at the federal level, the impact of pharmaceutical shortages on disabled communities, and just how alarmed we should be by recent attacks on the Department of Education and disability-related protections like IEPs and 504 plans.
Relevant Resources:
Guilty Favesies:
Annie: eating the same foods basically every day (until 2 PM).
Hope: dark chocolate
Carrie: Love is Blind, Sweden; little people show
Do Your Fudging Homework:
Annie: there’s been a lot of discussion lately around autism spectrum disorder, especially in light of rather frightening and unhinged comments coming from people working within the federal government. Honestly, it’s poorly understood and the day-to-day discourse around it in society is ignorant at best and extremely harmful at worst. If you’re not autistic and/or don’t understand autism well, please educate yourself about it and be armed with information for these conversations. For a very basic rundown, find a reputable academic source, such as the Cleveland Clinic, to get information. Do not rely on federal government resources at this time.