Resource Library

Power in Disability Solidarity: A Call to Action in Philanthropy

January 14, 2025
Sandy Ho
Executive Director, Disability & Philanthropy Forum

Since joining the Disability & Philanthropy Forum six months ago, our country and sector have experienced significant changes. While many of these shifts challenge our most deeply held values, there have also been some victories for our movements and moments of joy that remind me there is power in solidarity. For our organization, solidarity means advancing disability justice, rights, and inclusion, and the work of dismantling ableism must be a constant practice. 

Here are some ways that our team has been doing just that: 

• Strategizing for 2025, including ways to build with our peers, and continuing  to amplify the powerful work of the disability movement.
• Inviting dialogue to move us all beyond transactional relationships such as approaches to support disabled Native and Indigenous communities, and incorporating feedback from advocates with lived experiences.
• Learning how internal disability representation can foster more inclusive workplaces.
• Encouraging more progress among leaders in the field along their continued learning journeys. 

As many of us delved into scenario planning last year and post-scenario actions, there have been many insights, and among them is that disabled communities and anti-ableist practices must be part of leading the way toward a more equitable, inclusive, and thriving multi-racial democracy. When the policies and fabric of our safety, care, and human dignity — in all of its manifestations — are at stake, we believe our organization’s commitment to this work must extend beyond 2025. 

This year, the Disability & Philanthropy Forum will launch a slate of programs and convenings to engage with each other and elevate advocacy priorities that reflect four of the Disability Justice framework principles.

• We believe a lasting disability future is fueled by cross-movement organizing, allowing us to be in principled struggle together with our peers and community advocates, so we can better understand and move towards our shared goals. 

• We will expand our interdependence through relationship-building and trust, allowing us to be more effective in our advocacy when showing-up with marginalized communities. 

• We only need to look at the multitude of past and current climate disasters to know the life-saving vitality of planning and budgeting for collective access throughout all areas of work, not just for the sake of compliance or during an emergency. 

• The Disability & Philanthropy Forum is striving towards sustainability of a generational disability movement legacy — one that ensures there are always opportunities and the infrastructure for disabled communities to thrive. 

We know that the philanthropic sector, with its vast resources, political, and social capital, is already participating in this legacy, and while there has been some progress, the inequity is undeniable. For funders, if you have not already begun your practice, I welcome you to start with these suggestions: 

• Fund at the intersections: An attack on any DEI-initiative is already an attack on disability justice, rights, and inclusion. 
• Heed disability advocates: We have a new opportunity to ensure that the brilliance of advocates, especially historically marginalized disabled people of color, queer and trans disabled people, will have resources for generations. 
• Resource organizing and power-building: One of the first lessons in advocacy is to meet people where they are. Disability communities have always needed to go the extra lengths — now, this moment provides many opportunities for funders to show up and meet the disability movement where we are.  

No matter where your organization is in its learning journey, I can assure you that the purpose of practicing is not perfection. I realize this may be a challenging notion for philanthropy, a sector that often stalls and stumbles upon its own attempts at perfectionism. 

Spoiler: There is no definitively perfect way to “doing” disability, or to being disability inclusive. 

However, there is always more room for growth in accountability and continued practice. In my new leadership role, I constantly remind myself of this truth, tapping into some time-honored disabled ways of survival and being, such as reimagining, adapting, and being creative. By reimagining a field free from perfectionism, we are able to engage with humility and curiosity. Adapting to more accessible and inclusive ways of doing routine activities takes thoughtful intention. Being creative takes risks and invites experimentation. Rather than “we don’t do disability” consider that disability is already present in your funding, and the magnitude of powerful opportunities that this offers to all fairness, justice, and equity centered strategies. 

We hope you’ll join us this year as we explore these four disability justice principles and deepen our solidarity. Here are some of the leaders and organizations we have the privilege of showing up and learning with: these Pledge Signatories have all made their own commitments, the peer-to-peer Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy fosters a culture of accountability, and our sibling in these efforts — Borealis Philanthropy’s Disability Inclusion Fund — resources brilliant strategies in the field. Yes, the stakes are high, and the anticipation of risks are palpable. But practicing and (re)committing to our values should not be one of them. Now is the time to reground ourselves in bolder actions of solidarity and fortifying a prevailing disability justice, rights, and inclusion legacy.

---