Advocacy Events

Community forums to improve supports

August 31, 2026

State Disability Services Forum

Join our community conversation! This is an opportunity to share your concerns and hopes with candidates for the state legislature and elected representatives.


Topics the state legislature governs and funds include:

  • Early learning
  • K-12 education and special education transition services
  • Disability services and long-term care
  • Apple Health (our state Medicaid program)
  • Housing investments
  • Civil rights
  • Behavior health supports
  • and more!

September 15, 2026

Federal Disability Services Forum


In this forum we are gathering with federal leaders and candidates.


Topics Congress governs and funds include:

  • Medicaid (called Apple Health in Washington)
  • Medicaid long-term care (including services through the Developmental Disabilities Administration)
  • Civil rights, including the right to get services in an integrated setting
  • Federal agencies including the US Department of Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.
What supports, investments, and protections do you see? Join us for an important conversation.

Why attend? The federal government has made or is proposing changes to Medicaid, education, early learning, housing, and more. This could affect state services in foundational ways.


Washington state is facing another tight budget and we expect to see proposals to cut supports that people with disabilities rely on, including DSHS DDA waiver services for respite, supported living, day services; and personal care.


We may also need to rally to protect funds for early supports for infants and toddlers; physical, occupational, and speech language services for adults; and programs to eliminate isolation and reduce use of restraints in public schools.


Your voice and presence helps people who want to represent you understand what you need.

Uncovering the Past. Building the Future

Grappling with Power, Privilege and Empowerment in Disability History and How it Shapes Our Present

September 3, 2026

What We Talk About When We Talk About Developmental Disabilities

Dr. Elizabeth Maher

Why are diverse disabilities like Down syndrome, autism, and cerebral palsy grouped together? This presentation looks at how the idea of "development" became an important way of understanding disability and how ideas about race, gender, and class helped shape this category.


October 1, 2026

The Cost of Arriving Late: Toward a Formative Justice for Intersectional Disability Policy

Dr. KD Harris

Disability policy activates only after harm, addressing one identity axis at a time — leaving multiply-marginalized disabled people to absorb the mental health toll, trauma, and exhaustion that remediation never anticipates. This session introduces formative justice: reframing policy’s task from repair to answering for the formative conditions.

November 5, 2026

Forging a Path: Activism, Self Advocacy & Disability Identity

ChrisTiana ObeySumner

and Ira Eidle

This panel discussion looks at the many ways disabled people have worked to create space for themselves in a world that is often inaccessible and shaped by ableism. They explore how the history of disability activism continues to shape the present and what it can teach us about building a more just future.