{"id":4402,"date":"2023-07-09T18:45:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-09T18:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/new-organization-aims-to-make-running-for-office-accessible-to-disabled-candidates\/"},"modified":"2023-07-09T18:45:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-09T18:45:10","slug":"new-organization-aims-to-make-running-for-office-accessible-to-disabled-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=4402","title":{"rendered":"New Organization Aims To Make Running For Office Accessible To Disabled Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new disability nonprofit launched at the end of May, 2023.<\/p>\n

Disability Victory, is one of a new generation of disability campaigns \u2014 founded and run by people with disabilities, focused on activism, and intersectional across the full range of constituencies and marginalized communities. Founded and co-directed by Sarah Blahovec, the organization\u2019s President, and Neal Carter, its Vice-President, Disability Victory\u2019s goal is to help the disability community take the next step in political participation beyond voting, to running for office, getting elected, and governing.<\/p>\n

Needed and timely<\/h2>\n

Disabled people are underrepresented in elected office in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The Centers for Disease Control, using a fairly broad definition, says that about 1 in 4 Americans have a disability. Using somewhat narrower definitions, the U.S. Census puts the figure at 15%. Exact disability figures vary by source and scope. But by any measure, the disabled population is a large and significant American constituency, not a tiny, isolated minority.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, rough estimates suggest that only about 1 in 10 elected officials have some kind of disability. Thes figures too are hard to quantify with confidence. “The existing data that we have is useful, but one-dimensional.” says Blahovec.<\/p>\n

Disability is not just a niche concern for government and politics. Prominent policy issues like health care, the economy, civil rights of all kinds, and every dimension of public safety all have disability dimensions. And for some political issues, the needs and perspectives of disabled Americans are essential, not peripheral. “We need to be involved as decision makers when these issues are being debated and policies are introduced,\u201d says Carter. The representation gap in politics and governance, alongside the importance of disability issues in politics, points to the need for efforts like Disability Victory.<\/p>\n

At the same time, simply getting more disabled people elected isn\u2019t the whole answer. Carter cautions that, “Representation for representation\u2019s sake is not a good enough reason for getting more disabled people in elected office.” And it matters whether or not disabled people in elected office reflect the disability community\u2019s own diversity. The small community of elected disabled people needs to be larger, but more diverse too. As Carter adds, “We need disabled people who are from communities of color, disabled queer and trans people, disabled people from different economic backgrounds, and disabled people with different lived experiences to be part of policy decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disability Victory begins its work at an important time, shortly before the next U.S. General Election campaigns begin in earnest. Offices from the Presidency and Congress, state governorships and legislatures, all the way to village supervisors and school board members will soon be contested. It\u2019s important to note that while disabled people running for higher profile offices is obviously important and influential to the cause, the local offices are where the real opportunities for disabled people lie. But while it\u2019s comparatively much simpler and less expensive to run for town council, disabled people at all levels of politics face difficult barriers that non-disabled candidates don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Barriers to running<\/h2>\n

Disability Victory\u2019s core mission is to help make running for office more accessible, in the face of distinct structural, procedural, and attitudinal barriers. For example:<\/p>\n