DiD Storytellers

Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #11: Dom Kelly

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“I sometimes daydream about managing the campaign of a disabled candidate and hiring a staff of all disabled folks – that and maybe even running for office myself one day.“

Smiling photo of Dom Kelly

Photo courtesy of Dom Kelly

Multi-colored hexagons“When I asked if I could create a disability council at Fair Fight Action, I was given enthusiastic support and encouragement.“

Name or Anonymous:
Dom Kelly
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I am a progressive political and nonprofit fundraiser, disability justice advocate and organizer, digital and editorial strategist, and former professional musician.
I am one of a set of triplets with Cerebral Palsy and have been involved in disability advocacy since I was 4 years old. I am currently the Senior Fundraising Manager at Fair Fight Action, a voting rights organization based in Georgia, and I also lead our Disability Council.
Previously, I spent nearly a decade working in leadership positions in the digital media space while touring the world and making records with my rock band. I hold a bachelor’s degree in music production and master’s degree in new media journalism, and I am currently completing a graduate certificate in interdisciplinary disability studies at the University of Maine as well as a master’s in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. Continue reading →

Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #10: Catherine Hyde Townsend

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“Linking ableism to other forms of oppression is also critical.”

Color headshot of Catherine Hyde Townsend, a white woman who is smiling

Photo courtesy of Catherine Hyde Townsend

Multi-colored hexagons“Developing relationships between community leaders and philanthropic staff is essential. These social networks not only inform grant-making decisions, but also help reinforce learning and understanding of the disability community. It’s also one of the hardest things to do.”

Name or Anonymous:
Catherine Hyde Townsend
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I’ve worked in philanthropy on human rights issues since 2002 and became disabled 16 years ago.
Like lots of people, I was pretty clueless about disability before I experienced it myself.  But I quickly realized what internalized ableism looked like as well as the social model of disability. I had/have access to incredible support from my family, work and friends, as well as significant privilege within the healthcare system. I haven’t always self-identified for a variety of reasons, but do so now for both political and personal reasons, finding significant community with others in the disability community.
For most of my time within philanthropy, I’ve been trying to educate and advocate to colleagues about how they can better include people with disabilities. One of the things I’m most proud of is helping to launch the Disability Rights Fund, a global donor that uses a participatory decision-making structure.
Most of my past work was at Wellspring Advisors, which works anonymously and takes a very low profile. For obvious reasons that was challenging, but I was able to launch and expand a grant-making portfolio focused on the [UN] Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with a very intersectional lens. That grant-making was/is really important, but it was also important for donors of women’s rights, HIV, AIDS, immigration, etc., to understand the ways different forms of oppression link and reinforce one another, but also how our advocacy can do the same.
My current work seeks to advance the inclusion of people with disabilities within philanthropy – mostly focusing on the grant-making, but a lot on learning and culture change, as you cannot have one without the other. 

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #9: Alex Tabony

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“Good introductions should be considered part of universal design.“

Color photo of Alex Tabony, a white man, looking relaxed and happy

Photo courtesy of Alex Tabony

Multi-colored hexagons“Employers are often focused on obtaining the ‘best and the brightest’ and have defined that, in part, as having a profile that typically PWD (people with disabilities) do not have because of missed developmental opportunities and/or non-traditional backgrounds for the position.“

Name or Anonymous:
Alex Tabony
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
Call me Alex.
Here’s a little more about me. Since 1999, I’ve dedicated my life to help break the cycle of poverty for people disabilities and the economically disadvantaged. Employment is the key to a life of independence. I develop and maintain programs that go right to the heart of the issues and produce remarkable successes. My hat is off to those who take the challenge and I am so proud to be part of the process of transforming.
As Computer Technologies Program‘s Executive Director, I’m responsible for overseeing the administration, programs and strategic plan of the organization. Other key duties include fundraising and community outreach.

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #8: Emily Ladau

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“The biggest gap in organizational commitments to disability inclusion continues to be a lack of inclusive hiring.“

Color photo of Ladau, a youthful white woman, sitting and smiling

Photo courtesy of Emily Ladau

Multi-colored hexagons“Currently, it seems a lot of organizations are beginning to recognize disability as an area for funding, but it’s time to move beyond a charity perspective. “

Name or Anonymous:
Emily Ladau
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I’m a disability rights activist, writer, speaker, and digital communications consultant whose career began at the age of 10, when I appeared on several episodes of Sesame Street to educate children about life with a physical disability.
My writing has been published in outlets including The New York Times, SELF, Salon, Vice, and HuffPost and I have served as a source for outlets including NPR, Vox, and Washington Post. I have spoken before numerous audiences across the United States, ranging from lectures at universities to conference keynote presentations.
At the core of my work is a focus on disability identity, sharing our stories, and harnessing the powers of communication and social media as tools for people to become engaged in disability and social justice issues. More about my work can be found on my website, Words I Wheel By.

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #7: Judy Heumann

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“Philanthropy is not different than other fields. If there isn’t meaningful inclusion of disability across the organization, ableism is occurring.“

Photo of Judy Heumann in her powerchair, laughing

Photo courtesy TEDX

Multi-colored hexagons“My most positive experience was working at The Ford Foundation when they wanted to learn about barriers we face and what Ford needed to do to become more educated and inclusive.”

Name or Anonymous:  Judy Heumann
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
It depends on the situation.  Typically Judy Heumann, sometimes Judith Heumann, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, The Ford Foundation 2017-2018
I’m now building an online presence under The Heumann Perspective through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This new project is intended to broaden and spur discussions on the intersectionality of disability rights.

