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How can we use our dollars most effectively this holiday season to effectively support and empower disabled people?

Black Friday marks the start of the holiday shopping season. Four days later, #GivingTuesday kicks off the holiday charitable giving season. Shopping and donating both offer opportunities to support people in society who could use some extra help. Here are four different ways to support disabled people this holiday season:

1. Shop at businesses that are staffed or owned by disabled people

Its common enough now that a kind of media narrative is taking shape. A disabled person, anxious to work but finding employers unwilling to give them a chance, starts their own business, and local news runs an inspirational story about it. Even more often, its the story of parents of a disabled son or daughter who start a business for them and for other disabled people who struggle to find work. While the often sentimental tone of these stories can be off-putting, particularly to disabled people themselves, disability-centered businesses can be a great way to support disabled people in a simple and natural way.

2. Buy gifts online from disabled craftspeople

Disability entrepreneurship thrives online. Craft sites like Etsy and swag store sites like Zazzle make it easy for disabled creatives to make money selling their jewelry, artwork, t-shirts, and other items online, without physical barriers or the upfront capital required to open a bricks-and-mortar business. Each year, disability blogger Emily Ladau publishes a Holiday Gift Guide focused on disabled people selling products online. Our goal is to shine a spotlight on their work, she explains, giving people a meaningful way to support the disability community by doing something they were likely already going to do - buy holiday presents for the people in their lives.

3. Support disabled freelance content creators

Another way to support online disability culture is to contribute to disabled bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, and freelance journalists. Most creators have donation links, or Patreon and Ko-Fi accounts where you can make one-time donations, or pledge a small amount per month to help sustain their work. Online disability culture has enriched the disability community immensely, and its well worth supporting your favorites. If you arent familiar with any yet, just search terms like disability in your favorite online media platforms, and explore.

4. Give to disability charities

The most traditional way to donate to disability causes is to support disability nonprofit organizations. There are of course the big, disability-specific organizations everyone knows about, through their professional PR campaigns, high-profile and popular fundraising events, and celebrity spokespeople. But while many of these do good work, on closer examination, you may find that some of them dont fit well with your interests and ethics, or those of the people they are supposed to help. This is especially true if you value authentic empowerment of disabled people themselves, and strong, visionary advocacy. Disabled blogger, (and mother of a disabled child), Meriah Nichols has an informative list of links to disability organizations you may not have heard of, but are well worth a look.

At a time when social and political hazards are everywhere, supporting people with disabilities seems like a fairly easy call. But disabled people and disability culture are just as complex as any other parts of society. Its not always immediately obvious to casual observers, but there are some disability causes, trends, and organizations that sizable numbers of actual disabled people feel ambivalent about ... even despise.

How can you be sure the disability-connected businesses or charities you want to patronize are truly responsive to the disability community, and consistent with your values? Here are some key questions to ask:

Are disabled employees paid at least minimum wage?

This is a crucial question to ask about businesses that promote themselves as employment initiatives for people with disabilities. Some businesses have certificates allowing them to pay disabled workers less than minimum wage. And while some continue to argue that the practice has its place, its an approach that is steadily being phased out, as the inequity of it becomes harder to reconcile. At the very least, asking about it helps ensure that businesses and organizations appealing to our goodwill towards disabled people continue to wrestle with important ethical questions about their methods.

Are disabled people working in visible, integrated settings, or are they segregated and invisible to the public?

Payment of sub-minimum wage often goes hand-in-hand with sheltered workshops and other employment models that keep disabled workers away from public contact. Its another practice that is rapidly falling out of favor ... a relic of the past. As such, its not something these businesses tend to advertise. So although you may be buying products made by disabled people, you may want to find out under what conditions, and think about how they match up with your own values and how you would want to be treated in your job.

Are there disabled people in leadership and decision making positions?

This doesnt necessarily have to be a strict litmus test. But there is a potential difference between a restaurantwhere all the employees are disabled, but the owner and managers are not and one owned and/or managed by people with disabilities. Its also a critically important question when exploring disability nonprofits. There is no more important place to apply the disability rights principle, Nothing about us without us, than in disability organizations. Being staffed and governed by disabled people not only provides employment and leadership opportunities for them, but also helps ensure that disability charities pursue goals important to actual disabled people, using strategies that disabled people themselves have developed and approved.

Does the business or charity present an empowering, unsentimental image of disability and disabled people?

You can raise a lot of money by presenting disabled people as either sad, pitiful, and burdensome to care for ... or as almost inhumanly angelic and inspirational for literally anything they do. On the other hand, its possible to recognize a business or organization where disabled people are truly liberated and empowered, where you want to help, not to rescue disadvantaged people or pick up some sort of vague good karma, but because they offer a good product in a positive atmosphere, and a mission that puts disabled people themselves at the center. Its often hard to see the difference, but developing a more discerning eye towards these intangible qualities is crucial for making good charitable choices, especially in the disability field.

Finally, it helps to ask yourself what, exactly, you want to support. Disability charities in particular can have a variety of different missions and approaches. Sometimes its hard to tell up front what an organization actually does. Before choosing what to support, think about which of these aims you care about most:

Disability activism - Working towards changes in laws, policies, and practices to make life better more accessible, and more liberated for people with disabilities.

Individual services and advocacy - Providing direct, individual services to disabled people, including counseling, individual advocacy, information, accessibility modifications, and education.

Individual care - Providing one-on-one physical assistance to help disabled people with everyday activities, including personal care, household chores, and transportation.

Cultural and awareness activities - Promoting greater visibility, better understanding, and disability representation in everyday life and culture.

Medical and technological research - Striving to cure, prevent, or alleviate disabling conditions, and developing assistive devices for people with disabilities.

Preferences and opinions on disability causes vary a great deal, even on foundational issues as segregation and fair wages. But responsible givers and patrons will at least explore these issues, and make their disability contributions consciously, deliberately, and consistent with their values.

Read more:

How To Support People With Disabilities On Black Friday And Giving Tuesday - Forbes