The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality aims for greater equity for people with disabilities through disability-led initiatives targeting ableism and racism with an intersectional lens.

The main goal of the Center is to lead the nation’s charge to identify and reduce life-limiting inequities in key areas that impact the lives of people with disabilities.

The Center has three focus areas: healthcare, community living and disability justice.

Additionally, the Center has five core objectives:

  • Engage a disabled-led, national community of practice and stakeholder advisory committee
  • Conduct an environmental scan of culturally and linguistically competent disability frameworks to offer assistance for healthcare, community leadership, and youth services
  • Develop a disability, equity, and intersectionality self-assessment tool based on the disability framework for use by multiple sectors
  • Expand the Center’s current dissemination network with an earned media strategy to reach more audiences about the impacts of marginalization of people with disabilities
  • Establish a “Changemakers Coalition” to build capacity among tomorrow’s leaders of the disability movement and share innovative resources about anti-ableism, antiracism, and intersectionality with youth with disabilities

Funding and Partners

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) awarded the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (Cincinnati’s UCEDD) a five-year grant to establish the National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality.

In addition to the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD) at Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Cincinnati UCEDD, the following organizations are also partners in this grant:

Contact Us

Please contact any of the following MCDD staff with any questions related to the National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality:

Maureen van Stone, Esq., MS
MCDD Director
vanStone@KennedyKrieger.org
443-923-4416

Tracy Waller, Esq., MPH
Staff Attorney, MCDD
WallerT@KennedyKrieger.org

Chris Mason-Hale, BSW
Community Advocate, MCDD
MasonHale@KennedyKrieger.org
443-923-9568