“The biggest gap in organizational commitments to disability inclusion continues to be a lack of inclusive hiring.“
Photo courtesy of Emily Ladau
Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #8: Emily Ladau
foundations
Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #7: Judy Heumann
“Philanthropy is not different than other fields. If there isn’t meaningful inclusion of disability across the organization, ableism is occurring.“
Photo courtesy TEDX
“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.
Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #6: Cara Liebowitz
“My fundraising career has been very affected by the income restrictions imposed by public benefits systems.“
Photo courtesy of the Disabled and Proud Conference
“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.
Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #5: Tiffany Yu
“To say that we can only be charity recipients is another way our community is dehumanized.”
Photo courtesy of Tiffany Yu
“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.
Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #4: Marsha Saxton
“I would like to see nonprofits and NGOs all around the world have more power in relation to philanthropy.“
Photo courtesy of Marsha Saxton
“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.”
Disabled in Development Project Storyteller #3: Alice Wong
“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.
Disabled In Development 