Frequently Asked Questions

About

DisabiliT4T is not an organization that serves the disabled, queer community; rather, we are the disabled, queer community. We are committed to building a non-hierarchical intentional community led by the collective.

This project is still in its infancy, so we have a long way to go to reach that goal. It's enticing to aim high and scale up as quickly as possible to make that dream a reality, but we believe the only way to build community that is radically accessible, inclusive, safe, and non-hierarchical is to move slowly and with intention.

So, for now, DisabiliT4T is in soft-launch mode. That means that until we have the infrastructure to do this safely and responsibly, we aren't facilitating any ongoing community spaces (including a Discord server), nor have we established what membership will look like. Our efforts are limited to three areas:
1. Completing the Needs Assessment
2. Hosting low-key, one-off, virtual events (about once per month)
3. Establishing the Blog as a resource for information on COVID and global Disability Justice, along with essays and art by members of the DT4T community.
During this phase, DisabiliT4T's founder, Anzi (they/he/we) is the sole steward of this project. This is both temporary and by design.

A lot of folks reach out with ideas and infectious enthusiasm, eager to contribute to growing this space. The challenge is, we're not ready for that kind of momentum yet.

First, we need to complete the Needs Assessment Survey. Then, we'll use that data to define our governance structure and bylaws, as well as the core values that will define DT4T's ethos. That will be the foundation on which we can start to scale up and transition the stewardship of DT4T from Anzi's hands into a collective responsibility.

In the meantime, Anzi takes full responsibility for maintaining transparency and making decisions with the collective's best interests at heart—and we ask all of you to help hold them accountable. Please reach out any time with your comments, suggestions, concerns, and questions.

You can contact Anzi on Instagram @disabiliT4T or at anzi@disabilit4t.org.
We launched this 60-question survey in October 2023 to learn as much as we can about the unmet social, access, and survival needs of chronically ill and disabled queers.

What we learn from the Needs Assessment Survey will drive everything we do going forward. We'll use the data to define our governance structure and bylaws, as well as the core values that will define DT4T's ethos.

The data won't be complete until we have at least 100 responses from BIPOC. That way, we'll have enough to meaningfully analyze BIPOC responses separately from non-BIPOC responses so no one's perspective is drowned out, as is often the case in surveys like these. BIPOC perspectives will always be centered in our decision-making for the collective.

TAKE THE NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY NOW >

The survey asks about a wide range of topics:
- your access needs in all kinds of spaces
- your COVID precautions
- your community values and safety needs
- your relationship with queerness and disability
- your unmet survival needs
- where and how you like to build connections
- what we can learn from other organizations' mistakes
- what helps you feel safe and welcome in social spaces
- your comfort level around substance use
- what you want out of play parties and other spicy events
DisabiliT4T is based in NYC and was founded with the intention of bringing people together in the NYC area. This remains a priority, but we are by no means exclusive to New York!

Our virtual events have also drawn attendees from across North America and there has been a lot of interest in creating in-person community in other geographic areas.

Once DisabiliT4T is past the soft-launch phase and we begin to build ongoing community spaces, we will establish infrastructure to help individuals build local sub-groups.

Learn more about the soft-launch phase and our path towards intentional community here!
No, DisabiliT4T is not a mutual aid fund and we do not distribute material resources.

That said, we believe that mutual aid is a critical component of sustainable networks of care. Down the road, we hope to build infrastructure to help connect members of the DisabiliT4T community who might be able to support each other with money or labor.

If you are actively in need of community support, feel free to reach out and we will be glad to share your mutual aid flyer or social media post in our Instagram Stories and/or in our newsletter! Unfortunately, we cannot put together a flyer for you.
DisabiliT4T is funded by donations from the DT4T community.

All of our events are free to attend, with a suggested donation of $5-$20, if it's within your means. Typically, about one-third of the folks who RSVP to our events are able to donate.

In the future, once we're out of our soft-launch phase and we begin to establish ourselves as a membership-based intentional community, our pricing model will likely change. If you'd like to have a say on what that will be, please take the Needs Assessment Survey!

No matter what, no one will ever be turned away from our community spaces for lack of funds.

If you feel inclined, you can donate to DisabiliT4T here.

It also costs up to 100 volunteer hours per month to run DisabiliT4T. Almost all of this labor is currently done by DT4T's founder, Anzi, who is a chronically ill and disabled trans spoonie facing ongoing food and housing insecurity. If you feel inclined, you can tip Anzi with some grocery money here.
We believe in Land Back and an end to ethnic cleansing and genocide globally. Period.

We believe in a free Palestine, from the river to the sea, and the dismantling of the Israeli ethnostate.

We do not condemn any group of people who use violent means to fight back against their own violent oppression.

We do condemn Zionists globally who use straw man fallacies to justify overt genocide and decades of displacement, occupation, and brutality.

We believe that "never again" means never again.

Membership

Anyone who identifies as queer and disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, or mad is welcome here, with the understanding this space centers the needs and rights of chronically ill and disabled trans people.

If you are cisgender, you are responsible for your own education about gender diversity prior to entering DT4T spaces.

We have no tolerance for:
- Intentional misgendering or deadnaming
- Non-consensual questions about anyone’s transition or anatomy
- Assumptions about anyone’s gender identity, including using gendered words unless you’re sure they’re affirming.
  - A classic example: “Yas queen!” (If the title “queen” isn’t affirming for someone, this is misgendering, which can feel violent regardless of our intentions.)
- Language that reinforces oppressive binaries, including “AFAB” and “AMAB.” Instead, be precise about what experiences or positionalities you’re referring to.
The short answer is: unequivocally, YES.

We are not in the business of policing anyone's identity and if you want to be a part of this community, you are welcome here.

The long answer is...

We have an expansive definition of disability and we believe that everyone experiences some degree of friction between their needs and abilities and the world around them.

We also consider "nondisabled" people to actually be pre-disabled. All of us will become disabled someday, if we live long enough.

COVID-conscious allies may also be locked out of community and may experience some of the same ostracization as chronically ill folks do.

Beyond that, we know that anyone who has been infected with COVID—which is most of us—has a weakened immune system, and it's likely impacted their major organs, too. We don't know the long-term extent of these effects, but we do know that SARS-CoV-2 has a similar effect on the immune system to HIV, which means we may be seeing even worse outcomes down the road, even for folks whose acute infections were mild.

Therefore, we don't believe that anyone is truly nondisabled and allies are as welcome in our spaces as folks who consider themselves severely disabled.

The way you participate in our community will look different, though.

DT4T recognizes the value of everyone's unique lived experience, while specifically uplifting the perspectives of those whose voices are most often silenced. We will always center the needs of our most vulnerable community members in decision-making for the collective, especially those who are multiply-oppressed.

Community members with more systemic privilege will be expected to show up for the collective accordingly, in whatever way is accessible to them.

If you are an ally, or if you have more capacity and/or resources than others, be prepared to cede space to disabled and chronically ill folks and to step up when there's work to be done.
The answer to this question will largely be determined by what we learn from the Needs Assessment Survey, so please take the survey if you have opinions on this topic!

In the meantime, we anticipate with certainty that the following actions would disqualify someone from being a member of DT4T:
- Being a cop
- Being in the military
- Lying about COVID risk/exposure
- Non-compliance with agreed-upon COVID mitigations
- Failure to take accountability for harm (see "How will DisabiliT4T address harm within the community?" for more info)
- Failure to engage in non-violent conflict resolution
- Sexual assault
- Domestic violence
- Racialized violence
- Zionism
- COVID denialism or minimization

Frequently Asked Questions

About

Membership

More FAQs coming soon!