Crip Camp & Adobe Fellowship
in honor of
Ki’tay D. Davidson
About the Fellowship Program
The Crip Camp Impact Campaign was honored to partner with Adobe in establishing a fellowship program for creatives and community organizers with disabilities interested in elevating their work to the next level of visibility.
Through a competitive application process, 12 fellows were selected to receive a $5,000 grant to complete a passion project over a 7-month period. Fellows participated in monthly training classes with Adobe and Crip Camp lecturers and had direct access to a pool of mentors — well-established in their respective industries. All fellows receiveda one year complimentary subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud ($600+/year in value).
Crip Camp’s current impact can largely be attributed to the People’s Video Theater, which provided video cameras to disabled campers at Camp Jened, and Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham, two friends with and without disabilities, who have a long history of working together in the documentary community as sound mixers and directors. The creative and documentary community rallied around Crip Camp to amplify the stories that helped spur on the Disability Rights Movement. We want to continue this tradition by supporting more creatives and community organizers with disabilities in having the tools and relationships they need to make powerful impacts within their spheres of interest and influence.
Why Named After
Ki’tay D. Davidson?
“I challenge the extent to which we place the responsibility for advocacy on those designated as leaders or ‘champions.’ Advocacy is not just for charismatic individuals or high profile community organizers. Advocacy is for all of us; advocacy is a way of life. It is a natural response to the injustices and inequality in the world. While you and I may not have sole responsibility for these inequities that does not alter its reality.” – Ki’tay D. Davidson
Ki’tay D. Davidson’s memory lives on in many communities. Originally from Chicago and based in L.A., Ki’tay was a Black disabled trans man and, in his words, a “believer in love + collective liberation”. He passed away in 2014 at 22-years-old. As co-creator of the #DisabilitySolidarity praxis, Ki’tay challenged all forms of oppression by mobilizing multiply-marginalized communities including Black/Indigenous, disabled, queer, trans/gendernonconforming, and other communities. President Obama’s White House acknowledged him as a Champion of Change, and Talila Lewis described him as “…the voice of love and justice in institutions and organizations rife with oppression and violence…”
In honor of his incredible life, legacy, and the work he did with and across disability communities, the Crip Camp Impact Campaign team presents: The Crip Camp Adobe Fellowship in Honor of Ki’tay D. Davidson.
To read more about Ki’tay and the work he contributed, please visit:
Announcing the Inaugural
Cohort of Fellows
Michaela Oteri, a disabled visual artist living in Florida known for her digitally created “Cripple Punk” Portraits seeking to uplift disabled people, depicting disabled people in beauty and strength.
Walela Nehanda, a Black non binary queer writer and community organizer in South Central, Los Angeles with advanced stage leukemia, working to build power among the working class Black masses through mutual aid programs, healing circles, popular education events, workshops, and more.
Theodore Dorset III, a Deaf Black producer invested in youth programs in their hometown of Detroit, intent on inspiring and lifting up a new generation of Deaf and Hard of Hearing artists.
Toi Scott, an Afro-indigenous sick and disabled, non-binary person doing anti-racist, decolonial healing, environmental, food, and disability work in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Elaine Shelly, a Black disabled lesbian living in San Leandro, California, committed to advocating for the expansion of services that help keep people with disabilities in their homes and communities.
Mohammed Khalid, based in Maryland, is a storyteller and advocate with Asperger’s Syndrome for currently and formerly incarcerated disabled people.
Topher González Ávila, a queer Latinx Deaf filmmaker in Houston, advocating for equitable representation of BIPOC Deaf communities onscreen.
Dominic Bradley, a Brooklyn-based Black, queer self-taught artist and educator interested in featuring those who perform creative, healing, or organizing work in their visual art.
Stella Akua Mensah, a Black queer writer, performer, peer support specialist, and psychiatric survivor in Boston who writes on themes of neurodivergence, psychosis, Black ancestorhood, queer chosen family.
Cassandra Perry, creator of the Disability and Sexuality Access Network, is a creative and community organizer living in Maryland with focuses in accessibility, sex and kink, pain, disability, and illness.
Antoine Hunter, a Black Deaf dancer living in Oakland, California, seeks to shift people’s thinking on social justice and human rights through the personal testimonies he shares on stage.
T.S. Banks, a Black queer, disabled non-binary poet, playwright, disability justice advocate and community organizer from Madison, WI, passionate about their people, especially Black trans people and Black Disabled people.
Who Are Fellowship Advisors?
Fellowship advisors include esteemed choreographer Alice Sheppard, media maker Alice Wong, special effects producer Kaitlyn Yang, critically acclaimed actress Natasha Ofili, creative filmmaker and producer Storm Smith, actress and model Jillian Mercado, and writer, dreamer, and movement worker Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Additionally, Crip Camp producers Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham will advise fellows.