Lurie Institute celebrates inaugural Carrie Buck fellow

■ The lecture covered topics such as the intersection between reproductive and disability justice, the rise of eugenicist language in the U.S., and the legacy of disability activists.

By HEDY YANG JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

On Wednesday, March 29, the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy welcomed its inaugural Carrie Buck Distinguished Fellow, Laurie Bertram Roberts, for a conversation about reproductive and disability justice.

According to the Lurie Institute’s website, the Carrie Buck Distinguished Fellowship is awarded to “activists, scholars, and community organizers with disabilities whose work draws national attention to systemic ableism in reproductive health policy.” It is funded by the Ford Foundation, a social justice foundation that seeks to advance human rights and equitable outcomes.

Roberts is a self-described low-income, Black, queer, and disabled grassroots reproductive justice activist. She is the co-founder and executive director of the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, which is the state’s only reproductive justice organization that provides abortion funds, emergency contraception, pregnancy support, sex education, and other reproductive health initiatives.

Rebecca Cokley, the inaugural program officer of the Ford Foundation’s U.S. Disability Rights Program, was also a part of the conversation. Cokley is a disability rights activist and three-time presidential appointee, serving previously in the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services. She also oversaw diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts under the Obama administration.

The event opened with remarks from Lurie Institute Director Monika Mitra and Dean of the Heller School Maria Madison, who discussed Brandeis’ connection with the landmark Buck v. Bell court case and why the fellowship was created.

Carrie Buck, for whom the fellowship is named, was the plaintiff in the Buck v. Bell case, in which the majority opinion endorsed the involuntary sterilization of people with disabilities, writing that “three generations of imbeciles are enough.” During an event in March 2021 honoring Cokley as Brandeis’ 2020 Distinguished Richman Fellow, an audience member pointed out Brandeis’ connection to Buck v. Bell — Justice Louis D. Brandeis had signed the majority opinion in the case — and asked what the University planned to do to acknowledge this fact and to commit to advancing disability justice. Cokley suggested that the University host a lecture starting a conversation about Buck v. Bell and the “radicalness of the idea of disabled people being parents and having the right to parent.”

Much of Roberts and Cokley’s conversation last week focused on the intersection between disability and reproductive justice, highlighting the disabled community’s historical and ongoing struggle with bodily autonomy and the right to parent: “Society is really not comfortable with disabled people,