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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-19-26 Correspondence - Disability Rights Montana - A Masterclass in BelongingFrom:Disability Rights Montana - Growth Rings To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]A Masterclass in Belonging Date:Monday, May 18, 2026 11:56:29 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Every paid subscription supports Disability Rights Montana’s work across Montana. Federal funding is nowhere near sufficient to meet the advocacy and culture change work that is needed. You can help fund the future you want to see! A Masterclass in Belonging What I'm still learning after 30 years working in disability spaces READ IN APP Last week, I witnessed what belonging actually looks like. Not as a buzzword or as a performance, but in real life as the result of a lot of intentional work. I spent the week in Washington, DC with incredible disabled advocates who flew in from across the country. I was honored to be invited to be a part of this group by the organizers, the American Association of People with Disabilities. This event was their 3rd Annual Disability Power on the Hill. AAPD’s great staff is laser focused on increasing the political and economic power of people with disabilities across America and is led by Maria Town who has an incredible history of MAY 18 advocacy and leadership in the national disability community. It was a great honor to learn from and work alongside them. During the week, people with disabilities from communities nationwide came together to learn how to effectively influence federal policy and then put those skills into practice by educating federal law makers from their states. In this newsletter and its companion podcast, I talk a lot about advocacy at the city, county, state, and federal levels. And we’ll come back to that again, I’ve got some important policy updates and ways you can get involved that I want to share with you next week. But what I want too share today is something deeper. The people I got to work with in Washington, DC came from every kind of background imaginable: Rural and frontier communities Major cities People with advanced degrees and professional titles Others just out of high school, with unimaginable possibilities ahead of them People who face a lot of oppression And people who don’t There were people with physical disabilities, mental illness, sensory disabilities, intellectual disabilities, some visible, some not immediately apparent. We each experience this country differently. And yet, although we spoke to each other across innumerable differences, the power of our authentic perspectives was heard. We were heard because we all shared something fundamental. What I Saw What We Shared A deep awareness of the need for individuality. The one common thread that cuts across every disability type and lived experience was this: each of us needed the space to show up in our own way. And when you bring together a group of people with disabilities in a space designed with that understanding at its core, something powerful happens. People actually feel like they belong. Not accommodated, or tolerated - BELONG. Asking for what you need no longer feels like a burden, because it’s anticipated and expected. There’s an understanding that not everyone will participate in the same way. And when you remove the idea that there’s only one way to engage or succeed, everyone has a chance to contribute. That kind of intentional design doesn’t just improve experiences, it changes who feels welcome to participate at all. From everything I saw, both in the room and in the messages shared among attendees, the organizers knocked this out of the park. I’m sure it took an enormous amount of work, as any national policy effort does. But what stood out most was this: They built the space from the ground up with belonging in mind. And that’s the lesson I keep coming back to. If we want a Montana where people with disabilities genuinely, deeply belong, we have to design for it intentionally. Not retrofit it later. Not assume it will happen on its own. Not think it will magically happen if there is compliance with decades old accessibility laws. We must stop focusing only on minimalistic compliance. We must build belonging from the start. Why This Matters This is exactly the mindset we’re bringing to our next big project. As I mentioned in a December issue of this newsletter, Disability Rights Montana is planning to transform our 11,000-square-foot office building into a first-of-its-kind Montana Disability Justice Community Center. We’ll be working with architects and consultants to develop plans and want to include you all along the way. So before we go any further, we want talk with you to start shaping this together. Because this center is about one thing above all else: Belonging. So, we want to know: What should we include? What should we prioritize? What would make this a place where you and others truly feel like you belong? Join a work group to help think through the physical building or the events and activities we fill the building with: Event/Activity Work Group (First meeting Tuesday, May 26 from 12:00pm-1:00pm) What kinds of events would you love to attend? Do you have an idea for an event, workshop, or gathering? Disability Rights Montana wants people to use its building in the ways they want! Whether it’s art, advocacy, education, or social connection, your creativity can help bring disability culture to life. What would make you say, ‘I want to be part of that’? Share your ideas and help us design programming that is exciting and inclusive. We can build What We’re Building Shape Belonging in Montana and at the MontanaDisability Justice Community Center belonging together. Event/Activity Work Group Building Work Group (First meeting Wednesday, May 27 from 12:00pm-1:00pm) Do you have knowledge about buildings and their role in community life: architects, developers, builders, skilled tradespeople, engineers. If you have expertise in design, construction, or accessibility, Disability Rights Montana would love your help on a small committee to figure out how to make the most of our building. We want to invest wisely in improvements that make this space welcoming and functional for community use. Building Work Group These conversations start next week, so sign up today because your voice matters. Belonging doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built on purpose. In solidarity, David David Carlson Executive Director Disability Rights Montana You’re currently a free subscriber to Life Beyond Compliance. 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