Advancing Disability Justice

Six people of color pose in front of a cement wall. Five stand in a row against the wall, two with canes. One sits in front in a wheelchair. The person standing in the center holds a small chalkboard with the words “disabled and here” written on it.

Photo Courtesy of Disabled and Here. 

What is Disability Justice?

Disability Justice is a movement framework that centers queer and transgender disabled people of color. It has ten principles: intersectionality, leadership of those most impacted, anti-capitalist politic, cross-movement solidarity, recognizing wholeness, sustainability, commitment to cross-disability solidarity, interdependence, collective access and collective liberation.

Learn more about Disability Justice:

 

Advancing Disability Justice Program

Advancing Disability Justice is a partnership between Northwest Health Foundation and The Collins Foundation.

Advancing Disability Justice Goals

  • Support disabled leaders of color in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

  • Build disability justice understanding and support in racial justice organizations.

  • Advance Northwest Health Foundation’s long-term goal to build civic engagement capacity and leadership toward a reflective democracy.

 
A Black man seated in a wheelchair gestures with one hand, his chin tilted up, a contemplative expression on his face. The lighting is dimmed, a folding chair visible behind him.

Growing Disabled Leadership

In 2019, disability justice experts Stacey Milbern and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha mentored and coached disability justice activists from Oregon and Southwest Washington to build their facilitation, curriculum development, access planning, base building, popular education, somatics/wellness/self care, movement sustainability, fundraising and other skills. The end goal was to create a network of disability justice organizers who felt comfortable taking on deeper levels of organizing in our region.

Coaching continues through Advancing Disability Justice Grants.


Bird’s eye view of a semi-circle of people with their arms around each other’s shoulders. They stand on a tile floor. All are looking up and smiling.

Growing the Circle

We need to grow the number of organizations who understand and want to apply the disability justice framework to their work. In 2018-2020, Northwest Health Foundation hosted disability justice workshops for culturally-specific and racial justice organizations. In 2022, we published an audit tool for organizations to self-assess their work through a disability justice lens. We’ve also offered technical assistance to culturally-specific and racial justice organizations so they can operationalize disability justice in their work, and we funded the creation of a disability justice audit tool for organizations to self-assess how they’re doing at practicing disability justice.

 
Three Black adults, all wearing white shirts and smiling, stand in a row. Sunlight shines strongly on them. They stand outdoors in front of a window with a curtain pulled across it.

Advancing Disability Justice Grants

We award grants of up to $5,000 each or up to $10,000 each to disabled community leaders, community groups, organizations or coalitions for community building, civic engagement, community organizing, cultural work, leadership development, movement building or policy advocacy. We also offer Advancing Disability Justice Grant recipients specialized coaching from disability justice experts.

 

Read more about Northwest Health Foundation's journey to understand and incorporate a disability equity lens in our work.