Class of 2022

A Black femme person dressed in warm hues and a yellow hijab sits against a dark and shadowy backdrop. She looks over her shoulder at the camera with a slight smile.

Azza A. Altiraifi

Liberation in a Generation

We are proud to induct Azza Altiraifi into the Susan Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.

Azza Altiraifi (she/they) is a Black and disabled labor organizer and movement strategist living in northern Virginia. In their full-time capacity, Azza works as a senior policy manager and she is especially proud to be organizing with the newly launched LibGen Staff Guild, of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521. Over the past decade, Azza has immersed herself in Disability Justice political education, with particular focus on the intersections of disability and labor justice. In addition to their organizing, Azza has previously held policy research and advocacy roles at the Groundwork Collaborative and Center for American Progress’ disability policy project, delving into issues spanning the political economy of health, concentrated corporate power, and carceral ableism and sanism.

Born to Sudanese parents, Azza’s political consciousness and passion for organizing was sparked by her upbringing. After graduating from American University in 2016 and starting her career in the nonprofit sector, Azza became radicalized as they navigated workplace abuse and exploitation alongside her fellow Black and disabled colleagues, building community through our shared struggle. Pursuing redress and vindicating her rights through the Americans with Disabilities Act was a key turning point in building their political consciousness on disability, labor, and the entanglement of ableism and capitalism. But ultimately, it was by joining their first union as a staffer at the Center for American Progress, and organizing at each of their subsequent workplaces that Azza found purpose, refining their praxis of Disability Justice-informed labor organizing.

Our workplaces are vital terrains of struggle. It is through Azza’s labor organizing that they were able to cultivate nourishing relationships that modeled the possibilities of radical cross-movement solidarity. Today, Azza is a proud member of the newly launched LibGen Staff Guild, representing workers at Liberation in a Generation. This March, LibGen Staff Guild publicly announced that it is unionizing with the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of The NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America. The workers of the LibGen Staff Guild are building the collective power to transform their working conditions, practice deeper solidarity with the communities they come from and serve, and play their part in advancing a Disability Justice-informed vision of labor justice.