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #6: Cara Liebowitz

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“My fundraising career has been very affected by the income restrictions imposed by public benefits systems.“

Color photo of Cara Liebowitz, a youthful white woman with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses, who is smiling.

Photo courtesy of the Disabled and Proud Conference

Multi-colored hexagons“It’s hard to work in this sector and to be asking mostly people with disabilities for money.  People with disabilities are disproportionately low income, and the system keeps us poor… And if foundations aren’t interested in funding disability rights and individual donors just can’t give enough, where does that leave us?”

Name:  Cara Liebowitz
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I’m a multiply-disabled activist and writer.  I’m the Development Coordinator at the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), where I handle all of our grant-writing, fundraising, and partnerships.  I like cats, country music, and books about plagues.

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #5: Tiffany Yu

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“To say that we can only be charity recipients is another way our community is dehumanized.”

Color photo of Tiffany Yu, an Asian-American woman in a bright blue shirt, looking off to the side and smiling.

Photo courtesy of Tiffany Yu

Multi-colored hexagons“I look to other movements for best practices and learnings that we can bring back to the disability community. I also acknowledge that we are still working on making all of our movements more intersectional.”

Name:  Tiffany Yu
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I am building and funding things I wish existed when I was younger. Today, I’m on a mission to increase access and opportunity in the disability community.
I do that as the CEO & Founder of Diversability, an award-winning social enterprise focused on building community through the celebration of our diverse disability lived experiences and as the Founder of the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter, which has awarded $30,500 in grants to 31 disability projects in 6 countries. I also serve as a Mayoral-appointed member of the San Francisco Mayor’s Disability Council and am 2019 California Miss Amazing, serving as an ambassador for girls and women with disabilities. I have had the opportunity to share our work at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, TEDx, and media outlets like Forbes, Marie Claire, and the Guardian.

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #4: Marsha Saxton

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“I would like to see nonprofits and NGOs all around the world have more power in relation to philanthropy.“

A white woman of middle-age who has short blonde hair and is wearing a pleasant expression.

Photo courtesy of Marsha Saxton

 

 

 

Multi-colored hexagons“I would like younger leaders, women and people with disabilities, to not have to go through the tokenization that I experienced as a younger person. I submitted to this because I didn’t really recognize what was happening to me at the time, and was afraid, and made to feel grateful to have a meeting or participate in conference with philanthropy.”

Name:  Marsha Saxton
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I’m a researcher and scholar. I’ve been interviewed on 60 Minutes and Talk of the Nation and served on the boards of Our Bodies, Ourselves Collective; the Council for Responsible Genetics; and the Ethics Working Group of the Human Genome Initiative. I’ve published three books, several films, and over one hundred articles and book chapters about disability rights, personal assistance, women’s health, nutrition, employment, violence prevention, genetic screening, disaster preparedness and climate crisis impact on the disability community.
I like the slogans, “Nothing about us without us,” and “Power to the people with disabilities!” I tell my students, “The Disability Rights Movement is one of the most successful movements for human rights in the history of the world – although we still have a ways to go.”

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #3: Alice Wong

/ Ingrid Tischer / 1 Comment

“There needs to be targeted outreach to the disability community to recruit people into philanthropy. Philanthropy has to deal with its elitism, classism, and lack of diversity.“

Photo courtesy of Alice Wong.

Multi-colored hexagons“The philanthropic field has a lot of work to do to learn and reflect on systemic ableism, and take concrete steps (not just lip service) on how their actions and policies reflect their commitment to anti-ableism.“

Name:  Alice Wong
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I’m a disability activist, media maker, and consultant based in San Francisco. I’m the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project® (DVP), an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014. Currently, I’m the Editor of Disability Visibility, an anthology of essays by disabled people, coming out summer 2020 by Vintage Books. I also work as an independent research consultant as part of my side hustle. You can find me on Twitter: @SFdirewolf.
Or just think of me as:
“Night owl, picky eater, disabled activist living in San Francisco”

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Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #2: Heather Watkins

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“I was once asked to serve on an evaluation committee that didn’t mention an honorarium and when asked, they replied that they didn’t generally pay volunteers. My response to that absurdity was that this was a policy they should revisit because evaluating applications is a good deal of work…Long story short, they gave my feedback consideration and their parent funder freed up more funding so that they were able to pay the entire evaluation committee. I was asked again and agreed to take on the evaluation responsibility under paid conditions that valued my time as a disabled person.“

ight complected black woman with dark brown hair pulled up into a bun on top of head, wearing light makeup and blue earrings, shown chest up, smiling and looking at camera, wearing blue and white patterned blouse and open button-up olive-colored jacket.

Photo Courtesy of Heather Watkins

“Sometimes I feel like there is a lack of racial and cultural understanding/comprehension that does become a barrier.”

Name: Heather Watkins
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I am a Black disabled woman who is a disability advocate, author, blogger, mother, and graduate of Emerson College with a B.S. in Mass Communications. I was born with muscular dystrophy, serve on a handful of disability-related boards, and am a former Chair of the Boston Disability Commission Advisory Board.
I’m also a co-founder of “Divas with Disabilities Project,” a supportive sisterhood network representing women of color with disabilities. My publishing experience includes articles in MDA’s Quest magazine, Mass Rehab Commission’s Consumer Voice newsletter and I’ve blogged for Our Ability, Artoflivingguide.org, Disabled Parenting, Grubstreet, Rooted In Rights, Womens Media Center, and Thank God I.
My short story, “Thank God I have Muscular Dystrophy” was published in 2013 as part of compilation in the Thank God I…Am an Empowered Woman ® book series. My blog Slow Walkers See More includes reflections and insight from my life with disability.

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