Accessible Campaignsgetty

A new disability nonprofit launched at the end of May, 2023.

Disability Victory, is one of a new generation of disability campaigns — 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’s President, and Neal Carter, its Vice-President, Disability Victory’s goal is to help the disability community take the next step in political participation beyond voting, to running for office, getting elected, and governing.

Needed and timely

Disabled people are underrepresented in elected office in the U.S.

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.

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.

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,” 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.

At the same time, simply getting more disabled people elected isn’t the whole answer. Carter cautions that, "Representation for representation’s 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’s 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.”

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’s 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’s 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’t.

Barriers to running

Disability Victory’s core mission is to help make running for office more accessible, in the face of distinct structural, procedural, and attitudinal barriers. For example:

Lack of practical accommodations for potential candidates at all stages of political involvement – from meetings held in inaccessible spaces to print and internet information presented without accessible formats and features.
Institutional discrimination – including party officials and political consultants who may actively discourage or obstruct potential disabled candidates.
Physical barriers and accommodation needs – such as lack of accessible communication at meetings, campaign events held in inaccessible locations, and perhaps even more significant than real barriers, perceived and anticipated barriers that discourage disabled people from participating before they even really crop up.

And of course there is ableism from voters themselves – the prospect of people simply not voting for someone because they have a disability. 90 years after President Franklin Roosevelt felt he had to downplay his paralysis to make it in politics, the idea that a disability is a political weakness is still encouraged and capitalized on by political opponents. "We saw this kind of prejudice hit mainstream political discourse last year,” says Blahovec, “when the media focused on John Fetterman’s aphasia and his use of captioning instead of his policies." While Fetterman won his race, that's not a guaranteed outcome for every disabled candidate. And seeing his experience play out may be as discouraging to disabled candidates as his victory was an encouraging sign of possibility.

Ableism is emerging again with Gov. Ron DeSantis' Presidential run, based on mere unfounded "insinuations" that he is autistic. And debates about what is "responsible" for a politician with changing or increasing disability to do about it — as with recent talk about whether Sen. Feinstein’s age is making her unfit for continuing in office. These news stories add to an atmosphere in politics where disability is seen mainly as a problem and a political liability.

Indirect barriers can also be as decisive as direct ones. Many potential disabled candidates can’t run because they risk losing Social Security benefits, as campaigning can be viewed as "work activity." This is especially important in local offices, where it would ordinarily be much more feasible for middle and lower-income people running for office — including people who might be on Social Security Disability or SSI. And this isn’t just a personal loss to disabled people. It’s a missed opportunity for our politics. It is arguably even more important to have representation in government from people who aren’t wealthy, including people on Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare.

The good news is that legal barriers like this can be fixed. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey’s bill S.4597 would exempt campaign activity from Social Security work activity determinations. At this point the bill is stalled, but it’s exactly the kind of concrete regulatory change Disability Victory is working for, alongside its training mission. "We hope to see it reintroduced,” Blahovec says of the Casey bill, “as it is a necessary first step to fixing these issues."

Disability Victory’s plan

Interest in starting a new organization grew out of Blahovec and Carter’s experience developing and presenting Elevate, a series of candidate trainings they developed and presented for disabled people in 2019 and 2021. This was under the auspices of the National Council on Independent Living, where Blahovec worked at the time.

Blahovec and Carter are hoping to continue and expand this kind of training for disabled people, to help them find practical solutions to the barriers they face in politics. They also feel it is important not to focus solely on training disabled people, but also to work with allies throughout the disability community and mainstream politics — anyone who can help make running for office and getting elected more accessible for people with disabilities.

They also chose to structure Disability Victory as a 501(c)(4) organization. This designation means that though Disability Victory is still a nonprofit, it will have more freedom than a 501(c)(3) charity to engage in political activities beyond just education and awareness – more freedom and flexibility than most traditional disability organizations usually have.

Disability Victory will focus on three main activities:

1. Disability Victory Academy – A series of training sessions teaching political and campaigning skills, and offering tools to confront the ableism and inaccessibility disabled candidates encounter in politics.

2. Consulting and Partnerships – Offering help to make other candidate training programs and party activities, those that aren’t disability-specific, more accessible.

3. Connecting Disabled Leaders – Bringing together people and organizations that are committed to making politics accessible and increasing disability representation in elected office.

Programs will be open to anyone, regardless of disability or political affiliation. However, the organization does prioritize certain policy goals and ideals. "We center progressive values in our work,” Carter explains, “because we feel like these values work towards tearing down the systems of oppression in this country that impact marginalized people: ableism, racism, sexism, queerphobia, transphobia, and other biases that have been systematically ingrained into our society and our governance structure."

Disability Victory is staffed and governed by experienced progressive activists. And all but one of them have disabilities themselves, along with extensive professional experience in disability-focused activism, policy development, and political campaigning.

Disability Victory’s first specific initiative is a series of practical information posts on social media, offering campaign accessibility tips, titled #MakeAccessAPractice.

Meanwhile, Blahovec and Carter are busy fundraising for a first round Disability Victory Academy. They are seeking both foundation grants and individual donations. Individuals have been generous so far. But Blahovec says that getting more substantial organization support has been difficult. "The biggest challenge we experience in funding,” she says, “is hearing 'disability isn’t in our portfolio.'" It’s a problem nearly everyone in the disability nonprofit sector has faced for years. In many ways it mirrors the ambivalence disabled people face in politics.

Part of a new generation of disability organizations

What sets Disability Victory, and similar new disability organizations, apart from disability charities of the past?

They are founded and run by disabled people. And they are entrepreneurial – started by one or two driven individuals.
But they are also built to be strong, sound, responsible and accountable organizations, not personal vanity projects fueled only by ambition and naïveté.
They are deeply intersectional — diverse across all functions and dimensions .— not just a handful of white, upper middle class wheelchair users. They include people with many kinds of disabilities, ages, socio-economic backgrounds, races, genders, and sexual orientations.
They are focused more on policy activism, comparatively less on individual services or neutral, apolitical "awareness” activities.
They are defined by specific, measurable missions, rather than just a vague philosophy or tone. And they are doing what other disability organizations can’t do, or haven’t felt as comfortable doing before.
They have relatively small staff and boards, but with expansive goals.
They are grassroots, but not amateur. They are radicals and dreamers who do their homework.

The next year or two will be crucial for the disability community in politics. Disabled people have earned new respect in recent years, and candidates are starting to at least try to approach disabled voters accordingly. Organizations like Disability Victory look like an important next step in disabled communities developing and exercising the political power they have always deserved.