On July 26th, the 28th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), CAP launched a major new project: the Disability Justice Initiative. The organization's plan is to include disability expertise in all internal conversations and projects, while modeling the necessity and utility of such inclusion to other groups that work in progressive spaces. The thinking behind the Disability Justice Initiative is that we can't address core progressive issues—poverty, health care, the environment, and more—without recognizing the specific vulnerabilities that disabled people face, and the contributions that disabled people can make. What's more, disability isn't a niche issue; there are over 57 million Americans with disabilities. Too often, though, disability remains an afterthought, even in progressive policymaking. The CAP itself, in its former proposals around health care, didn't really address the disability-related gaps in the Affordable Care Act. Its leadership now says that such an initiative has been too long in coming, and that they want progressives across the board to do better.

I spoke with Rebecca Cokley, the new director of the Disability Justice Initiative, and Rebecca Vallas, vice president of the Poverty to Prosperity Program, about their plans.

How did this new initiative get started?

Rebecca Cokley: Right now there's an opportunity. 2017 saw the disability community get the attention it has deserved—that it has deserved for the last 40-plus years—for its holding the line for civil rights initiatives across the board. Progressives are taking note that disability rights are civil rights.

Our center has a couple of different focuses. [One is that] we want to add the disability lens throughout progressive space, making sure disabled folks are having their voices heard and centered in the issues affecting them, including stuff not usually seen as disability issues.

To read more of David M. Perry's article, please click here.