By Akriti Mehta Our webinar series on disability activism under authoritarianism has now come to a close. Hearing from people from such different contexts about the challenges they are facing has been difficult. It is clear that the forces of oppression and injustice are building momentum—authoritarianism is gaining ground from Argentina to UK to El…

By Alberto Vásquez Encalada Midway through our Mad Thinking webinar series, ‘Disability Activism Under Pressure,’ one idea keeps coming to mind: authoritarianism creates the temptation to stay on the margins. To lie low. To let others lead the fight you silently support. It can feel safer. And it’s often safer in the short term—especially when we know elites…

By Alberto Vásquez Encalada I’m glad to share that my new piece for the American Bar Association’s Human Rights Magazine is out: “Involuntary Mental Health Treatment: A Human Rights Crisis in Authoritarian Times.” In it, I argue that the renewed push for coercive mental health measures, often targeting people who are unhoused or use drugs,…

By Akriti Mehta It feels like authoritarianism is in the very air we breathe. In recent months, almost every webinar, conference, blog, newsletter, or discussion landing in my inbox—whether from academic groups, activist networks big and small, or disability focussed mailing lists—has circled back to the urgent question: how do we resist authoritarianism?  Across the…