Ensuring People with Disabilities to Have Equality

Did You Know? Disabled Expertise Is Guiding the Next Phase of AI. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly. Decisions made now will shape how we communicate, learn, work, and participate in public life for years to come. At CES 2026, our President and CEO, Ariel Simms, highlighted on the show floor and in national media that disabled people are early adopters, engineers, researchers, and policy leaders influencing those decisions and what comes next. 

The impact of AI is already visible in tools and devices that are changing how people navigate, communicate, and interact. 

• Vision Tools 

Phone and wearables are becoming real-time navigation aids for people who are blind or have low vision. A lot of apps use AI to describe scenes and objects from a camera feed, while different types of smart glasses are created as an accessible AI assistant with a wearable camera to recognize text, objects, and environments and provide audio feedback.  Personalized Speech 

AI voice generation now recreates a person’s own voice from brief recordings, helping people with ALS and other speech disabilities retain their identity. In 2025, a man with ALS used a neural implant and AI decoder to speak and sing in real time with natural intonation, giving him unprecedented expressive control.  

• Real-time Captioning 

AI-powered captioning is making live speech more accessible for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Tools like Google Live Transcribe, developed with input from the Deaf community, provide instant captions for conversations, lectures, and meetings. Ongoing research continues to improve accuracy across accents and ensure more equitable access.  

• Wearable Robotics 

AI-enhanced exoskeletons and soft wearables are helping people with mobility challenges move more easily. Georgia Tech researchers are training devices with human motion data, so they naturally adapt to walking, bending, and lifting.  

AI systems are only as strong as the data they learn from.  

When datasets are biased or incomplete, the tools built on them can exclude and reinforce inequity. Disabled people must be at the center of AI development, shaping what is built and how it functions, and who it’s intended toserve.  

Donors like you play a vital role. By investing in Disability Belongs™, you help elevate disabled leadership in research, innovation, and policy, so the next generation of technology is designed with inclusion from the start. 

Nurtured by You 

GivingTuesday—the global day of generosity—shows what happens when supporters like you step up to make a difference. 

In 2023, we began with just $115 and no formal strategy. In 2024, we increased our visibility through outreach and elevated communications, tripling our donors, and raising $2,514. In 2025, consistent engagement brought even more supporters to the cause, raising $6,204 through GivingTuesday alone. A generous corporate partner then made a special contribution on behalf of one of our dedicated board members, bringing the total to $10,200. 

Each year’s growth reflects the power of your commitment to disability leadership and inclusion. This year, GivingTuesday falls onTuesday, December 1, and with your support, we can make it our most successful one yet. 

Thank you for growing with us and planting the seeds of change.   

News You Can Use 

Disability-Inclusive Language Training! 

The words we choose influence culture, policy, and opportunity. That is why Disability Belongs™ is hosting a free virtual training designed to strengthen how organizations communicate about disability with accuracy, dignity, and respect. 

Join our team tomorrow, Thursday, April 2, at 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT, for a 60-minute session exploring practical, real-world guidance on disability-inclusive language. We will address why disability is not a negative term, common tropes that undermine inclusion, and the distinctions between person-first and identity-first language.  

If you have questions about disability-inclusive language, this is your chance to have them answered by our experts.  

All registrants will receive a recording of the session shortly after it concludes. 

[Register Now] 

Alumna Spotlight: Bringing Authentic Disability Representation to Children’s TV 

We’re thrilled to feature a conversation with Emmy award-winning autistic writer Ava Rigelhaupt, alumna of the Disability Belongs™ Leadership Program and Entertainment Lab, on how disabled creatives are shaping more inclusive storytelling in children’s media. 

Ava recently cowrote an episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood that centers the perspective of Max, the show’s first autistic character. Rather than telling viewers what autism is, the story immerses them in Max’s lived experience. 

In our interview, Ava and the show’s supervising producer, Chris Loggins, discuss how collaboration and disabled expertise create richer, more authentic narratives that resonate with young audiences. 

[Read more] 

Ways to Give 

Disability Belongs™ is committed to using every contribution to advance disability inclusion, accessibility, advocacy, and authentic representation. We aim to make supporting our work as straightforward and flexible as possible. Below are several ways you can contribute and help sustain this critical work: 

• Give Online 
  Make a one-time or recurring tax-deductible donation in an amount that works for you atGive.DisabilityBelongs.org. 

