Brittany is a Deaf Black women and assistant professor, Brittany noted that there are times when if she requests an ASL interpreter for a university event the make Brittany sit in front and require the interpreter to be on stage, even when it improves access for Brittany for the interpreter to be sitting down with her, so that the university can benefit from the optics of having a hypervisible Black Deaf participant at the event, and showing how they are accommodating Brittany.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Moya Bailey and other scholars have pointed out that Black women are subject to heightened surveillance by institutions, both to be seen through compelled surveillance as markers of institutional diversity and also because of histories of surveillance of Black women's bodies and criminalization of Black women.

Black Women and Surveillance

Price, M. (2024). Crip Spacetime. Duke University Press.

Crip Spacetime

Example of Compelled Surveillance: Brittany and ASL Interpreter

Brittany is a Deaf Black woman and assistant professor. Brittany noted how colleagues typically tell her to incorporate her personal experience into her research. Brittany pushes against this because she doesn't want her writing reduced to experience as a Deaf woman and doesn't want to have to display herself for the scrutiny and learning experience of nondisabled white readers.

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