Disabled in Development Project (DiD)

Celebrate #OurDisabledLaborDay With the Disabled in Development Project

/ Ingrid Tischer / Leave a comment

DiD’s first Storyteller goes live on Monday, 9/2/19 – and all I’m going to say about them is, “They’re AWESOME.”

We’re taking the whole thing easy ’cause it’s Labor Day! Our next Storyteller will follow the next Monday.

The Disabled in Development Project (DiD) is about advancing disability equity in philanthropy and fundraising. Because access to funding is an equity issue.

Our representation matters because access to funding is a critical component in dismantling structural ableism.
Telling our stories matters because we need to make philanthropy more effective and thus more powerful by centering more disabled people from multiply-marginalized communities.
DiD is our storytelling place to both celebrate advances in disability inclusion and to testify to the ableist structural barriers we’ve encountered, and that may have halted our career advancement or forced us out. Tell your truth about our disabled labor to transform philanthropy!
1 in 4 people in the US has a disability. 3% of folks in philanthropy identify as disabled. 3% of funding goes to disability-related work. Which all adds up to the reality that disabled people don’t typically win in the funding arena.

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Welcome to the Disabled in Development (DiD) Project

/ Ingrid Tischer / 3 Comments

Disability in Development (DiD) Project: Telling Our Truth to Transform Philanthropy

Connect. Belong. Succeed.

Access icon in blue and whiteThe Disabled in Development (DiD) Project is seeking out non-profit staff who hold fundraising responsibilities, and development and philanthropic professionals already in the field – some for decades – for their constructive advice on how to put inclusion principles into practice.
DiD is our place to document advances in inclusion and to testify to ableist structural barriers that we encounter and that all-too often halt our career advancement or force us out. Your stories are important.
Quick Links to More Information
Philanthropy has been changing for the better over the past 2 years or so, when it comes to disability and inclusion. The numbers alone indicate dramatic need for change: Just 3% of philanthropy identifies as disabled and funding for global disability civil and human rights advocacy fell by 23% between 2011-2015.

Getting more openly disabled people at philanthropic tables is the right thing to do. But being at the table isn’t the goal. Our representation matters because of our wealth — of expertise, skills, and relationships. DiD’s goal is to make philanthropy more powerful.

We’re all stronger when we connect, belong, succeed.

To achieve that, DiD will help improve philanthropy’s understanding of what ableism is, and how it — not disability — causes exclusion and inequity. This will strengthen philanthropy’s capacity to fight ableism. Philanthropy needs disabled, chronically ill, and aging people in order to become a better, more powerful force for social change.  
DiD provides an accessible outlet for making disability more visible and less stigmatized in the philanthropic sector, increasing the sector’s access to our profoundly marginalized expertise.

HERE’S WHAT’S UP, ADVOCACY FUNDERS: You, as part of the incredibly influential philanthropic sector, need diverse disabled fundraisers who are activists fluent in disability culture, politics, and movement history if you are going to achieve inclusion. That means race, class, gender, and LGBTQ discrimination are ALWAYS part of your cross-disability work. A disability organization that says it’s not “strategic” to publicly confront racism or transphobia that devastates disabled lives is not fighting for disability justice. Period. Your first step is realizing that transformation begins within your own organization: ✪ Does your foundation have any “out,” disability culturally competent program staff? ✪ Are your disability-related messages still communicating “charity” instead of justice? ✪ Are your metrics for disability-related projects appropriate? ✪ Do you require fundees to be led by disabled experts in their field? ✪ Are disabled people leading and informing the foundation with regard to work being done in disabled people’s name? If you’re funding other civil and human rights groups, disability justice advocates should be in your portfolio. www.talesfromthecrip.org

Our successes deserve to be known and built on. Our advice should be heard. The barriers that we deal with are often embarrassing, sometimes humiliating, and just as frequently, absurd and infuriating. They make great stories. This is our time to tell them.

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