Listen to this page read aloud by a human:
If you want a say in how this community will operate, you can add your feedback at the bottom of this page.
To peruse the rest of our Community Blueprints, click here.
An intentional community is a group of people dedicated to living together with a common purpose. Intentional communities work cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values.
Unlike traditional intentional communities, which use a shared geographic space to achieve a common purpose, DT4T is unified by our Commonalities and Core Values & Beliefs. Together, we work to create a boundless community of disabled queers, not restricted by geography, where every Member has the support network they need and a fulfilling social life, and no one is excluded on the basis of accessibility.
We commit to intentionally caring for each other and building chosen family in defiance of social norms. We will make intentional decisions to achieve supportive outcomes. Everything we do as a collective has purpose and value outside of capitalism.
One of the primary benefits of joining DT4T is having access to a pool of people who have already been vetted for values-alignment, airborne disease precautions, and conflict resolution skills. We’ve weeded out as many unsafe agitators as possible to allow for a greater sense of safety among our Membership.
We find that hierarchical models of governance lead to decisions being made that aren’t representative of the needs and wants of the community at large. We don’t have a Leadership Team that makes decisions on behalf of the collective; we make decisions as a collective, by deferring to those who stand to lose or gain the most.
For example, if we’re deciding on an amendment to our Community Blueprints to improve safety for Black members, non-Black members’ opinions would be considered irrelevant. If we’re mediating a Conflict Resolution process, we defer to the person(s) who feels they were harmed.
We believe that, contrary to a traditional leadership model, the decision-makers and the do-ers don’t need to be the same people. After decisions are made by those most affected by the outcome, they are set in motion by those with the resources to perform the necessary labor. At DT4T, we call these members Stewards.
Any Member can Host whatever Events, Groups, Gatherings, and other Projects we dream up.
From our ledger to our Quarterly Forum, every penny spent and every decision made is documented. Members have the opportunity to ask questions about, advocate for, or contest any decision, no matter how big or how small, before the decision is made.
We don’t need to be capable of doing anything at all to be a member of DT4T. Being present with us is a contribution in itself. However, whenever we can do anything to benefit this community or another member—especially if we have privileges that make it easier for us to do it—we do it.
These contributions can be:
Financial (for those who have the means)
Social (gestures of friendship and companionship)
Emotional (holding space for someone’s feelings)
Artistic (sharing creative expression)
Material (supplying clothing, tech, meds, medical equipment, or other items to members who need them)
Free services (cleaning someone’s home, driving to appointments, giving haircuts or gender-affirming tattoos/piercings, anything that can enhance someone’s life)
Informational (ex. being a science communicator to help all of us understand new Long COVID research)
Hosting an Event, Group, or Gathering
Anything else we dream up!
These efforts can be as big or as small as our means allow. Sending someone a text to make sure they ate and took their meds can be as valuable as hosting an event for dozens of people. Both are more valuable to us than money because they allow us to support each other beyond capitalism.
Unfortunately, money still matters a lot. Many of us don’t have enough of it to comfortably survive. That’s why the few of us who have sustainable financial means are expected to prioritize making financial contributions to the collective on a regular basis (See Sliding Scale).
We are not and will never be a mutual aid fund. Our primary focus is on our unmet social needs and we will constantly seek new ways to coexist beyond capitalism, depending less on money and more on each other.
Our Quarterly Forum takes place on the first Sundays of March, June, September, and December beginning at 4pm ET.
Proposals include:
To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to weigh in on all decisions, the Quarterly Forum has two main components: an Asynchronous Phase and a Synchronous Phase.
Beginning seven days before the synchronous Quarterly Forum takes place, all of the Proposals on the docket are shared with the entire DT4T community virtually. Members have that full week to participate by submitting questions and comments on each of the Proposals.
At the designated date and time, all members are invited to join a video conference where we review each of the Proposals, address all of the questions and comments submitted during the Asynchronous Phase, and invite live questions and comments.
In most cases, questions and comments will be limited to details (for example, ensuring that a proposed Event will meet our access requirements) but no one will oppose the Proposal itself. In these cases, we will work through and incorporate all the feedback before approving the Proposal.
In other cases, members will have a lot to say about the Proposal itself (for example, if there’s a Proposal to amend our vetting procedures) and we will need to come to a consensus decision. All parties will have the opportunity to be heard, but, in accordance with our values, decisions are made by those most affected by the outcome. Sometimes, it will be perfectly clear who should make the final call; other times, it may be less clear. If we are unable to come to a consensus, the Proposal is tabled for the Follow-Up Phase.
Any proposals that can’t be decided upon during the Synchronous Phase move to the Follow-Up Phase. Virtual ballots, representing all the options discussed during the previous phases, are sent to the relevant members for a vote.
Because we haven’t yet encountered any Proposals that can’t be decided upon during the Synchronous Phase, this is still hypothetical. As we work through our first complex Proposals, we’ll build out these sections of our Community Blueprints with more tangible information and learnings.
We would love to include other languages right from the start, but we can’t have more official languages until we have enough users of a given language for some of them to volunteer to translate all communications and provide live interpretation at events. Any member is welcome to take on that project at any time, for any language.
This also means that we do not yet include ASL interpretation in our Baseline Access Requirements. We hope some of our Members who sign will take initiative to build a pool of interpreters among our Membership before long. We also hope Members who depend on signing for communication will weigh in as the central voices deciding if and how to add ASL as an official language of DT4T.
In the meantime, Members can use the Member Directory in the App to search for Members who use a common language!
We understand that Generative AI can be useful to accommodate some people’s disabilities, but it also poses dangerous threats to our personal security and our environment. AI can generate dangerous misinformation, so we do not rely on it for research or learning.
We prohibit the sharing of AI-generated content on any DT4T platforms. We also prohibit discussions that are based on unsubstantiated information obtained through generative AI.
We do rely on select non-generative-AI tools for accessibility, such as live transcription tools.
Fill out the comment form below.
Email your comments to Feedback@disabilit4t.org.
Submit your feedback anonymously using this encrypted web form.