Finding Intersectionality Between the Vegan and Disability Communities
For Gene Baur, his life goal is simple: he wants to change the way humans interact with food. Baur has spent his life working towards a future of sustainable farming, where humans don’t consume large amounts of factory meat in their daily lives and instead subsist mainly on urban and suburban farming endeavors.
Baur is the president and co-founder of the Farm Sanctuary, one of the United States’ premier farm sanctuaries and vegan advocacy organizations. The Sanctuary was founded in 1986 and represents a cohort of like-minded people who stand against the current food system used around the world.
The organization works to combat “the abuses of factory farming, advocate for institutional reforms, and encourage a new awareness and understanding of farm animals and the benefits of cruelty-free, plant-based living. In recent years, science has confirmed the inhumane and destructive impact of animal agriculture — a food system based on interrelated oppression and injustice”.
When talking to us, Baur highlighted that a new food system would have far reaching effects for social justice movements, including the disability and climate justice movements.
The Intersectionality Between the Fight for a New Food System and the Disability Community
The core values of a new food system are kindness and sustainability. When Baur advocates for a new food system, he wants not just the end of cruel factory farming or agriculture techniques that harm the earth, but also a revitalized commitment to kindness and empathy.
Baur is adamant that the vegan movement aids in empathy -- not just for the animals that would have been killed for the steak at dinner, but also for fellow human beings. When a person commits themselves to feeling responsible for animal suffering, they cannot ignore human suffering and the root causes of modern social justice movements.
That commitment to empathy is a priority for the Farm Sanctuary. The organization is working to better respond to the Black Lives Matter movement and the disability rights movement. Both movements have had a growing number of voices speak out in favor of their causes over the past few years as their social media presences have grown.
However, Baur is the first to admit that the intersectionality between advocating for a new food system and the disability rights movement is not something that is being highlighted.
Even within the Farm Sanctuary, arguably one of the most devout organizations in favor of systematic change, the disability community is little more than an afterthought.
While the organization’s two farms are somewhat accessible with ramps and bathrooms, Baur admits that thoughts of inclusivity and accessibility end there, something he would like to rectify in the future.
When asked to name a supporter who is a part of both the vegan movement and the disability community, Baur could name only one.
For viewers, the moment was a stark reminder of how far we have to go before intersectionality between certain groups -- like the vegan and disability rights movements -- can be addressed to benefit both sides.
Intersectionality often leaves groups in the dust. It’s no one’s fault, least of all Baur’s, but it must become an intentional goal for groups like the Farm Sanctuary if they want to truly overcome the injustices exacerbated by the current food system.
Want to hear Gene Baur speak in his own words? Check out the podcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBAtX8twZc&t=329s
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