Author and activist Eli Clare will highlight the fourth Annual Ability Awareness Fair at Cal State San Bernardino, set for noon-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, at the Santos Manuel Student Union Events Center. ­The annual fair is in support of Global Disability Awareness Day, and is free and open to the public. Parking is $6 at the university. Clare, a disabled advocate, will speak at noon on the topic of resisting shame and making our bodies our home. “Clare’s work is essential for anyone interested in understanding and exploring how our bodies are never singular but emerge within the snarls and intersections of gender, disability, class, and race,” said Jessica Luck, CSUSB professor of English who helped with organizing the fair. “He writes and speaks with honesty, grace, productive anger, and vitality. Reading and listening to him is always transformative.” Clare, on his website, describes himself this way: “White, disabled, and genderqueer, Eli Clare lives near Lake Champlain in occupied Abenaki territory (currently known as Vermont) where he writes and proudly claims a penchant for rabble-rousing. He has written two books of creative non-fiction, ‘Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure’ and ‘Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation,’ and a collection of poetry, ‘The Marrow's Telling: Words in Motion,’ and has been published in many periodicals and anthologies. “Eli speaks, teaches, and facilitates all over the United States and Canada at conferences, community events, and colleges about disability, queer and trans identities, and social justice. Among other pursuits, he has walked across the United States for peace, coordinated a rape prevention program, and helped organize the first ever Queerness and Disability Conference. “When he's not writing or on the road, you can find him reading, hiking, camping, riding his recumbent trike, or otherwise having fun adventures.”After Clare’s presentation, from 1:30-3:30 p.m., interactive stations will be available for participants to experience, engage and challenge their perceptions about the capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Stations include assistive communication, mobility impairment, assistive technology, learning disabilities, vision impairment, alternate media, mental health and a blind maze.For more information, or if you are in need of special accommodations to attend the event, contact the Office of Services to Students with Disabilities at (909) 537-5238 or ssd@csusb.edu.The fourth Annual Ability Awareness Fair is sponsored by the Office of Student Engagement, Office of Services to Students with Disabilities, Special Events and Guest Services, the Veterans Success Center, the Student Veterans Organization at CSUSB, WorkAbility IV, Facilities Planning and Management, Office of Community Engagement, the College of Arts and Letters, the College Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the CSUSB Department of History.

Author and activist Eli Clare highlights CSUSB’s 4th annual Ability Awareness Fair on May 21