Remembering Rebel

Content warning: suicide, ableism

Rebel with his beloved emotional support animal, Hoodoo. (Photo from Rebel’s Patreon.)

We are sad to share that, at the end of June 2023, artist and disability justice practitioner and consultant Rebel Sidney Black (aka Rebel Fayola Rose) died by suicide. Rebel was part of the Disability Justice Leaders Collaborative from 2017-2019. He was also a leader for several different disability justice projects, including PDX Disability Justice Collective, CripCreate, Disability Justice Dreaming, and in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic offered a pod mapping tool that gained national recognition by disability communities and beyond. You can see more of Rebel’s writing and work here.

We know our systems of health care, housing, public benefits and philanthropy are not designed to support our disabled community members. We know, due to ableist systems, the life expectancy and quality of life for disabled people is significantly lower than it is for nondisabled people. Rebel sought to change that and started by organizing in his community through relationships, building networks and by dreaming.

We miss you, Rebel.