In the process of starting The Ability Collective, our advisory committee has been meeting with non-profit leaders, disability advocates, and industry experts to learn more about their experiences, their successes, and how they would approach things differently if they were to start their organizations today.
This week, we had a meeting with an organization that I anticipate will profoundly shift the way we think about and talk about our mission. They reminded us that the way the world often approaches disability starts in the wrong place. We begin with systems (eligibility, paperwork, diagnoses, funding streams) and then try to fit people into services. But what if we flipped that? What if we started beyond the disability, and built everything from a place of possibility?
The Trouble With Boxes
People with disabilities are often confined in boxes, sometimes systemically, sometimes administratively, and far too often, socially. Systems ask us to categorize, sort, and define people by what they can’t do. But in Barry County, the stories we want to tell are about what makes people whole.
That means starting with who someone is outside of their disability: their culture, their interests, their sense of humor. It means looking at a person and seeing not just their challenges, but the multitudes they contain and the networks that might already be supporting them.
Letting the Community Lead
Instead of starting with gaps and deficits, we could begin with what’s already working. Instead we could look for natural connectors, neighborhood champions, small businesses, and families who want to build something better together.
Who already knows and values this person?
Where does their joy live?
What’s one small step we could take to expand that?
Instead of building more systems, we could work to build belonging: real relationships, shared experiences, and personalized supports that fit the person, not the system.
Belonging Takes Work (And It's Worth It)
Community is never guaranteed, especially for people with disabilities. It’s fragile, nuanced, and takes intention. And yet, it’s the most human thing we have.
We’re a small nonprofit with a big vision for Barry County: a place where people with disabilities don’t just survive, they thrive, contribute, lead, and belong. That vision won’t come from a system. It will come from all of us saying yes to connection, yes to creativity, and yes to each other.