READ OUR OPEN LETTER HERE

(Easy Read version here)

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The atrocities unfolding in Gaza over the last nine months constitute a mass-disabling event. 

Recent and emerging figures show Israel's 'special military operation' has now killed more than 38,000 people (some estimates suggest more than 186,000 - see update here), and injured a further 88,000. Furthermore, it has destroyed healthcare infrastructure vital to the continued survival of Palestinian citizens. Of Gaza's 36 hospitals, only 13 remain 'partially functioning'.

With poor sanitary conditions and the dire lack of adequate healthcare on the ground, even minor injuries can quickly become life-threatening or incapacitating. Amputation of limbs has become a distressingly common practice - more than ten children each day have had limbs amputated since October 7th.

The prospects of Palestinians with pre-existing disabilities are increasingly deteriorating, too. A lack of access to basic mobility aids like wheelchairs has left many Gazans stranded within the midst of an active conflict zone, while many Deaf and hard-of-hearing people are forced to survive without hearing aids.

Israel's weaponisation of disability against the people of the Gaza Strip must not be allowed to continue.

As people with disabilities living in so-called 'Australia', we can abide this brutality no longer. We can abide the complicity of the Australian government no longer. We can abide the silence of our national representative organisations no longer.

We understand that any genuine commitment to the betterment and empowerment of people with disabilities must extend beyond the 'Australian' border, to recognise the shared experience, and shared humanity, of all people with disabilities.

In collaboration with other grass-roots disability groups, we have authored an open letter urging organisations to break their silence, organise in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and lobby the Australian government to take substantive measures toward a ceasefire amongst other commitments.

These organisations have sizeable networks and a national platform. With your support, we can hope to leverage these resources in the fight for Palestinians with disabilities.

Disability groups and organisations wishing to endorse this letter can contact crippscontracolonialism@proton.me