ableism

Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #1: Sandy Ho

/ Ingrid Tischer / Leave a comment

“The idea of disabled people supporting disabled-led projects resonated with the community organizer side of me that does not often have access to being on the other side of the philanthropic world, as grantors.” -Sandy Ho

Sandy Ho, an Asian American woman with dark curly hair sits in a black power wheelchair. She is wearing a blue tshirt with a superman logo, she also has brightly colored plaid shorts on and black sneakers. Her facial expression is one of outraged protest and in both upraised fists she holds oversized wooden knitting needles.

Multi-colored hexagons“Either I risked losing money because I made “too much” income, or I risked losing it because I didn’t fill out the bottomless pit of forms every year as required by the government. In that sense I internalized money and the concept of philanthropy as something that wasn’t meant for me to access.”

Name: Sandy Ho
Please share how you prefer to introduce yourself:
I’m a disability community-organizer, activist, and disability policy researcher. I’m also the founder of the Disability & Intersectionality Summit, a biennial national conference organized by disabled activists that centers marginalized disabled people.
In 2015 I was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for my work in mentoring for transitional-age disabled women. I’m one third of the team behind Access Is Love, a campaign that is co-partnered by Alice Wong and Mia Mingus, and serve as a Trustee of the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter.
My areas of work include disability justice, racial justice, intersectionality, and disability studies. I’m a disabled queer Asian American woman whose writing has been published by Bitch Media online.
Your pronouns are:  she/her/hers 
Current Job Title(s) and Organization(s) (if applicable):
Founder and Co-Organizer of Disability & Intersectionality Summit.
Years in philanthropy on both the fund-seeking and fund-giving sides: 
Less than 5 years.

Multi-colored hexagons“More often than not, I am asked to provide some kind of advising around physical access.”  #OurDisabledLaborDay

Number of years in the workforce prior to 2007, when there was a surge into social media? Continue reading →

Behind the DiD Project: One Story About Secrecy, Silence, and Stigma at Work in Fundraising and Philanthropy

/ Ingrid Tischer / Leave a comment
Underwater photo view of iceberg with beautiful transparent sea on background

Those of us who can tell our stories openly about disability, chronic illness, and aging in philanthropy and fundraising are the tip of the iceberg. Our numbers are small compared to those who feel compelled to keep that aspect of who they are hidden under the water-line. Photo credit: Ales Utovko

I’m not sure when I started to notice the pattern.

I’d raise some disability access issue at work and, not long after, a colleague would tell me privately that they had a disability and/or a chronic illness. They didn’t feel safe disclosing it and, therefore, couldn’t ask for any accommodations for it.

These kind of workplace stories are a big part of what’s behind the Disabled in Development Project and how, when viewed collectively, they add up to system failures and structural ableism that is well beyond any individual’s ability to “overcome.” While DiD’s also about sharing stories of the significant progress toward inclusion being made in philanthropy and fundraising, giving space to testify openly about ableism in our own sector is essential for context. 

The situation would be making doing their job harder and they appreciated being able to vent to me. Would I please keep it a secret? Of course I would. And I did. Even when having more numbers on my side would have helped me argue that this-or-that barrier solution should be a priority, despite time and money limitations.
I remember this happening as far back as the late 90s and the confiding confessions continue to this day, socially and at meetings and conferences, though not in my current workplace, DREDF.

I’ll describe one particular situation but keep identifying details out as best I can. This whole episode still bothers me:

Multi-colored hexagonsI worked with a fundraising teammate who had a different but complementary skill-set from mine. They were very good at what they did, from the outset.
We had a superior, also newish, who was a toucher. As in, a touch on your arm for emphasis, that kind of thing. My teammate told them early on that they did not like to be touched and please don’t ever do it, it was very upsetting to them. (I witnessed this.)
Our superior kept right on touchin’.

Part of any system is access to the system. If access is blocked by stigma, that is itself a system problem.

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Reclaim Labor Day When the First DiD Stories Go Live on 9/2/19

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Coming Soon!

The first DiD stories will go live on Monday, September 2, 2019.

Why that day? Because Labor Day has many wonderful traditions and history associated with it. But one of them wasn’t so great for disabled people or fundraising:

For decades, the MDA Labor Day Telethon was where Jerry Lewis spread such damaging messages about disabled people as, “My kids cannot go into the workplace.”

Yes, that’s the past and name-checked just those of us with muscular dystrophy. But the charity model it came from is still all-too alive and well in fundraising and philanthropy.

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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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How You Can Participate in the DiD Project

/ Ingrid Tischer / Leave a comment

Here’s how you can share your expertise and experience through Disabled in Development:

First Steps:

  1. See if it’s for you: Check out the process (below), preview the questions.
  2. Send questions or confirm with me at ingrid@talesfromthecrip.org: 1) that you’d like to participate; 2) how you’d like to be compensated (info below); 3) your decision about anonymity; 4) that you accept the Agreements.
  3. I email you a link to a Google doc that only you and I will have access to, where we’ll complete your interview/story.

Then:

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An Open Letter to Advocacy Funders: #FundDisAdvocacy Because Disability + Ableism = Structural Discrimination

/ Ingrid Tischer / 6 Comments

 

Want in on the conversation about ableism? Check out what disabled advocates, civil and human rights activists, and philanthropic leaders had to say at the Twitter chat on 10/12/18 about philanthropy and inclusion. Then make your voice heard at #FundDisAdvocacy.

A Crip in PhilanthropyFoundation funding for disability advocacy dropped 23% between 2011-2015. Disabled people were the only group to see a decrease. Most funders are “aware” of disability but do they see ableism and structural discrimination? How do we make funders see disability civil and human rights as areas of actionable, urgent advocacy? A first step is recognizing disability as a constant but hidden set of variables in nearly all formulas for civil and human rights. 

I’m writing to you in my capacity as a community organizer – which is another name for a social justice fundraiser.
I believe you and I share common ground on the importance of advocacy:
We know that the great civil and human rights gains of the last century, envisioned and organized by the grassroots, were built to last through the courts and legislation, and they will continue to be the battlefields for preserving them.
I’m writing because disability civil and human rights advocacy is missing from your funding portfolios.
The first step in changing that is frank communication.

When you do not explicitly say “disability” in funding advocacy, you send a message to us: Deny, disown, and downplay your disability identity. That denies all marginalized communities access to our hard-won legal tools and, worse yet, our expertise in using them.

You may understand this letter, at first, as pertaining to a discrete group: disabled people. But it is a fundamental mistake to think that civil and human rights for any community can be fully achieved if we neglect, forget, or disregard such a basic human condition as disability and allow it to be the “natural” cause of poverty and abuse. If we are not safe or free to be vulnerable, then we cannot call ourselves safe or free. Our society is not safe or free.

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