What kind of funding are you looking for, and do you have a budget for this year?” a staff person from a foundation asked me. We were talking about the 2018 Disability & Intersectionality Summit (DIS). It came as a shock when I, the event’s founder, landed a meeting with this foundation to discuss DIS.

It was one of my earliest interactions with a foundation as a community organizer and I recall trying my hardest to impress this staff person. As a disabled and queer Asian American woman, I felt such shock partly because our ableist society has conditioned me and millions of disabled people to wait and be told what would be best for our lives, rather than asking directly for what we need.

Ableism is a system of oppression that devalues and discriminates against people with disabilities. Individuals as well as institutions, policies, and communications can be sources of ableism.

Read the full article about philanthropy and ableism by Sandy Ho and Jen Bokoff at Stanford Social Innovation Review.