{"id":507295,"date":"2024-10-07T00:05:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T07:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/?p=507295"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:18:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:18:36","slug":"disabled-people-jury-rigging-internet-connections-during-a-genocide-a-thank-you-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/2024\/10\/07\/disabled-people-jury-rigging-internet-connections-during-a-genocide-a-thank-you-note\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled People Jury Rigging Internet Connections During a Genocide: A Thank You Note"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Graphic with a beige background and delicate pink and purple flowers on the upper left and lower right corners. At the bottom in large print, THANK YOU! 3 photos from left to right: Alice, an Asian American disabled woman with a tracheostomy at her neck. She is smiling with her head tilted toward some bird of paradise plants, Leah, a mixed-race Sri Lankan and white nonbinary femme in their late 40s with teal curly hair, sand color skin and big metal glasses, looks contemplatively and with a slight smile at the viewer. Their hair matches the teal wall behind them, and their dark hot pink lipstick matches the hot pink velvet couch heaped with cushions behind them. They wear a black t shirt with the sleeves cut off and a gold hoop earring that reads \u201cBurn It Down,\u201d one double spiral tattoo is visible on their right shoulder (taken September 2024), and Jane, a person with pale-tan skin with her body away from the camera but her face smiling towards it. She\u2019s wearing a blue jean jacket that reads \u201cNobody Loves You\u201d in the back, embroidered in white calligraphy. Her hair is nearly shoulder-length with dark red highlights at the end and she\u2019s wearing large round black-gray glasses. The background is a park during the day-time. Photo credit: Joy Gyamfi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Disabled People Jury Rigging Internet Connections During a Genocide: A Thank You Note<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Today marks one year since the amplified Israeli genocide of Gaza began on October 7, 2023.\u00a0 When we started <\/span>Crips for eSims for Gaza<\/span><\/a> a few months later, Alice, Jane and Leah thought that this would be a modest fundraiser that would hopefully last a few months and possibly raise a few thousand dollars. However, Crips for eSims for Gaza has done work beyond our wildest dreams<\/span>\u2014<\/span>because of you, the over 160 volunteers who have been diligently sending eSims for over 9 months, and everyone sharing our posts week after week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our over 160 volunteers support each other with troubleshooting the intricate and arcane web of eSims out there, and in reposting <\/span>Connecting Humanity\u2019s<\/span><\/a> calls for more eSims in our renegade Discord server and on social media. We\u2019ve created memes to circumvent Instagram shadowbanning, hacks to reduce cost, strategies for navigating the volume of eSims to track, and brought together our respective talents and communities to fundraise and send over 26K eSims and top ups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With all of you, we\u2019ve raised and spent more than a million dollars CAD<\/span>\u2014<\/span>far more than the few thousand dollars we initially thought we could raise. This is no small thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Palestinian liberation is disability justice.<\/span><\/a> This work is a small piece of that work, made possible by the ingenuity and dedication of Mirna El Helbawi and her Connecting Humanity team of less than 20 people, of three disabled Asian writers in the diaspora, by everyday people like you who have even $1 and a little bit of time to spare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This disabled mutual aid work is a rebellious act against a hyper-capitalist, ableist world that insists we here in the west ignore our disabled kin in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Lebanon, and beyond. For our disabled kin in Gaza and Jenin, we are refusing to let our disabled existence be used as cover for genocide and imperialism with every eSim we send and activate, with every cent donated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our hearts go out to everyone doing this work with us, to all those who are hurting for and grieving their family members experiencing ongoing genocides, and to every person using our eSims on the ground, surviving an ongoing genocide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Donate here to help us keep thousands of eSims active\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

https:\/\/chuffed.org\/project\/crips-for-esims-for-gaza<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Highlights from the past nine months<\/b><\/h4>\n