Make your organizing and community outreach inclusive of everyone.
Why Campaign Disability?
Disability accessibility is an integral part of any progressive organization or campaign. It is an essential part of fieldwork, social media, communications, and policy. Being inclusive in your work will help you bring your work and your message to more people. Our tool kits will help you get there.
Every important progressive policy, from housing to police, impacts disabled folks. And yet, those impacts are often ignored while laws are written and platforms are drafted. We aim to bring a loud, powerful, disabled voice to the policy conversation.
Nearly 25% of Americans has
a disability
38 Million
disabled citizens were eligable to vote in 2020
18 Million
disabled folks voted in 2020 representing 11.4% of all voters
15 Million
folks have recently become disabled due to Covid-19.
There is a 6pt gap between disabled and non-disabled voters
- Only 33% of disabled folks are employed.
- Greater social isolation – disabled people are less likely to be connected to civic or neighborhood organizations.
- Disabled folks have reason to believe that political systems aren’t responsive to their needs.
- Lack of accessibility at polling locations leads to voting difficulty for disabled folks.
Douglas Kruse and Lisa Schur, Rutgers University. Disability and Voter Turnout in the 2020 Elections.
Disability sits at the center
of progressive politics
Poverty
26% of disabled folks live in poverty, compared to 11% of non-disabled folks.
Housing
Nationwide, only 9% of disabled folks live in an accessible home.
Police
43% of disabled folks are arrested at least once by the age of 28.
Marriage
For many, getting married means loosing vital heath care and benefits.
Health Care
Only 25% of disabled adults have regular access to a healthcare provider.
Employment
It is still legal to pay disabled folks below the minimum wage.
What can my organization do?
Build Disability into Your Work
It should not be the job of one intern or a member of your DEI team to bring accessibility to your work. Indeed, accessibility needs to be an important consideration for everyone in your organization. Any initiative must start with your CEO or Campaign Manager and continues through your media, technology, and field teams. Also, hire disabled folks!
Support Local Orgs
Reach out to the different disability organizations in your community. No matter what your work focuses on, it intersects in some way with disability. This is particularly true for campaigns that don’t currently have a section for disability justice on their “Issues” page. Remember, the disabled community is not a monolith. You should solicit many diverse voices for your input into your work.
Organize for accessibility
It doesn’t have to be daunting to build systems of disability accessibility into your work. There are various language guides, style guides, and best practices that we have collected. And we are building a Community of Practice to help guide you.