“Nothing about us without us” has long been the rallying cry of the disability rights movement—a powerful assertion that decisions affecting disabled people must include their voices. But during our recent PRISM (The Policy and Regulatory Innovation Symposium by Melwood) symposium, disability advocate Anastasia Somoza challenged us to go further.
“Nothing about us without us really should be nothing without us,” Somoza explained, “because that’s the point. In order for us to continue moving the needle in terms of creating accessible and equitable society overall… it really needs to be nothing without us.”
The distinction matters. The original phrase assumes there are some conversations, some innovations, some decisions where disability isn’t relevant. But as Somoza pointed out, disability and barriers “affect every sector of life, of community, of society.”
Consider something as simple as eyeglasses—an accommodation so commonplace “that we don’t think about that as an accommodation or even as an innovation anymore. But something as simple as that is contributing to a more equitable society.”
When companies bring people with disabilities into conversations from the beginning—not as an afterthought—it creates workplaces where all employees can bring their best selves to work and perform to their potential. But it goes beyond workplace accessibility. It’s about taking a disability lens to everything we do. Disability is the most common minority group and the only one any of us can join overnight. And from a business perspective, people with disabilities represent a massive consumer market—one that rivals the purchasing power of China.
“The more accessible a workplace is, the more diverse workplaces, the better it’s going to be for every single member of that company and organization,” Somoza noted. “It’s not just about let’s innovate, let’s make things accessible for disabled people. Those changes, that culture shift is going to help every single individual.”
But inclusion requires more than good intentions. It demands systemic change: investing in the care economy so caregivers earn living wages, eliminating asset limits that prevent disabled people from building savings, ending the marriage penalty, and abolishing Section 14(c), which allows employers to pay sub-minimum wages to people with disabilities.
“We need to make it so that people can earn what they deserve to earn, and what they’re qualified to earn, whether or not they have home and community-based services,” Somoza said.
This National Disability Employment Awareness Month, the message is clear: disability isn’t a separate issue. It’s woven into every conversation about innovation, employment, health care, and community. Nothing without us—because every decision is better when we’re in the room.
