1.6: "I'll Take the Demerit" with Rayne Depukat

Ex-evangelical, disabled, autistic, ASL interpreter's story about inner conflict and accessibility

Rayne shares a story about inner conflict, growing up autistic and surrounded by both disability rights advocacy and evangelical Christianity. They decided early on to “just take the demerit”: discovering that although it may sting, liberation is possible when—in an oppressive system of high control religion, ableism, and patriarchy—you decide to just get on with what you believe is right, regardless of all the ways the people in charge tell you that you’re wrong. Rayne is an ASL interpreter, consultant, and parenting coach, whose work is continuously informed by the Disability Justice principles and in particular disabled Black, indigenous, and people of color’s perspectives.

“We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” -- Robert Jones Jr.

2:19 Learning ASL

23:04 Leaving Evangelical Christianity

34:34 Identifying as disabled and autistic

41:57 Learning disability justice

58:54 Practicing disability justice principles

Rayne Depukat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayne-depukat/

Disability Justice Principles: https://sinsinvalid.org/10-principles-of-disability-justice/

Heather Watkins: https://slowwalkersseemore.com/https://slowwalkersseemore.com/

Robert Jones at Son of Baldwin: https://sonofbaldwin.com/https://sonofbaldwin.com/

Robert Jones' substack, "Witness": https://robertjonesjr.substack.com/

New Hampshire-Manchester ASL Interpreting Program: https://manchester.unh.edu/program/bs/aslenglish-interpreting-major

More on disability justice: https://stimpunks.org/glossary/disability-justice/

Review of research on fathers of children: https://academic.oup.com/jdsde/article/26/2/187/6102075

Research on hearing parents learning ASL: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10785677/