There are currently 10 centers for independent living (CILs) in Massachusetts. These CILs are critical infrastructure for disabled people that provide resources, skills training, and advocacy work for disabled people, to allow them to live independently and out of institutional care, such as nursing homes. In Massachusetts, CILs are required to maintain a certain minimum percentage of their staff being disabled people, which is a huge win for the disability community. However, they only provide services, they don’t really do anything to foster community between clients. Same goes for all the government offices that provide services to disabled people (MRC, DDS, etc.); once a person has received the requested services, these offices just move on from them.
Disability community/cultural centers (DCCs) aim to fill this gap. They create a space for disability culture to flourish. They provide a place to explore what it means to be disabled in society, and helps disabled people support and empower each other. They’re centers for art, creativity, and joy. They are event space for disabled people to have fun with and learn from other disabled people.
There are currently no DCCs in New England. The closest is in Syracuse, NY, which like most current DCCs, is tied to a college. The proposed center would change that, by existing independent of a college.
There are around 900k disabled people living in Massachusetts. While there is not data on how that 900k is distributed across the state, this DCC would be open to all of them. Disability can be extremely isolating, especially for people that are not connected to other disabled people and the disability community. Additionally, because of the nature of the systems that disabled people interact with, many people become siloed with other people with similar disabilities (such as the D/deaf community), largely cut off from the full diversity of the disability community. This DCC will help reduce that isolation and siloing, by providing space for people with a variety of disabilities to come together in community.