Activating Change

Activating Change’s mission is to end victimization, criminalization, incarceration, and institutionalization of people with disabilities and Deaf people. People with disabilities and Deaf people are victimized, criminalized, and incarcerated at disproportionately high rates in the United States, and the rates are even higher for people with disabilities and Deaf people from communities of color. But they have long been excluded from the solutions to these problems. Activating Change centers people with disabilities and Deaf people and the safety and justice issues they face in social justice movements.

We believe disability, survivor advocacy, and criminal justice reform movements play critical roles in securing freedom and safety for people with disabilities and Deaf people. Yet, none of these fields are currently working to systematically address the high rates of victimization, over-policing and over-incarceration of people with disabilities. These fields are disconnected, often mis-aligned, and lack the capacity needed to work together toward collective impact. We foster alignment around disability and racial equity, build capacity, and support greater coordination across these social justice movements to realize our goals of freedom and healing – not harm and punishment - for people with disabilities and Deaf people.