ABSTRACT
Drawing from critical race theory (CRT), disability studies in education (DSE), and womanist/Black feminist tenets, this chapter centers the voices and counternarratives of Black 1 women with dis/abilities 2 (BWD), including my own, as assets—useful and valuable to self, community, and broader society (Givens, 1999). Listening to the counternarratives of BWD and featuring their perspectives as assets allows us to focus on the voices that (re)present BWD culture situated within individual and community heritage, faith, spirituality, and rhetoric, notwithstanding various other strengths of BWD. In addition, Black women’s assets, including self-definition, self-determination, and self-advocacy, are essential tools for building up individuals in ways that also give back to community assets—for example, poetry, pictures, prayer, meditation (Hill Collins, 2000). Concentrating and bringing these three concepts of voice/counternarratives/assets together is useful for building a restorative conscientious consciousness (hooks, 2000) can effectually decenter deficit thinking (Davis & Museus, 2019) and dominant narratives. To illustrate,
Healing requires a critical consciousness, a way of understanding the social world through political resistance that prepares [Black] youth to confront racism and other forms of oppression … healing fosters a collectiveoptimism and a transformation of spirit that, over time, contributes to healthy, vibrant community life. (Ginwright, 2011, pp. 36–37)
Restorative consciousness is healing the mind, soul, and spirit of Black people, and, in particular, BWD (K. Cannon, 1988; M. Cannon, 2019; Hill Collins, 2003; Mishler, 2004; Myers, 2013).