Launched in April 2022 by the Century Foundation’s Disability Economic Justice Team, the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative (DEJC) is a first-of-its-kind initiative bringing together more than forty leading disability rights and justice organizations, Washington, D.C. based think tanks, advocacy organizations, and top research and policy organizations committed to finally achieving economic security and justice for people with disabilities in the United States. Members meet monthly to learn from one another, work in partnership, and apply a disability lens across economic policy making. The Collaborative is committed to breaking the persistent link between disability and poverty in the United States; breaking down the systemic barriers to economic security and justice that are the “unfinished business” of the ADA; and to understanding how race, gender, LGBTQIA+ status, and other identities intersect in the lives of disabled people. 

To learn more about the collaborative, watch the virtual launch event that was held on April 21, 2022, featuring Secretary Julian Castro, Representative Ayanna Pressley, and other leaders across the disability justice movement. 

For questions or press, contact [email protected] or [email protected].

The Collaborative

The Collaborative is a collection of leading disability rights and justice* organizations, Washington, D.C. based think tanks, advocacy organizations, and top research and policy organizations dedicated to bringing a disability lens across the entire economic agenda.  The member organizations will work in partnership and learn together to drive forward disability economic justice.

The Century Foundation (Host)	Access Living	Activating Change	American Association of People with Disabilities
Autistic Self Advocacy Network	Center for American Progress, Disability Justice Initiative	Center for Economic Policy Research	Center for Law and Social Policy
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities	Coalition on Human Needs	Community Legal Services of Philadelphia	Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Covid-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project	Economic Policy Institute	The Education Trust	Food Research and Action Center
Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality	Groundwork Collaborative	Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center	Justice in Aging
Kelly’s Kitchen	ME Action	National Center for Law and Economic Justice	National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel
National Disability Institute	National Pain Advocacy Center	National Partnership for Women and Families	National Women’s Law Center
New America	New Disabled South	Patient Led Research Collaborative	Start Early
The Arc	The Kelsey	Think of Us	Tzedek DC
Urban Institute	Vera Institute for Justice	Washington Center for Equitable Growth	Andraea Lavant
Dior Vargas

*While the two terms are often used interchangeably, and while some organizations utilize complementary elements of both frameworks, disability rights and disability justice are distinct frameworks. Disability justice intentionally centers intersectionality and the experiences and perspectives of historically marginalized people, such as disabled people of color, women, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ people. For a detailed discussion of disability justice, read Patty Berne and Sins Invalid’s 10 principles of disability justice at ​​https://www.sinsinvalid.org/blog/disability-justice-a-working-draft-by-patty-berne. The Disability Economic Justice Collaborative posits a third, complementary framework we call “disability economic justice,” which we define and provide a draft framework for as part of the policy pillar of this Strategic Plan. Whereas economic justice aims to create opportunities for every person to have a dignified, productive, and creative life in a way that cannot be measured in dollars and cents, disability economic justice centers the perspectives and experiences of disabled people—and especially multiply-marginalized disabled people—to create a society in which all disabled people have access to such opportunities, for we will never achieve true economic justice if people with disabilities are left behind.

Achieving Disability Economic Justice

With 61 million, or 1 in 4 people in the United States, living with disabilities, every policy is a disability policy. Yet, disability policy is too often siloed, viewed as separate and apart from broader economic and social policymaking—and the disability community an afterthought, viewed as a community to check the box with at the end of the policy process rather than contemplate and center upfront. Done right, disability policy seeks to embed access, equity, and inclusion into all other policies at the forefront, creating policies that, at their heart, improve the lives of all people, including disabled people. 

The vision of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative is to achieve economic security and justice for disabled people in the United States. To accomplish this vision, the Collaborative brings together organizations that focus on economic policy issues with disability rights and justice organizations to jointly learn together and from one another to advance disability economic justice in the United States and center the voices and experiences of people with disabilities. Through five key pillars of work, the Collaborative will advance short-term and long-term goals with the ultimate mission of advancing disability economic justice by leveraging disability as a lens across economic and social policy making and bringing together the disability rights, disability justice, and economic policy communities to mobilize research, education, advocacy, and civic engagement. This work will center the voices of disabled individuals in the economic debate, ensure political and elected leaders embrace disability as part of the public debate and as a powerful voting bloc, and build disability representation within the halls of power. Together, as organizations coming from a range of starting places on disability and economic policy, we will change how disability and economic policy are made and implemented in the United States.

Vision of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative

To achieve economic security and justice for people with disabilities in the United States.

Mission of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative

To advance disability economic justice in the United States by leveraging disability as a lens across economic and social policy making; centering the voices and perspectives of people with disabilities; and bringing together the disability rights, disability justice, and economic policy communities to mobilize research, education, advocacy, and civic engagement.

Pillars for Success

The five pillars of work for the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative are: 

1. Policy;
2. Research and Data;
3. Communications and Narrative;
4. Pipeline; and
5. Learning Agenda