Editorial
Hello! Welcome to the 2025 edition of Disabled Honi!
Our front cover by Dana Kafina (@biteapearl) is an artwork of our dear late friend Khanh Tran who put their heart, soul, and being into Honi Soit and DisCo. For your dedication to journalism, community, and disability justice – we dedicate this edition to you Khanh. We love you and miss you so much.
Many of us have found it hard going back to the Khanh Tran Room (previously known as the Disabilities Space) in Manning House. In the most nonchalant way, you would always be sitting there typing away on what was likely another erudite investigative piece all while maintaining a welcoming presence to whoever entered. We urge readers to read Carmeli’s beautiful piece on Khanh and their legacy on page 6.
The past year has been transformative for disability activism in Australia. Our community has shown up with unwavering solidarity for Palestine, recognising the intersectionality between disability justice and anti-colonial struggles. We’ve witnessed how disabled Palestinians face compounded barriers amongst the genocide, reminding us that disability justice must be global in its outlook.
We’ve celebrated the establishment of the USU Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), promising to make student life accessible and inclusive. These consultations were important in ensuring lived experiences are central to policy development.
The significant assessment changes on the horizon embed Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into assessment policy and design. We are actively involved in these consultations, advocating for flexibility, multiple means of engagement, and recognition of diverse learning styles; a significant shift from accommodations as an afterthought to accessibility as a foundational principle of education.
As we reflect on these developments, we’re reminded that disability activism is not just about fighting against barriers but also about imagining and creating more accessible futures: “Nothing about us without us.”
We thank all contributors, editors, and artists that made this edition possible. We hope you enjoy the product of the immense talent of the disabled community at USYD.
This one’s for you Khanh.
Artist Statement from Dana Kafina
Vale, Khanh.
Thank you to the Disabled Honi team for trusting me to make this artwork. I was a bit nervous, but I hope that it reflects the love all my comrades have. I see you all and adore you.
Khanh, thank you for every random infodump you’ve given, thank you for every sweet treat or cosmetic, thank you for constantly exercising your free will and using it for joy (and Nintendo games in Ethnospace), for hyping me up when I felt insecure about my art, and for your incorrect takes about Boruto (I’m sorry, but the original Naruto remains superior), thank you for side-eyeing people with me at Palestine rallies when they randomly jumped at media opportunities.
What a privilege to have known you, however brief. Your memory is a blessing.
Vale.
