Disability Led Coalition Awarded ACL Grant to Identify and Reduce Life-Limiting Inequities in Healthcare, Community Living, and Justice for People with Disabilities

For Immediate Release:                                      
October 18, 2022.

Contact: Leah Smith, Associate Director
Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality      

                                                               

Disability Led Coalition Awarded ACL Grant to Identify and Reduce Life-Limiting Inequities in Healthcare, Community Living, and Justice for People with Disabilities


The Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities has recently been awarded a 5-year $2.5 million grant from the Administration on Community Living (ACL). This new funding will allow the Center to lead the nation’s charge to identify and reduce life-limiting inequities in healthcare, community living, and justice for people with disabilities. 

As a result of this new funding, the Center for Dignity will become the National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality to further expand on its national efforts for greater equity for people with disabilities through disability-led initiatives targeting ableism and racism with an intersectional lens. This project will be led by a team of national partners from Morehouse School of Medicine, the National Cultural Competency Center at Georgetown University, the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute, and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. 

As an urgently needed driver of change to reduce systemic oppression and create a more equitable world, the new Center will: 

  1. Increase access to resources that teach and promote anti-ableism, anti-racism, and intersectionality with cultural humility;
  2. Increase the number of culturally informed healthcare providers;
  3. Recommend policy changes to dismantle ableism; and 
  4. Increase leadership by youth with disabilities, serving as Equity Ambassadors to chart a future founded on the tenants of disability justice. 

“We are grateful to continue and expand this important work towards equity. Our team is comprised of leading experts on the topics of disability, cultural competence, antiracism, and youth leadership. They bring skills and a commitment to create transformative change. We’re ready to get started,” says Dr. Kara Ayers, Principal Investigator and Director of the Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality.

Join the Center for Disability Equity and Intersectionality social media community @ThinkEquitable for more information and to stay up-to-date with their work. 

For more details, contact Leah Smith at 806.239.5582 or Leah.Smith@cchmc.org

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