Borealis Philanthropy and the Ford Foundation recently announced the establishment of the $1 million Disability x Tech Fund, the first national fund supporting disability-led organizations to effect transformative change at the intersections of disability rights, justice, and technology.
Five disability-led organizations and two individual fellows are the Disability x Tech Fund's first grantees, addressing field-wide harms caused by tech exclusion. The Fund's grantees address these harms through litigation, research, accessible content interpretation and creation, and community-developed open-source platforms.
An advisory committee of people with diverse backgrounds in technology, disability rights, and justice led a yearlong process to create the Fund. This advisory committee advised Borealis and Ford on the harms caused by technology without disability considerations and nominated and chose the first grantees. The Disability x Tech Fund models a future where technology development prioritizes the leadership of people with disability.
The Disability x Tech Fund's first cohort of grantees comprises Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, CommunicationFIRST, CymaSpace, Suma, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, Community Legal Services fellow Rieko Shepherd, and Deaf Spotlight fellow Topher Ávila.
The Disability x Tech Fund is housed by Borealis Philanthropy as part of its Disability Inclusion Fund, with funding from the Ford Foundation. The Disability Inclusion Fund, launched in 2020, supports U.S.-based organizations led by and for people with disabilities that drive transformational change by building momentum.
Lori McGlinchey, Director of the Technology and Society program at the Ford Foundation, shared, "Disability justice and technology justice are profoundly interconnected — we cannot achieve one without the other." She added, "Through the Disability x Tech Fund, we are supporting disabled leaders who are shaping a future where everyone can use technology to fully participate in our society, free from ableist bias and algorithmic discrimination. The Disability x Tech Fund was designed by, for and with disabled leaders, and we hope this initiative can serve as a model for philanthropy."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a New York-based philanthropic organization committed to promoting social justice, reducing poverty and injustice, and advancing human achievement on a global scale. The foundation has been at the forefront of the fight against inequality for over eight decades, supporting programs and initiatives in over 50 countries through its 11 regional offices. With a focus on promoting democratic values and international cooperation, the foundation aims to create a world where all individuals have equitable access to opportunities, resources, and protections.