The Paul W. Spooner Generational Leadership Summit empowers emerging activists and community leaders from across the Commonwealth to take up the mantle of the disability rights movement by championing access, inclusion, and independence for all. Approximately 20 new and emerging leaders are brought together with experienced leaders to discuss where disability advocacy needs to go in the coming decades and what we can learn from the past that got us to where we are today.
The two-day summit is designed to learn and understand from younger leaders what they need to continue growing and successfully address issues and how our collective communities can support their work in the years to come. As older leaders age out of the movement or pass on, the disability community can't afford a gap in planning, knowledge, and creating a blueprint for change. Now is the time to prepare for the future!
First and foremost, protection of advances made in civil and disability rights over the past three or four decades must be preserved and strengthened. Summit sponsors, in conjunction with a planning team, will identify additional critical priorities in the short and long term that will be incorporated into the program. The processes for effective leadership will be examined. Issues related to poverty, housing, food insecurity, health care, employment, transportation, and discrimination including racism, and stigma will be carefully discussed. Envisioning tangible measures of progress over time will be a key part of the summit program.
As new leaders evolve, social justice and intersectionality have become a thriving platform for growth and shared power. We will discuss what intentional intersectional strategies make sense to advance disability rights and civil rights. Aligning with other marginalized groups and ensuring that the disability agenda is on their agenda, and vice versa, will be a prominent topic. Additionally, embracing and including BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and non-binary people, among others, in positions of power, must move from aspirational to a disability advocacy norm.