When I shared one of my posts about Disability Pride Month earlier, a friend asked for suggestions of places she could donate to. And I realized that while I’ve shared about ways you can be a better ally and advocate before, I’ve never shared directly about places that could use your financial support. But honestly, donating is one of the best ways you can help support disability justice – especially right now, when so many funding sources are being decimated. This is far from an exhaustive list, but it’s a variety of local and national, specific and broad places that could use your support.
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
AAPD is a national disability organization (and disability led, too) working on disability justice and disability rights. They do a lot of work to ensure voting remains accessible to disabled people, and that disabled voters are informed of their rights, and how national and local policies impact the lives of disabled people. This work is more important now than ever! Donate here.
Cure SMA
This one is specific to me – Cure SMA fundraises for research and programming to support the lives of people affected by Spinal Muscular Atrophy, like me. Since SMA is a rare disease, it doesn’t get huge levels of funding, and the money that Cure SMA raised has directly funded seed grants that led to some of the FDA-approved treatments available today. Donate here.
New Disabled South
New Disabled South is a relatively new organization, and a really exciting one. Generally, the South is considered to be a bit more behind in terms of accessibility and general disability issues. But New Disabled South is taking that on, and working to improve disability justice and inclusion, and building a coalition of advocates. This is so important! Donate here.
Community Living and Support Services (CLASS)
I served on the Board of Directors at CLASS for years, and know firsthand how important the work that they do is. CLASS provides skill building, structured day services, and even has a technology library to help people find adaptive solutions that work for them. They’re really vital to the Pittsburgh disability community. Donate here.
Laughing at My Nightmare
Laughing at My Nightmare was started by Shane Burcaw of Squirmy and Grubs, and it provides grants to disabled people for things that can help them improve their quality of life. Sometimes, this takes the form of an emergency cash grant, and sometimes, it’s a grant that helps a disabled person buy assistive tech, at no cost to them. Donate here.
Pennsylvania Health Law Project
The PA Health Law Project provides free legal services to anyone in Pennsylvania who needs help with Medicaid benefits. Whether it’s an issue of enrolling in Medicaid benefits, or something that comes up once you’re already receiving services, they are legal experts who are there to help at no cost. As someone who has received Medicaid waiver services for years, I know how complicated navigating the system is, and how critical it is to have a free legal service available. Donate here.
