On the week of the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation President Sam Gill writes in the Chronicle of Philanthropy about why this date holds personal resonance for him and the special role philanthropy can play in bridging the gap between the idea of disability rights and the reality.
Gill writes: “In my lifetime, our society has made important progress in realizing a vision for a just society that includes people with disabilities. In addition to formalizing access to basic civil rights, the law made more of us begin to recognize that justice is not a zero-sum game. We do not support the inclusion of people with disabilities at the cost of other historically oppressed and marginalized populations. Rather, every act on behalf of a more inclusive society is an act on behalf of all of us. But the chasm between this idea and its realization sometimes feels unbridgeable. This is where philanthropy has a special role to play…”