Next Step is a movement that addresses the causes of the social and economic exclusion of people with disabilities, and other devalued groups through education and activism. It was founded by people who have disabilities with extensive experience in organizing for social change. Next Step came together to confront the greatest threats we have faced in the last thirty years. Since our founding in 2007, we have worked through activism, research, teaching and training to enhance the practices of inclusion,
equality and social change leading to community-based decision making and collaborated action.
We are worse off today than we were in 1990 when the Americans with Disabilities Act became law:
The federal and state governments continue to cut billions of dollars from Medicaid and other services we depend on in order to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and give more tax breaks to the richest ten percent of Americans;
Only 11% of people with disabilities work full-time all year and those that do earn less than $12,000;
People with disabilities more often die from preventative or treatable diseases that others don’t get or are easily cured of if they have good healthcare and health insurance;
People with disabilities more often live in unhealthy environments where exposure to contaminants cause illness and death;
People with disabilities more often live in unsafe places where disabilities make for easy targets for violence.
We recognize that there are other groups that society also devalues; the poor; most ethnic minorities; and women, have incurred similar losses over the last three decades and face comparable threats today. That recognition requires us to move disability activism out of the realm of special pleading and into the arena of broader social advocacy. It calls for the political and economic transformation of our society.
We can make that happen, but only in coalition with others: those who are similarly devalued; those who are committed to the basic restructuring of a society that now favors rich over poor and benefits the few through its commitment to war and militarization; those who understand that the promise of civil rights cannot be met until all people attain human rights: the rights to economic security, housing, health care, education and employment.
Next Step is incorporated as People with Disabilities For Social and Economic Justice, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Its goals and objectives are set annually by all of its members. Its Board of Trustees then develops strategies to achieve those goals and objectives at regular open meetings.
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