Dreaming the future with leaders in disability rights
Deeply inspired by a panel discussion I just watched which was a part of the 2022 Disability & Philanthropy Webinar Series created by the Disability and Philanthropy Forum. Titled Mental Health and Disability, it featured three wonderful activists/leaders and was wonderfully moderated by Dr. Bob Ross, the President of the California Endowment. At the close of the panel, Dr. Ross said this: “we are witnessing a change in philanthropy…which at its earlier roots was about a charitable act for an unfortunate person, to a new model, and that is as those who have been most impacted as architects for a new future.” This is one of those articulations of conceptual framework that sums up everything. It synchs completely with where my thinking is these days on every issue in philanthropy and beyond.
Every problem American society faces today is based on or exacerbated by fear, scarcity and our failure of imagination. People are filled with fear that change will destabilize whatever little power they feel they have and rob them of the potential to achieve their goals and reach their desires. More and more I see this scarcity mindset driving our politics, our social interactions, our individual and societal choices—and killing us. Those who have the tiniest sliver of power seem the most afraid, and those with the most are more than willing to egg them on, stoke those fears and pour gasoline on the fires of their rage and terror.
The visionaries in our world are those who see the potential in the change. They are the ones who have the lived experience of finding some freedom even in a cage, and who when uncaged do not seek vengeance or retribution but focus on opportunity to find meaning and purpose and create the circumstances for all people to be their full selves. To listen to those most impacted by systems of oppression is to open ourselves up to the most liberatory change and to change ourselves and our whole society’s way of being. American society is foundationally carceral. We think first and foremost about punishment for transgressions. We claim to be a society of innovation and opportunity, but most often our systems are designed with threat and fear in mind. How can philanthropy be a part of enabling a more expansive, nurturing society, to dismantling the concept of punishment as our first move? A first step is to proactively be part of the shift that Dr. Ross spoke of in his remarks. To follow the “nothing about us without us” model in every choice we make with our philanthropic dollars. To get to the most affected, the people and communities with lived experience of oppression and to follow their leadership in making choices about strategy and solutions to those oppressions. To truly see them as the architects of our shared, and more liberated, future.
