Online, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM CT

VP and Donkeysaddle Projects are pleased to invite you to a virtual film screening and panel discussion highlighting sumud and disability justice in Palestine on December 11 from 7:00–8:30 PM Palestine time / 12:00–1:30 PM ET/ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM CT.  

The event will begin with an online screening of the short documentary film Severed, followed by a panel discussion on disability justice in Palestine. We will be joined by Mohamad Saleh, co-producer of Severed and a Palestinian disability justice advocate; Omar Daqqa, organizer with Deaf Relief Gaza, a grassroots mutual aid effort supporting the urgent needs of Deaf youth in Gaza; and Sarah Dababnah, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, whose research focuses on improving the health and well-being of families of individuals with intellectual and developmental differences. The session will be moderated by VP’sdeputy director, Jessica Anderson. 

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This event will be American Sign Language (ASL) accessible.

Severed is grounded in the story of Mohamad Saleh, a teenager from Gaza who has survived five major Israeli assaults. In those attacks, he lost his home, close family members, his best friends, and—at the age of 12—his leg. Mohamad has lived for years with the physical and emotional impacts of that violence, including surviving genocide with an amputated limb. 

This event connects and expands on two visuals VP published in 2025 on disability justice in Palestine:

• Stolen Steps highlights the children whose lives and limbs have been stolen by taken under Israel’s siege on Gaza and the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system;
• Let The Carpenter’s Hands Speak: Sumud and Disability Justice in Palestine shares the story of Hashem Ghazzal, a Deaf community leader who dedicated his life to ensuring dignity for Deaf Palestinians in Gaza.

We hope you will join us as we continue to uplift Palestinian stories of sumud, dignity, and disability justice. 

In solidarity,
The VP team