Queer & Disabled
August 2, 2022
6:00p (EST)
Virtual event
Live on facebook & YouTube
The queer community is full of all kinds of marginalized groups. Queer disabled folks tend to be looked over when it comes to accessing safe spaces, as well as accessing resources to support their disabilities. Within this conversation, we will talk about how to overcome some of these barriers, how we can better support the queer disabled community, and some of the real-life struggles this part of the community faces. There tends to be a lack of understanding, specifically around indivisible disabilities, where disabled folks get judged or challenged because their disability is not “visible”. Let’s shed more light on the queer disabled community through this conversation!
This conversation will feature perspectives from disabled rights activist Elaine M. Kolb, our Trans Program Curator Finn Lockwood and Queer ASL Interpreter Nicholas Dionne and will be moderated by Center Marketing and Development Manager Laura Boccadoro.
Thank You to Our Sponsor
Meet Our Speakers
Max Fallon-Goodwin (they/them)
Max is a current Ada Comstock Scholar at Smith College where they are studying Africana Studies and Study of Women and Gender. Their work as a community organizer began their junior year of high school when they worked along side Cornell University and the Planned Parenthood of the Finger lakes to organize events and classes dedicated to teaching consent to teens in their school district. After high school they wrote for a local newspaper “Triple Cities Carousel” before moving abroad to Australia. During their time in Australia they worked alongside other black and indigenous activists in the Sydney punk scene. Most recently their work has taken them to Auburn, New York where they did research into Harriet Tubman’s life there post-civil war for Whetstone Magazine. They are a communist, Lorde enthusiast, queer warrior, and scholar.
Finn Lockwood (they/them)
Finn (they/them) is a trans and non-binary artist, activist, and lifelong resident of Connecticut. Having lived and worked all over the state, you may know them from their work as a hairstylist, tattoo artist, and/or event coordinator. Since diving into the New Haven arts community in 2018, Finn has found a passion for bringing people together and creating uplifting and inclusive environments all over the state. They are very excited to join the New Haven Pride Center and look forward to their new role as the Trans Program Coordinator!
Elaine Kolb (she/they/we)
Elaine Kolb, now 72, has been a cultural worker for over 50 years. As a poet, songwriter, activist and performer, her issues range from Peace with Justice to Disability Rights to LGBTQIA, etc. [Lesbian, Queer, she/they/we… tee-hee… 
. Her high school graduation speech in 1967 was against the Vietnam War, not a popular position in her Upstate New York shoe factory hometown. She went to Cuba on the Third Venceremos Brigade in 1970 and moved to Atlanta in 1971, staying for awhile at the Ruby Fruit Jungle. Elaine then moved into the original Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) House. At WRFG (Radio Free Georgia), Elaine produced weekly programs, including “Lesbian/Woman”. Early in her songwriting career, she wrote the title song for WOMANSONG THEATRE, also performing with them. Literally stabbed in the back at age 28 in Atlanta, GA, Elaine is partially paralyzed with a spinal cord injury. In 1978, to get accessible housing & transportation, she had to allow herself to be institutionalized, living on the grounds of the Georgia Mental Health Institute, in order to attend Georgia State University. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Australia as part of the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981. She joined American Disabled for Accessible Transportation (ADAPT) in 1987 and was very much involved in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. She’s a member of NOT DEAD YET as well as Second Thoughts Connecticut & Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide. She has been arrested 27 times (so far ) for civil disobedience, mostly with ADAPT & NOT DEAD YET, but also with the Poor People’s Campaign. Locally, she works with Mothers & Others for Justice. Subsisting on Social Security, living in public housing, and using public transportation, she has been militantly unemployed most of her life. Elaine uses humor, music, and personal stories to touch & open hearts, minds, & souls.