• Make a Pledge 
  You may also choose to make a written pledge of support, specifying a contribution amount and acknowledgment. Payment timing is flexible. To arrange a pledge, please contact Ally Mills atAllyM@DisabilityBelongs.org. 

• Plan a Gift 
  Planned giving offers a meaningful way to support Disability Belongs™ through assets such as stocks, bonds, or property. You may alsodesignateDisability Belongs™ as a beneficiary on life insurance policies, IRAs, commercial annuities, or checking and savings accounts. 

Learn more about plannedgivingonour website. All donors will receive a receipt including Disability Belongs™’ tax information and documentation of their gift, pledge, or stock donation. 

Leadership Program Fellow Spotlight: Alejandra’s Story

Your generosity helps us build pathways to leadership and belonging for the disability community and our allies. Alejandra’s story shows what that looks like in action.

When Alejandra graduated with her bachelor’s degree, she knew she wanted to make a difference through nonprofit work but wasn’t sure where to start. Then she found Disability Belongs™’ Leadership Program.

“I loved the idea of getting to work alongside individuals with a wide array of disabilities. That’s what drew me to apply, and I’m really glad I applied,” she shared.

Now with a Master of Public Administration, Alejandra remembers how empowering it was to connect with others during her fellowship.

“I walked away with great relationships and friends that I still actively communicate with. I got to meet other individuals with my same or a similar disability…It’s really great not to feel alone in our sphere of lack of inclusivity that the world has sadly given us.”

“You know, a lot of [the disability community] get a higher education. We all get degrees, and we're kind of parted from the rest of the student body because of our disabilities, because of our differences, because of our uniqueness, but while here [at Disability Belongs™], we're one. And I know that sounds cheesy, but it's very much that community that I think a lot of us long for and that acceptance of a world that's fully accessible.”

For Alejandra, the Disability Belongs™ Fellowship was a launchpad to a thriving career. Today, she works at the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where she draws on the lessons she learned in the program every day. Alejandra often works with children who use different methods of communication, including non-speaking forms of expression, and found her fellowship prepared her to connect across communication styles. 

She said: “I accredit a lot of that to my fellowship, finding the different avenues of communication with my different fellows, with my coworkers, hearing their stories.”

Your support makes stories like Alejandra’s possible.

Help develop the next generation of leaders today.

Donate Today

News You Can Use

How Federal Budgets Directly Impact the Lives of Disabled People

Federal budget decisions shape everything from access to healthcare and housing to education and employment for disabled Americans. Discover how funding choices affect daily life, and why advocacy for disability inclusion in federal spending matters now more than ever.

Read More

Building Inclusive Leadership in Faith Communities 

Faith spaces thrive when everyone is welcomed and empowered to lead. This article explores how congregations can cultivate accessible, inclusive leadership and ensure that disabled people are recognized as vital contributors to spiritual life.

Read More

Ways To Give

Disability Belongs™ makes sure that your gifts are being used to support the critical work we are doing in disability inclusion, accessibility, advocacy, and authentic representation. We try to make it easy to make a tax-deductible contribution to our work. Here are just a few of the ways you can show your support today:  

1) Make a Tax-Deductible Gift Online

You can make a one-time or recurring gift in the amount of your choice at Give.DisabilityBelongs.org.

2) Make a Pledge of Support

You can make a pledge to support the organization in writing with an amount and acknowledgement. Then you decide when you would like your payment actualized. Please reach out to Ally Mills at AllyM@DisabilityBelongs.org to make a pledge.

3) Leave a Legacy

Planned giving to Disability Belongs™ is a meaningful way to donate assets such as stocks, bonds, or property to support people with disabilities and challenge harmful stigmas. You can also name Disability Belongs™ as the beneficiary of any of these types of accounts:

• Life insurance policies (primary or successor beneficiary)
• Individual retirement accounts (IRAs)
• Commercial annuities, checking, savings, or other financial accounts

Learn more about planned giving on our website. All donations will receive a receipt with Disability Belongs™’ tax information and the amount of your generous gift, pledge, or stock donation. 

Stay Engaged

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Stay up to date with the latest news, resources, and advocacy opportunities by following us at @DisabilityBelongs on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Join the conversation and help us amplify the voices of the disability community.

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